Council eyes mega studio
AN AUCKLAND Council-owned film studio has thrown its hat into the ring to lead the expansion of film industry infrastructure in the city.
Auckland has a proud tradition in recent years of hosting international film and TV production, but in March, Auckland Council organisation Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development (ATEED) issued a call for expressions of interest in building a new film studio to boost the screen industry in Auckland.
ATEED said there had been ‘‘market failure’’ with private interests having failed to provide the infrastructure to meet the demand from international television and movie makers.
Auckland Film Studios (AFS), which is 100 per cent councilowned since the failure of its coshareholder, has now expressed interest, supported by financial and other analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
It appears that it was a review of AFS which led to ATEED concluding that Auckland was under-served for studio facilities.
The annual report for AFS shows that in 2011 Parker Consulting reviewed the management and marketing of the studio, which had had a rocky ride over the previous few years.
It was following this review that ATEED sought expressions of interest.
The latest annual report shows AFS is back in the black, having made a profit of $434,175 in the year to the end of June, following a loss of $2.35 million the previous year, largely the result of a $2.33m devaluation of the Henderson, West Auckland, studio.
Now profitable again, in part thanks to the movie Emperor being filmed there, its valuation, which reached more than $14m in 2008, has been cut a number of times and is now just over $8m.
A boardroom cleanout this year saw respected film producer, director and business owner Julian Grimmond, as well as Alan Sorrell, the chairman of the Arts Board of Creative New Zealand and a former chairman of the New Zealand Film Commission, appointed.
Since then the studio has been rebranded and is working to build its share of the trans-Tasman TV advert market to ensure it can remain profitable between major projects such as Emperor.