Screen production industry

Skytower Auckland's screen production industry is a key priority for economic development in the Auckland region.

The Auckland region has desirable and proven film locations, world-class production facilities, growing skill capacity and film friendly regulatory and compliance practices.

We were a key partner in establishing the regional film office Film Auckland, along with Waitakere City Council and Waitakere Enterprise, and remain its gold sponsor.

Film Auckland is the voice of the screen production industry in Auckland, and works to assist the feature film, television commercial, and television series production industry through film friendly logistics, international location marketing, capability building, and collaboration with other industry entities.

Film Auckland also launched The Green Book - a comprehensive guide to regulations affecting filming in the Auckland region.

We also have our own dedicated team to help production companies facilitate filming in Auckland city.

We were one of the first councils in the Auckland region to be granted 'Film Friendly' status by Local Government New Zealand.

City benefits from screen production

The Auckland region has become an internationally renowned production location.

Advantages Auckland can offer are:

a vast network of experienced, innovative and world-class film industry professionals
great locations: beaches, skyscrapers, ancient forests, diverse and interesting architecture, parks and volcanoes. Even seemingly remote locations are within easy reach of Auckland central
top quality post production, animation and visual effects companies
a strong network of suppliers who can satisfy most requirements
the low New Zealand dollar means value for money for international clients
New Zealand has one of the best production incentive programmes in the world
during northern hemisphere winter producers can come here to shoot in summer
we are reliable and we deliver
we are an English speaking city
Auckland is a great place to make films - in late 2007 key Film Industry magazine Screen International named Auckland one of the top eight international screen hubs in the world (ahead of Wellington).

Auckland City Council commissioned economic consultants Covec to quantify the impact of the screen production industry on the city's economy. Auckland city is a significant contributor to the national screen production industry, with three-quarters of New Zealand's screen production companies active in the city, employing around 46 per cent of the national screen production workforce.

The screen production industry in Auckland city generated gross output of $343m in 2007, and GDP of $377m. This is around 1.35 per cent of Auckland city's total GDP in 2007. This contribution exceeds that of the electricity, gas, and water sector ($350m), and sits just below the hospitality sector ($415m) and the 'personal and other services' sector ($416m).

In many ways the screen production industry is no different to most other industries - it is, after all, subject to standard business fundamentals. However, it does have some distinguishing features:

significant export potential - 42 per cent of national screen production revenue was sourced from offshore in 2007
high incomes - the average annual income of a screen production worker was around $68,000 in 2007 - almost twice the national average of $35,000
high labour intensity which ensures that industry revenues are quickly converted to household income, which is then used to pay local living expenses and purchase goods and services from local businesses (particularly retail businesses)
high propensity to develop tourism revenue both directly through business travel related to the production activity and indirectly through exposure and reputation effects e.g. Lord of the Rings.

Updated December 2009