January 20, 2020 11:00am by David Farrar

Nice problem to have

The filming of the new Lord of the Rings television series is causing some headaches for local film producers as they struggle to find workers and studio space.
Amazon’s new billion-dollar series is based in Auckland but is being filmed across the country and is set to kick off next month.
At the same time, Netflix’s new live-action series Cowboy Bebop and the long awaited sequels to James Cameron’s Avatar are already in the works.
But Great Southern Television chief executive Phil Smith said while the filming was a boon, it was causing some headaches.
The local film industry was struggling to find workers or studio space amidst all of the action, he said.
“First of all it’s quite a good problem to have. Having an industry in New Zealand that is so incredibly buoyant and exciting, no-one is going to be complaining about that, but clearly there’s only a certain number of skilled people who can do an exceptional job and when international companies come in they want the very best, and so do we.

Definitely a good problem to have.