What New Zealand’s COVID-19 Flare Means For Its Booming Hollywood Productions
” sequels in Wellington, just one hour’s flight south. Meanwhile, on the South Island, stars like Viggo Mortensen are planning to embark on “The Greatest Beer Run Ever” in Dunedin, while a game-changing production studio has been proposed for Christchurch.
That can-do attitude is what will likely tide the industry over despite Tuesday’s late-night announcement that the country will enter a three-day lockdown, which went into effect at midday Wednesday local time. The measures came after Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern confirmed four members of an Auckland family tested positive for COVID-19, acquiring the virus from an unknown source. The cases ended the nation’s 102-day streak of having no new community infections .
Indeed, while the prospect of needing to enter level four again looms in the minds of many locals, New Zealanders have proven their ability to come together and tackle the virus at any given alert level, and when it comes to screen production, the country remains in a better position than many other filming hubs.Of course, getting there requires the golden ticket of a government-approved border exemption, followed by two weeks of quarantine. “That was the most challenging part,” Dunst says.
On “The Power of the Dog,” Dunst says her temperature was taken daily and masks were worn, but she felt “very comfortable.” Major adds that crew tracked studio entry and exit on an app and signed weekly health declarations, while cleaners “circulated all day.” Containing the latest outbreak and keeping foreign production rolling as much as possible remains important to the sector, given that the seven productions are injecting 3,000 jobs and NZ$400 million into the country. Twyford says border exemptions for “Avatar” alone enabled 400 locals to resume working in June. Meanwhile, for the 20 Japan-based stunt performers and six U.S. actors permitted entry for “Power Rangers,” the show’s employing 700 local crew and 2,650 performers.
The need for a national infrastructure plan is an initiative in the sector’s Screen Strategy 2030, which is being finalized. “Having said that, our industry’s able to accommodate different types of projects and they don’t all need large soundstages,” says Twyford, noting that, in addition to its location shoots, New Zealand digital/VFX houses are “consistently attracting projects.”
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