28 May 2004

Lord of the Rings, international events expert to talk in Christchurch

Lord of the Rings production manager Jamie Wilson will speak about event management at a seminar in Christchurch on Wednesday 16 June.

Wilson, currently working with Peter Jackson on King Kong, has event management experience ranging from coordinating the Badminton horse trials, to the world largest ever movie premier, Lord of the Rings – The Return of the King. Attendees at events he has managed range from 10 to 500,000 people.

Wilson’s involvement with The Return of the King was both in movie production and managing launch events. During the nearly five-year production, he was responsible for the on-set requirements of Weta Workshop Ltd, the visual effects company for the movie. On a daily basis, and on many nights, he was responsible for 35 shipping containers, four workshop trucks, six freight trucks, 85 of his own crew, eight personnel transport vans, two makeup trailers, 48,000 items of weapons, armour and prosthetics, 650 extras dressed on any one-day, liaison with the director, and the issue of ever changing daily information and job roles.

“This was a massive client who necessitated all aspects of event management but with a different end product, a film instead of a party. Organisational skills were put to the test with logistics on a massive scale,” says Mr Wilson.

Mr Wilson, 28, is another speaker Christchurch City Council has coordinated to continue regular event industry seminars which aim to increase knowledge and improve the practice within the local events industry.

“I would consider Jamie and his company top of my list for events anywhere in the world,”
says New Line Cinema senior vice president, international publicist, Tracey Lorie.

Some aspects of event management Mr Wilson will speak about include:

1. Picking the right team to work together
2. Delegation of tasks to others
3. Information, awareness and involvement by all
4. The bigger picture – keeping an overview of everything
5. Have fun while doing, otherwise why do it?

A 10 minute premiere show reel will be included in the seminar.

Wilson’s presentation starts at 4pm, and will be in the Canterbury Room at Rydges Hotel, Cnr Worcester St & Oxford Terrace. The talk will be about an hour followed by drinks and nibbles. The cost is $10 ($5 students).

ENDS

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