Work in the film, television, radio and media industry in the Wellington region is varied. The region is home to television studios (in Lower Hutt), a number of small production companies, radio stations, and a small but thriving film industry.

Work ranges from unskilled labourers (which is often part-time, inconsistent work), through to highly skilled work, such as software or sound engineers (which may be permanent or long-term contracts).

Film biggest area of employment

Wellington has a thriving film sector. As well as work in production (for example as production runners or camera operators, the region has a good computer generated and visual effects facilities.

Work available in these areas includes:

• animators and digital artists
• software engineers
• makeup effects and prosthetics
• creature, armour, weapon or costume making.

There are also opportunities in post-production, where raw film is made into a final movie. This area employs a number of specialised technicians, such as sound editors and film processing technicians.

Small production studios often employ people on contract

There are a number of small production companies based in Wellington doing work such as:

• sound recording and production
• producing media such as advertisements, television shows, music videos and corporate and training videos.

The number of staff they employ varies, with most companies employing only a few full-time staff, and taking on freelance contract staff as work requires.

Limited number of jobs in radio available

Jobs for radio companies include roles such as radio presenters, journalists, producers and sound technicians. There are limited opportunities for this work in the region, so competition for jobs is high.

Film the biggest employer and earner for the region

The biggest sector of the film, television, radio and media industry in Wellington is the film sector, which employs the most people and generates the most income.



New Zealand is a popular film-making destination for international film companies. This is due to the relatively low cost of film production in New Zealand. Also the huge global successes of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy and King Kong, which were made in Wellington has secured our reputation in the industry.

These films showed Wellington had a wealth of film-making expertise and state-of-the-art facilities. This reputation has meant more films are being made in the region, and the value of the industry has been increasing over the past few years.

Job opportunities vary depending on films being made in region

Employment opportunities in film production fluctuate depending on what is being done in the region. For example, when the Lord of the Rings trilogy was being produced in 1999 in Wellington the number of jobs available expanded considerably, across a range of areas. Many of these jobs were contract positions, which is common in the film industry.

Despite this, competition for jobs is high, with many applications for any job that is advertised.

Radio and television jobs

Radio and television are small parts of this industry in the Wellington region, which means job opportunities are limited. In television, there are a number of small production companies, which have a small number of staff and hire additional staff on contract as required.

There are only a small number of employers in the film, television, radio and media industry in the Wellington region. They are mainly locally owned or part of government. The types of employers include:

• film or television studios and smaller supporting companies such as personnel or equipment hire companies.
• radio companies
• visual or digital effect companies
• film, television and radio associations, societies or guilds.

The main employers in the film sector are:

• Weta Digital, which doe computer generated effects
• Weta Workshop, which produces visual effects
• Park Road Post, a film post production studio.

These companies employ very few new people each year, although Park Road has an annual intake of fixed-term paid trainees.

This industry is based in Wellington City, with Wellington’s film studios and effects companies located in the suburb of Miramar.

Central Wellington is home to Radio New Zealand, with much of the content for their programmes produced here. This is also where several small film and television production companies are located.

In addition, TVNZ operates a small television studio in Lower Hutt.