Screen Auckland’s Jasmine Millet

Auckland, New Zealand, has served as the shooting home for productions ranging from the Academy Award-nominated feature film The Power of the Dog to the Netflix series Sweet Tooth, as well as Amazon’s Don’t Make Me Go, Avatar 2 and Evil Dead Rise. April 2022 marked Auckland’s highest number of permit applications in five years—a 140 percent uptick from pre-Covid-19 levels—and this is only poised to increase, with infrastructure, crews and capacity at an all-time high and expanding fast. Jasmine Millet, manager of Screen Auckland, which handles everything for international and local productions wanting to shoot in this New Zealand city, talks to World Screen about what makes it such an attractive filming destination.

WS: What’s driven the recent uptick in permit applications to shoot in Auckland?
MILLET: With international borders back open, making travel far easier, we’ve been fortunate to have a number of returning international series filming in Auckland over recent months such as the second seasons of Netflix’s Sweet Tooth, produced by Team Downey in association with Warner Bros. Television, and NBCUniversal’s One of Us is Lying, and they have been relatively busy on location. These, plus the ongoing slate of New Zealand productions and commercials, have combined to boost the level of activity we’ve seen, which is about a half-half split between international and domestic production.

Auckland, specifically, has a diverse range of looks—urban and countryside—all within a reasonably small geographical area. We have an ample metropolitan base for production, easy access to an international airport and a wide range of location looks so that you can do a lot without going far. And our crew base is passionate about their craft, and they go over and above to ensure a top-notch job every time.

WS: What are some of the fringes or incentives of shooting there?
MILLET: There’s a national incentive in New Zealand, which is administered by the New Zealand Film Commission. All productions over a minimum threshold, filming in Auckland, can benefit from the New Zealand Screen Production Grant, which is the national incentive that provides a 20 percent rebate on qualifying New Zealand production spend. It’s a comprehensive grant that is easy to work with and very well administered by the New Zealand Film Commission. We can connect productions with the right people at the Commission to talk about the incentives.

WS: What makes Auckland, and New Zealand as a whole, an attractive hub for production, particularly post-Covid-19 border restrictions?
MILLET: All restrictions have now been lifted. The country is one of the highest vaccinated in the world (over 80 percent), and there is no pre-testing to come into New Zealand.

Directors and producers tell us that we work hard; we’re not precious. One of the recurring themes of the feedback is that the crew becomes a family here very quickly, and it’s a supportive and creative environment to be working with people who are giving it everything.

And when you’re not on set, there’s room to breathe here, an ability to work hard but also relax. And that’s part of the nature of New Zealanders as well. When you get that precious time to unwind, it can be going out on the harbor, visiting a winery, tramping in the mountains, exploring the outdoors.

Auckland has got a really rich and busy cultural life as well. There are always festivals on, there are fantastic restaurants, in the suburbs and in the city. That allows people to nourish themselves and their families when they’re not working. And I think that kind of happy family part is important as well.

WS: What are the strengths of the infrastructure, crews and capacity, and how are these expanding?
MILLET: Auckland is the [most populous] city in New Zealand, and while crew readily move between cities and regions, by the nature of scale, we have the largest talent pool. We often receive feedback from international productions that Kiwi crews are passionate about their work, are world-class operators but have a real down-to-earth attitude.

In terms of infrastructure, there has been significant investment being made into the Auckland studios.

WS: Tell us about the studio expansions underway at Studio West and Auckland Film Studios to assist with demand.
MILLET: Auckland Film Studios, to be completed in November. The new stages going up are 2,000 square meters (21,528 square feet) each. Total stage space will then be approximately 7,600 square meters (81,806 square feet)—more than doubling the stage space.

Studio West, expansion completed in August. The additional stage will be 3,400 square meters (36,597 square feet), [with] 1,500-square-meter (16,146-square-foot) offices.

This is not to forget two other significant offerings. Kumeu Film Studios (KFS) boasts the largest, deepest indoor underwater dive tank in the Southern Hemisphere: Diameter of 18 meters (59 feet), depth of 5 meters (16 feet) and temperature of 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). KFS also has a 3-meter (10-foot) deep ocean surface tank with green-screen capability of up to 54 meters (177 feet) by 40 meters (131 feet) wide. Kumeu Film Studios also has a 4,000-square-meter (43,055-square-foot) dynamic warehouse stage space and two purpose-built 2,290-square-meter (24,650-square-foot) stages. X3 Studios is a flexible purpose-built location that has a saleable offering. The A+B Stage combined totals 5,800 square meters (62,430 square feet), and the A, B, C & D Stages are 2,900 square meters (31,215 square feet) each.

WS: What message do you have for producers considering Auckland/New Zealand as a potential location for their next TV or streaming series shoot? How can they make the most of what the region has to offer?
MILLET: Get in touch with us to have a chat. We can connect you with the people who will be able to help you delve deeper into your areas of interest and work things out with you. Our local production community are experts in how to make Auckland work for a whole range of productions. We’ve been doing it for a long time. And it can include our colleagues in the film offices at the Film Commission and the other regional film offices of New Zealand. We’ve got a really good handle on the locations, access and offering of the region.