Te Puke is being ambitiously pitched to Kiwi filmmakers as a competitive, cost-effective strategic location to make movies, to attract more economic activity to the Western Bay.

The idea of making the town a ‘TePukeWood' type film-making location, similar to Wellywood, is the brainchild of Te Puke Economic Development Group managing director Mark Boyle.

Te Puke - the next Wellywood?

Te Puke Economic Development Group managing director Mark Boyle is going to pitch his town to Kiwi film-maker's as a dream location.

Since the town pulled together to help produce community-resourced film ‘The Z Nail Gang', Mark says he has seen Te Puke's potential to market itself as a film location with many differences.

'When we were filming the ‘The Z Nail Gang' it became obvious there is such a breath and differentiation of resource in Te Puke you could actually make it appealing to a whole lot of film-makers.”

He believes the town's key uniqueness and differentiation lies in its strategic location, competitive price for filmmaking and its large human resource – ready and willing to volunteer to get films made in Te Puke.

'We are minutes away from international and domestic airports, New Zealand's premier sea port and two significant cities in Tauranga and Rotorua.

'If you're filming a movie, no matter what the scene or what the content, [in Te Puke] you can have access within a few minutes to a corporate environment, a city, farm or orchard, or to a coastline or various small communities or a village.”

Mark says Te Puke is also very competitively priced, compared to larger centres, as recent ‘The Z Nail gang' filming shows, with residents volunteering to add value to their town.

'This includes accommodation, transport, communication and service providers. Our talent pool is vast, not only in the arts but in industry and innovation.

'The infrastructure around making movies is quiet expensive but if you can attract volunteers, you got a cost benefit,” says Mark.

Asked what sets Te Puke apart from other small towns pitching to film-making hubs, Mark says nobody's thought of the idea yet.

'I thought of it first – that's one good point. Number two is that width and breadth of resources [in Te Puke].

'You can be on top of the Kaimai Ranges or fishing at Pukehina Beach within an hour.”

Mark says it's pretty clear NZ has promoted itself as a place to make movies.

'But within the context of film-makers, if we promote our uniqueness to NZ film producers, whether be those who make short films or feature-length films, we can get them to come here and do it – and we get the economic benefits.”

'Lots of communities have differentiators, but our community's are long and wide – and I think this a novel idea to promote.”

Asked if Te Puke would be rebranded to be the filming town of NZ, Mark says ‘no'.

'What we've done in the last year is rebranded as ‘Te Puke Goodness Grows Here', which really is promoting the idea of the Zespri kiwifruit and Comvita's manuka honey and high quality dairy products – this is just an idea that we've been successful with a community film in recent weeks,” says Mark.

'It's just a bit of entrepreneurship; TePukeWood is just a bit if fun thing.”

Although he admits its ambitious, Mark says he'll now devote time to pitch Te Puke to NZ film industry executives in the next few months.

'I know people who are in the game and make films – I've got a list here and I'm going to put some effort into trying to sell our value proposition to these people.”