A new big budget action-thriller is set to start filming in Rotorua later this year in a move that is tipped to inject several million dollars into the region and upskill local talent.
Vegas, which has a $6.4 million budget, is produced by Auckland-based Greenstone TV Ltd, in collaboration with the Rotorua-based Steambox Film Collective and award-winning writer, Michael Te Arawa Bennett.
The producers say the filming would see 35 production staff relocate from Auckland spending as long as three months in Rotorua.
Over that time they say they would be pumping money into Rotorua's accommodation sector, as well as boosting hospitality. There will also be around 100 extras from Rotorua on the payroll, as well as jobs for electricians and construction roles.
Set in an imaginary world that closely resembles Aotearoa in 2020, Vegas is an action thriller about a young, untested leader who wants to free his people from the curse of methamphetamine, but finds he can't do it on his own.
Set in an imaginary world that closely resembles Aotearoa in 2020, Vegas is an action thriller about a young, untested leader who wants to free his people from the curse of methamphetamine, but finds he can't do it on his own.
The story is based on the novel, Inside the Black Horse by Ray Berard.
Greenstone TV chief Rachel Antony says the six-part drama series, which plans to hire around 40 local crew and up to 100 extras, will inject several million dollars to the Rotorua economy.
'The series has been in development for two years, and we are thrilled to be able to bring it to Rotorua, especially at a time when the city is feeling the economic impact of Covid-19,” she says.
With pre-production set to start this month and filming to run from October until Christmas, the producers of Vegas are currently working closely with Film BOP to recruit local people for an 18-week apprenticeship on set.
Producer and co-creator of Vegas, Harriet Crampton, says Greenstone could have made the decision to shoot in Auckland.
'But so many of our stories are told in our few cities, ignoring our spectacular landscapes and the exciting and specific input of people within smaller societies.
'The screen industry is growing fast in New Zealand. It makes complete sense for our government funding agencies to provide employment opportunities and career paths for those outside the main centres.”
Show associate producer Laura Northcroft says a wide range of sectors will benefit from the series from accommodation to on-set food, beverage and technical suppliers, transport companies, education providers and the large number of people who will be recruited as extras.
'We are committing to developing talent and capacity across the region,” she says.
'Hopefully this is the first of many productions to come here.”
Vegas is fictional and set in a town that does not exist, but writer Michael Te Arawa Bennett and the team of co-producers and storyliners from Steambox Film Collective have been working with iwi, hapū and other authorities to ensure the storytelling is accurate and fair in its representation of gangs and young Māori in New Zealand.
'Gang stories always invite conflict, and there's no nice way to deliver these narratives. But when the perspective comes not from a place of blame, but from one of understanding, empathy and release, the opportunity is there to explore wider themes: the differing responses to decades of colonisation; the ‘putting it right that counts',” he says.
0 comments
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to make a comment.