Film-set station sale worries
Lights, action ... cut?
There’s a corner of New Zealand where hobbits have roamed, Narnians adventured and Taylor Swift entwined herself in the foliage.
‘‘There’s a few locations around New Zealand which are key to everybody in the industry,’’ says William Grieve, a line producer for many of the global commercials filmed in New Zealand.
‘‘There’s Bethells Beach in Auckland and down here it’s Arcadia Station.’’
The 257ha high country station sits in the Paradise Valley near the head of Lake Wakatipu and has been a film industry favourite since 1958, when it was the setting for the short film J.D.
Goes Hunting.
Owner Jim Veint recalls 17 major productions at the station including blockbusters such as
The Lord of the Rings, Wolverine
and two Narnia films.
There have also been hundreds of commercials for global corporates such as Asics, Lloyds Bank, German chocolate manufacturers Milka and an award-winning Christmas advertisement for British supermarket Waitrose.
Veint has loved working the station – still loves it – but he is 82 and his partner had a stroke last year. With four sons to please, the only fair option was to sell.
The station went on the market in November with a price tag of between $15 million and $20 million and there’s been keen interest.
‘‘I had someone wanting to pay the money on the first day but when they found out the hoops they had to go through with the Overseas Investment Office they pulled out,’’ Veint says.
He is confident it will sell to good people but has become aware of concerns the film industry has about the new owners being less than film-friendly.
Queenstown-based location scout Harry Whitehurst estimates the station attracts about half of the film work that comes to the area, providing employment for several hundred contractors and companies. ‘‘It’s the centre of our hub.’’ Productions come to the area for the station then continue into surrounding regions such as Dunedin, Oamaru and the Maniototo, he says.
‘‘Without Arcadia they wouldn’t have come here. It creates links. It feeds the whole bottom of the south,’’ he said.
Brett Mills has been leasing equipment to the film industry for more than 30 years, and is also fearful for an industry which has already experienced a significant downturn.
‘‘I fear that we will lose more work. It brings jobs here.’’
Grieve, known for his work on the Heartland television series, has filmed dozens of commercials at the station in the past 20 years.
The key attraction is the scenery, he says.
Arcadia Station has native bush, lush grass, snow-topped mountains and the Dart River.
It can be made to look like almost anywhere in Europe and the United States and provides an idyllic backdrop for children or animals to run, explore and be in nature.
‘‘It has all these different looks, all within half an hour of each other.’’
But the real value lies in its accessibility and the fact that it is privately owned.
Filming is almost impossible on Department of Conservation land. The bureaucratic hurdles are significant and the best spots cannot be reached by road. Film productions can involve hundreds of trucks laden with heavy equipment and campervans.
By contrast, Arcadia Station is only about a one-hour drive from Queenstown, with its international airport, hotels, restaurants and filming base.
Using smoke machines, or introducing the stag featured in a slick new global commercial for Sony Bravia, would be impossible in national parks.
‘‘We couldn’t have filmed that anywhere else,’’ Grieve says.
He, too, is also concerned that Arcadia Station might end up in the ownership of a party who is not interested in filming.
‘‘It’s critical to the local industry here. Of the jobs I bring to Queenstown, and I come here about twice a year, most of them involve Arcadia Station.’’
Queenstown Lakes District Council economic development manager Peter Harris agrees it is a key asset to the local industry and says film offices around the country, including Film Otago Southland, have actively put the word out to potential buyers.
‘‘The industry and film office will do whatever it can to keep that as it is but it’s an open market and in the end whoever buys it will make their own calls,’’ Harris says.
Ray White real estate agent Bas Smith says past interest in the property has come from energy drink company Red Bull and film director Sir Peter Jackson but it remains open to offers from anyone.
Veint has been contacted directly by concerned film industry insiders.
‘‘It’s pretty likely that whoever buys the place would want to encourage filming,’’ he says.
‘‘It’s very interesting. You meet interesting people and it’s a bit of income for the place.’’
He adds that the film industry is very good at looking after the land.
‘‘They come to the place and leave it nice and tidy when they leave.’’
He believes the purchaser will be someone with the best interests of the community and the film industry in mind.
Entrepreneurs attracted to Glenorchy in recent years have been behind developments such as New Zealand’s first zero net energy camping ground at Camp Glenorchy, holiday home to the stars Blanket Bay and wellness retreat Aro Ha, he says.
‘‘Glenorchy at the moment is attracting some amazing and interesting people, really successful people. It’s such a good place to be now,’’ says Veint.
‘‘Arcadia warrants something really special, some imagination and money. The people buying it will want to improve it. It is a special piece of land.’’