EXCLUSIVE: The Wing, a post-production and film financing company with specialism in international co-productions with New Zealand, is launching ahead of the Cannes market.
Co-founded by Tavake Limited and Be Hope Films, the company says it will offer international producers with co-production treaties with New Zealand “post-production services bundled with an equity financing mechanism that converts post spend into investment”, deployed alongside New Zealand’s Screen Production Rebate which returns 40% on qualifying New Zealand expenditure.
For international coproducers arriving in New Zealand with a finance plan to close, The Wing is setting itself up as a “single point of contact that can activate that entire mechanism and ensure every eligible dollar of a production reaches its full rebate potential”.
The company’s financing capability is said to be supported by a strategic alliance with Hinterland, a New Zealand-based screen media finance company led by Managing Director Sharon Menzies.
The Wing’s says its post infrastructure will draw on “an alliance” of New Zealand vendors across picture post, VFX, sound, and dailies, with them operating as “coordinated partners under a single commercial relationship”. The company is also touting its investment in AI-assisted post workflows.
The company is targeting independent and mid-tier international co-productions with budgets between $5M and $15M, and will be at the Cannes market to talk to producers.
The company’s debut production is in post: Shearing the Love — the New Zealand-set feature directed by Tom Hern and starring Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush alongside AJ McLean, with international sales handled by Essential Films. The film is acting as The Wing’s proof of concept, according to the company’s founders.
“As a globally-focused producer and co-producer, I often found the last 5–10% of funding the most difficult to find. Yet, that’s often exactly what stands between a great project and a greenlit movie. That’s why we founded The Wing to help producers get over that final hurdle,” said Tom Hern, co-founder, The Wing.
“New Zealand has world-class post capability, a competitive rebate, and extraordinary locations but the financing piece for international partners can be fragmented. The Wing exists to change that. We are not a service provider who also happens to invest. We are an equity partner who delivers post, structures the investment, and cashflows the rebate. That is a different conversation to have with an international producer,” added Belindalee Hope, Managing Director & co-founder, The Wing.
