Strong Outlook for Wellington’s Film Sector

Businesses servicing Wellington’s film sector are reporting increased activity and a pick up in spending is likely to reverse the reduction recorded in figures released today, according to the Wellington Employers’ Chamber of Commerce.

Furthermore, the screen production data released by Statistics New Zealand is dominated by television production (occurring mainly in Auckland) and so understates the importance of the Wellington film industry.

“The drop in expenditure by Wellington-based screen production companies, as shown in today’s figures, is not a concern,” said Chamber Chief Executive Ken Harris.

“A more detailed picture of regional data distinguishing between the film and television sectors is to be released later in the year. This is likely to tell a different story with last year’s (most recent) data clearly highlighting the contribution of Wellington’s film production sector.

“As noted by Statistics New Zealand, the post-production sector within the screen industry has almost doubled in value over the past two years. It is likely that a regional breakdown will reveal that Wellington has captured much of this increase.

“The overall reduction in Wellington-based screen production expenditure for 2010 is likely to be a one-off with the outlook for the sector looking strong in coming years.

“Businesses associated with Wellington’s film sector are already reporting increased activity as filming of the Hobbit gets underway in earnest.

“The Hobbit is creating thousands of jobs and injecting millions of dollars into the local economy. It is also likely to build further momentum for Wellington’s film industry looking ahead,” Mr Harris concluded.

ENDS

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