Government-backed Frankton film studio fizzles out
Target3D New Zealand was planning to open the studio as a key tenant of the Queenstown Research & Innovation Centre after getting approval for a $2 million loan from a government regional development fund.
Announced by then-economic development minister Stuart Nash in 2022, the Queenstown Digital Studio was intended to support virtual production through motion capture technology, game-engine servers, lighting, production equipment and staging.
However, Gisborne-based Target3D NZ director Shannon Dowsing said he had to pull the pin two months ago after concluding the business model for the studio — and the rationale for taking up the loan — no longer made sense.
It had relied on commercial screen industry production, research and development funding and education partnerships to come together, but each has faced major challenges, Mr Dowsing said.
Although Queenstown is still busy with internationally-funded productions, spending by NZ on Air and Te Māngai Pāho has "significantly reduced" in the past three years.
"It's highly competitive and existing players are very likely to be getting that funding."
The company also has a specific R&D programme in mind for the resort town, but the government's scrapping of Crown entity Callaghan Innovation has made funding support "questionable".
Another important component of the studio had been education, but it has not made enough progress with education providers to get that under way.
Screentime NZ's setting up of a full-time production facility, Remarkable Studios, in the former H&Js department store in Remarkables Park last year meant Target3D could not justify investing in the equipment for a second studio.
Mr Dowsing said he was not a believer in the concept of "if you build it, they will come".
"We've been trying to solve all these challenges but, ultimately, we didn't feel it was a great time to be borrowing a couple of million dollars to invest in Queenstown in such an unstable market."
However, he thought it would only be a matter of time before Target3D had a presence in the resort.
"We've decided to go into the region organically and make decisions based on what actually can be done. I think we can achieve the same results, but without starting with a risky investment."
guy.williams@odt.co.nz
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