From moody black sand beaches to gritty city streets, and from historic buildings to mystical forests, Auckland is globally renowned for its diverse filming locations in a relatively small area.
Now location scouts, producers and directors looking for Auckland spots to film their latest project can find them more easily on Screen Auckland’s digital library on Reel-Scout –a platform widely used by city and regional film offices in the US, Canada, Australia and England.
For the first time, Auckland landowners, businesses and venues who think their property has a look that will appeal to film makers can submit professional quality images to Screen Auckland to showcase in the library. Once their property is featured, landowners can deal directly with productions interested in filming there.
Screen Auckland Manager Jasmine Millet says Auckland’s online location gallery is an exciting asset for the region’s thriving screen production sector: “Reel-Scout is the industry standard in most of our key markets, so having a much more accessible location library producers are familiar with is a big step forward in our mission to ensure Auckland is as film friendly as possible for both local and international productions – and to ultimately support our region’s world-class screen industry.
“The library highlights how many unique and varied locations there are within easy reach of central Auckland – and we are looking forward to discovering potential new filming sites suggested by landowners,” says Jasmine Millet.
Auckland generates nearly half of the country’s screen business, and one of the key reasons it continues to attract productions of all sizes is the range of ‘looks’ directors can find here. These include small towns, landscapes, city streets, and buildings which can easily stand in for international locations from Australia to North America.
“When producers add our location assets to the region’s talented production, post-production and visual effects and animation workforces, our studio infrastructure, and New Zealand’s formal co-production agreements with 18 countries, it’s a compelling case for them to film in Auckland.”
But Jasmine Millet says Screen Auckland is mindful of potential over-exposure of some public permit locations – including regularly requested streets and coastal spots – which risks disruption becoming an issue for some communities and the local boards that represent them.
“Screen Auckland works hard to ensure the industry has ongoing access to sustainable location options. To achieve that, we must balance the needs of productions with Auckland Council’s role as the guardian of our region’s environment, and unique cultural heritage and identity.
“The new locations library will mean the industry is able to discover alternative and fresh looks, and help reduce pressure on some of the more well-known sites,” says Jasmine Millet.
Auckland’s library is divided into a range of popular location categories including: towns and cities; the famed coast; historic and cultural sites; and ‘another world’.