stuff wrote:A Wellywood sign to celebrate the capital's film industry will be built along the hillside next to the Miramar Cutting.
The Hollywood-style sign will be 3.5 metres high and 28m wide. It is understood to cost several hundred thousand dollars and is intended to be ready for the Rugby World Cup in September.
Veteran Wellington film director Geoff Murphy could barely stop laughing when told yesterday that the idea would proceed.
"We had a film industry well before this Wellywood bullshit was going on. I think it's f ...ing stupid. It is copying a foreign, bullshit glamour idea and it's the pits of what people can aspire to."
...
Branding expert Wayne Attwell, from Bold Horizon, said the city's overall brand was sophisticated and encompassed its culture and environment. "The sign is positioning the city as `We are Wellywood. We are a bit try-hard. We are a bit behind the times. We are a follower.'
"I think personally it is quite crass and it's going to downgrade the overall perception of Wellington as a sophisticated city. A big bold sticking-out sign will also look pretty trashy."
Positively Wellington Tourism chief executive David Perks said the Wellywood idea received global media attention when it was floated 15 months ago. "One of the things for Wellington is that the world talks about us, and the sign is a mechanism for that."
Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown said yesterday that she did not support a sign of any kind. "There are much more important ways to promote the film industry, and creative digital, than with a sign. But the airport did do a good job to see if there were other phrases that were an improvement."
Eastern ward councillor Ray Ahipene-Mercer said residents would have to live with the airport's decision. "They have made a call on it. There will be many people who will think it's fine and, as we know, there will be many who don't agree."
hahahaha y'all gonna look like a city of right plonkers
