Waikato gets plenty of screen time in new shows and movies

Wednesday, 4 October 2023

The verdant farmland of Maungatautari, Putaruru, Te Poi and Te Awamutu could soon be seen on movie screens in Venice, Cannes and Los Angeles.

Home Kills, a black comedy set and filmed in the Waikato, is being pitched for inclusion in several major international film festivals around the world.

The film, written and directed by former Waikato man Haydn Butler, has just completed a run at the New Zealand International Film Festival, which included two packed screenings in Hamilton.

However, it will be a while before the movie - about two brothers who hatch a desperate plan to save their struggling butchery business by switching livestock for human lives - can be seen by general audiences at theatres around the country.

Richard Flood and Acushla-Tara Kupe star as Theo Richter and Diana Huia in The Gone, a gritty murder-mystery television series partially shot in Te Aroha.

That’s because Butler and others involved in the promotion of Home Kills are hoping to make an impression with overseas film distributors and other industry impresarios - which could benefit their work in innumerable ways.

The prospect of the massive exposure afforded by the major film festivals was also being helped by the fact Home Kills was already benefiting from buzz generated at the New Zealand festival, producer Matt Hicks said.

“It’s received some really good reviews, and it was great to see the big turnout for the two Waikato screenings. We also had [top New Zealand actress] Keisha Castle-Hughes come to one of the screenings in Auckland, which gave us a real kick.”

Shot in various locations around the Waikato, Home Kills was made with “a healthy dollop” of locally-sourced film crew members, who were thrilled to rub shoulders with seasoned professionals, including acting alumni from shows like Shortland Street, Neighbours and Outrageous Fortune.

Brothers Mark (Josh McKenzie) and Tom (Cameron Jones) are brothers who resort to creative and ghoulish ideas for keeping the family butchery business going in Home Kills.

The movie - which has already been likened to a New Zealand take on Joel and Ethan Coen’s seminal Fargo - is not the only reason Hicks and others involved in film and television productions in the region are filled with enthusiasm.

The Gone, a New Zealand-Ireland joint production shot in and around Te Aroha, has been renewed for a second season. The first season injected an estimated $1 million into the community.

Avatar: The Way of Water had some “boat jump” scenes filmed off the coast of Matarangi, which were then heavily modified by special effects teams at Weta Workshop.

Parts of the acclaimed Netflix series Sweet Tooth were shot in the Waikato and Hauraki Districts, and another streaming platform series - which cannot yet be revealed - was recently filmed here.

Several other productions - one of which was a major feature film helmed by an international studio - had recently wrapped.

However, some are now uncertain, with the recent strike by members of the Hollywood writers’ union and an ongoing actors strike throwing filming and production schedules into chaos.

“We are expecting an absolute flood of productions,” said Erin Griffiths, the business development manager of industry facilitation organisation Waikato Screen.

But confidentiality clauses, along with the effect of the strikes, meant she could not reveal much about some of the projects - yet.

“There have been large American productions inquiring into Waikato-based locations that cannot be disclosed.”

There have also been numerous commercials, documentaries, travel and reality shows filmed around the region - all of which Waikato Screen had been involved with.

Waikato Screen had also recently appointed an advisory board. Chaired by Southern Cross travel programme lead Deserae Frisk, it also includes PWC managing partner Mark McCabe, psychologist Esmae McKenzie-Norton, Te Puni Kōkiri business facilitator Michelle Paki and Hauraki Mayor Toby Adams.

Potential film crew members and film-related businesses were also being encouraged to sign up with Waikato Screen, which was compiling a comprehensive database on who to turn to when the studios came calling.

– An earlier version of this story stated the television production The Gone had injected $7 million into the Waikato economy during the filming phase of the production. This figure, included in information provided by Waikato Screen, is incorrect. The true figure is $1 million.