Wellington impresses ‘After the Party’ producer
The six-part series set in the capital launched on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+ in late October 2023. It was launched internationally in early October and is set to air on ABC Australia in mid-2024.
‘After the Party’ tells the story of Penny. Played by Kiwi actress Robyn Malcolm, Penny’s world implodes when she accuses her ex-husband Phil of a sex crime, and nobody believes her.
Filming took place last summer. Locations spanned from Wellington’s south coast beaches and bays, to Mākara, Johnsonville, and Lower Hutt’s Alicetown.
After more than 30 years in the industry, Kiwi-born Helen’s first time filming in Wellington was a positive experience.
“I loved shooting in Wellington. It’s so compact, varied, and welcoming. People are eager to help and tolerant of film crews.
“Whether we were shooting in schools, playgrounds, nightclubs or on beaches we found it very easy. The proximity of such varied locations allowed us to move a lot and get a much richer look to the series for the scale of our budget.”
The Sydney-based Lingo Pictures’ founder/producer was looking for a small city as a film location, surrounded by steep hills, that was a little wild with plenty of wildlife.
“Wellington gave us all that. Once we chose Wellington, we realised how perfect it was and how seldom it’s seen on screen as itself.”
Mākara is one of Helen’s favourite locations.
“The hills with the wind turbines, the rough seas, the lonely shacks and the piles of driftwood eloquently spoke of our lead character’s inner turmoil — a lot of production value right there.”
The other thing Helen loves is the way Wellington’s houses are stacked on the hills.
“It is incredibly picturesque and quite unlike anywhere else in the world.”
It isn’t hard for Helen to see why Wellington is a designated UNESCO City of Film.
“Wellington is highly unusual in the world for the number and quality of the cast and crew based here. You wouldn’t expect such a small place to have the level and sophistication of crew that it does. We have Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, Richard Taylor, Tania Rodger, and Taika Waititi to thank for that.
“While none of the originators of the project were from Wellington we used a lot of local talent for cast and crew. They were just fantastic, we were blown away.”
‘After The Party’ was born out of Robyn and screenwriter Dianne Taylor’s frustration with the lack of decent roles for middle-aged women. They decided to do something about it and joined forces to create the series.
Robyn’s character Penny, best described as hard, tough, and a battler, is reflective of Wellington’s environment, says Robyn.
“It’s rough, it’s rocky, and there are all those little inlets that sort of come in on your life.”
Some of Helen’s most-loved scenes are of Penny cycling all over Wellington. When she wasn’t battling up hills against the wind, she had her grandson Walt in the child seat.
“There’s a marvellous scene where she’s cycling along Island Bay with all the fishing boats behind her and Walt on the back.”
Shooting during one of the capital’s best summers meant consistently fine days and long twilights for filming.
“And when the weather did turn wild, it came up so well on screen,” says Helen.
“Wellington truly is a fantastic looking place, it’s a wonderful film location and a very cost-effective place to work.”
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Visual:
- The video begins with a photo taken from above the hills of Wellington overlooking the harbour.
Text on screen: ‘After The Party’ overlays the image, the text ‘Wellington’ fades onto the screen.
- A scene from the show plays, with Penny (played by Robyn Malcolm) biking around a coastal road in Ōwhiro Bay.
- Another scene plays, where Penny is still biking, this time along a road above the Wellington city centre in the suburb of Kelburn.
Audio, Robyn: One of the major aspects of ‘After The Party’ has to do with the natural world, and the dramatic personal emotional world in which people live.
Visual: The camera cuts to a sit-down interview with Robyn Malcolm. She is wearing a green shirt and sits in front of a red brick wall covered in green plants and pink flowers.
Text on screen: Robyn Malcolm — Executive Producer / ‘Penny’
Audio, Robyn: We wanted something that was wild, that was Kiwi, that was very close to the natural world, that had some wild sea nearby, and some mountains nearby so that she was close to that world.
Visual:
- Waves crashing onto rocks on the South Wellington coast.
- The camera zooms in slowly, looking over hilly suburbs towards the south coast from the Mount Albert lookout in Berhampore.
- A van quickly drives past the camera along a rocky coastal road.
Text on screen: Peter Salmon — Director/ Producer
Visual: The camera cuts to an interview with Peter Salmon sitting in a highrise building near two large windows. He sits in front of a large indoor plant and wears a khaki green shirt.
Audio, Peter: I’ve always wanted to film in Wellington. You don’t often see it on screen, its harbour is set around tall hills and all the housing is sort of layered on top of each other and that to me is very thematic about how everyone’s lives are sort of compressed.
Visual:
- Looking up from Oriental Parade shows houses stacked tight on. The houses are classic Wellington early 1900 villas, in many colours.
- Houses are scattered over a hill in Hataitai.
Text on screen: Melissa Spicer — Production Designer
Visual: The camera cuts to an interview with Melissa Spicer. She sits in a black room with studio lighting and wears a white t-shirt.
Audio, Melissa: There’s a lot of elements of nature that are brought into a lot of the sets and the props. Which I think kind of lends itself to the story and the characters and Wellington’s environment. Which is quite hardy and brutal and beautiful but rugged and Penny’s character is very much reflective of that as well.
Visual:
- A person gets into a car. It is in the driveway of a villa-style house, surrounded by trees and hills.
- A close-up of a washing line with two flannel shirts hanging on it.
- Apples hanging from a tree branch above a shed.
- A close-up of apples on the ground that have fallen and started rotting.
- Three kākā perched on power lines.
- A sunset over the Wellington hills, with a bird silhouette flying.
Audio, Robyn: It’s rough and it’s rocky and if you know all those little inlets that sort of come in on your life.
- A scene from the show, with the character Simon standing up from sitting on a log amongst the rocky outcrops on the Wellington South coast.
- He walks toward Penny, who is looking out to the ocean.
Audio, Peter: They call it the windy city and it absolutely is and all that kind of thing just makes people hard and tough you know.
Visual:
- The rough ocean between the Miramar Peninsula and Pencarrow Coast, with white waves, two lighthouses and large hills.
- The camera cuts back to Peter’s interview.
Audio, Peter: And that is exactly who Penny is, she’s just a battler riding her bike up very very steep hills and against the wind and the rain.
Visual:
- Another scene from the show, with Penny biking down a very steep hill toward Wellington city centre.
- Penny and others sit on a couch inside a house, looking through photo albums.
Audio, Peter: I think Wellington has a beautiful sense of community there and people know each other it’s like a small town but is a city at the same time.
Visual:
- Behind the scenes, a crew member lifts their child while looking into the camera.
- Behind the scenes inside an indoor sports hall, Penny and another character walk toward the camera.
- The camera crew walk among teenagers playing basketball.
- The camera cuts to an interview, this time with Dean O’Gorman, who plays Simon. He is sitting against a brick wall with plants behind him.
Text on screen: Dean O’Gorman — ‘Simon’
Audio, Dean: It’s its own thriving film hub. There are a lot of industry people here so for me it’s really lovely to catch up and work with people — crew specifically that I haven’t really worked with for a long time.
Visual:
- The camera crew filming on a beach in Wellington with large rock formations behind them.
- Two camera operators stand knee-deep in waves with a film camera, shooting a scene.
- Crew members chatting on the beach, standing under an umbrella.
- Looking down from a hill onto the film crew set up on a beach.
- The camera cuts to an interview, with producer Helen Bowden. She wears a dark blue shirt and a Pounamu necklace and sits in front of the brick wall with plants.
Text on Screen: Helen Bowden — Producer
Audio, Helen: Wellington is just a fantastic-looking place, and we have been very very lucky to get a lot of cast out of Wellington.
Visual:
- A scene plays, where Penny is in a nightclub surrounded by teenagers. The teenagers wear punk outfits and kiss.
- Penny walks through the dimly lit nightclub and looks lost.
Audio, Peter: So, to me, Wellington, you know, that was the perfect spot to set the show.
Visual:
- Two people walk down a beach, as a dog runs ahead.
- A group of surfers wait for waves in the ocean, with houses on the cliffs behind.
- The camera cuts to a black screen.
Audio: Music plays.
Text on Screen: After The Party