Emma Slade Unleashed: Film, Opportunity and the Future of Screen in Hawke’s Bay

A sell-out The Profit Unleashed event gave Hawke’s Bay business leaders a rare insight into the world of film production and a clear message about the economic opportunity sitting right here in the region.

When Emma Slade took to the stage at The Profit Unleashed in Hastings on 13 August, the conversation quickly moved beyond filmmaking.

Yes, Emma talked about her career, the films she has produced and the stories currently on her slate. But she also talked about something much bigger: what it would take for Hawke’s Bay to become a genuine screen production hub and why local business and government have an important role to play.

The event, held at The Atrium at The Tribune, was another sell-out for The Profit Unleashed series, which has now established a reputation for bringing candid conversations with people who have achieved at the highest level across business, sport and the creative industries.

For Screen Hawke’s Bay, Emma’s participation was particularly significant.

She is not only one of New Zealand’s leading film and television producers; she is someone actively thinking about how regional economies can create the conditions for screen production to thrive.

Emma Slade is the founder of Velvet Moss, formerly Firefly Films, and has built an impressive producing career across feature film, documentary and television. Her credits include Holy Days, Uproar, Bookworm, Mr Organ, Nude Tuesday, Come to Daddy, The Justice of Bunny King, The Changeover. The Profit describes her career as one built around backing distinctive Aotearoa voices and taking bold stories to international audiences.

But it was her latest project that generated particular interest in the room.

LOMU the man behind the legend

Emma is one of the producers of LOMU, the new feature documentary about Jonah Lomu, alongside Victoria Dabbs, Victoria Barrell and Simon Lazenby. The film is directed by Vea Mafile’o and Gavin Fitzgerald. The documentary goes beyond the extraordinary sporting career that made Jonah Lomu a global icon. LOMU explores his journey from his Tongan roots and South Auckland upbringing to becoming the youngest All Black and one of rugby’s first truly global superstars. It also examines the person behind the public image his family, faith, identity, cultural connections and the significant personal and health challenges he faced.

The filmmakers had access to family members and archival material, including previously unseen family footage, creating what the filmmakers describe as a more intimate portrait of the man behind the legend. The film premiered at the 2026 Dublin International Film Festival before screening at festivals including Glasgow, Sydney and the New Zealand International Film Festival.

For audiences in Aotearoa, LOMU is due in cinemas from 3 September 2026. For Emma, projects such as LOMU demonstrate the extraordinary reach that New Zealand stories can achieve when the right creative talent, financing, infrastructure and production environment come together.

And that was where the conversation became particularly relevant to Hawke’s Bay.

Could film become Hawke’s Bay’s next economic driver?

Emma spoke about the work she is undertaking with Screen Hawke’s Bay to explore the development of a regional Film Fund. The idea is straightforward: create an additional incentive that can help make Hawke’s Bay a more compelling proposition for producers deciding where their next project should be made.

Film and television production is an increasingly competitive international business. Producers consider locations, infrastructure, crew, accommodation, logistics, financing, incentives and the overall cost of production when deciding where to shoot.

Kearney’s research into production incentives describes them as a tool used by governments and regions to attract international productions, stimulate local screen industries, generate economic activity and create employment. Its research also shows just how widespread these programmes have become internationally.

The lesson is important for Hawke’s Bay. Great locations alone are not always enough. A region needs to create an environment where a producer can confidently say: “This is where we should make our film.” That means having locations, infrastructure, suppliers, crew, accommodation, efficient permitting processes and increasingly, a competitive incentive proposition.

One of the most important messages from Emma’s presentation was that a film production is not simply a creative project. It is a regional economic project.

When a production comes into Hawke’s Bay, expenditure can flow through accommodation providers, restaurants and caterers, transport operators, vehicle hire companies, equipment suppliers, construction and trades businesses, retail, professional services and local crew.

Screen Hawke’s Bay’s new Production Guide makes this point strongly: the region already has a growing network of experienced businesses and suppliers capable of supporting productions, while screen production is recognised as an economic driver with spending flowing into accommodation, hospitality, transport, trades, suppliers and crew.

The proposed Film Fund is therefore not simply about supporting filmmakers. It is about attracting new economic activity into Hawke’s Bay.

Emma encouraged local businesses and local authorities to understand this opportunity and consider how they can contribute to building a sustainable screen economy.

You can’t attract productions without people ready to make them

Emma also highlighted another critical part of the equation: workforce development. It is one thing to convince a producer to bring a production to Hawke’s Bay.

It is another thing to be able to say: “We have the crew here to deliver it.”

Major productions need highly skilled people across dozens of departments from locations, production management and assistant directing through to camera, lighting, grip, sound, art department, costume, hair and make-up, construction, set decoration and many specialist roles.

That is why Emma’s work through Share the Knowledge is so important.

Share the Knowledge, founded by Emma Slade and Victoria Dabbs, identified the need for more relevant, industry-led training for below-the-line workers. That thinking led to the development of Kahurangi Toi Ātea, the National Screen Industry Training Programme, in partnership with Te Wānanga Whare Tapere o Takitimu.

Kahurangi Toi Ātea – National Screen Industry Training Programme

The programme is NZQA-approved and provides participants with departmental skills taught by industry professionals, followed by the opportunity to apply those skills on set through large-scale productions.

The partnership with Te Wānanga Whare Tapere o Takitimu is particularly significant. The organisation helped develop the curriculum, moderation and assessment, and gifted the programme its name, Kahurangi Toi Ātea. This is exactly the kind of thinking Hawke’s Bay needs.

Attract the work. Train the people. Give them experience. Retain the talent. Grow the industry.

Kahurangi Toi Ātea is designed around the idea that training should lead to real employment and production experience. The programme’s 2025 case study identifies workforce capacity as fundamental to the success of a screen sector: incoming and national producers need confidence that projects can be made safely and competently, with skilled crew available across disciplines and professional levels. That is particularly relevant to regional New Zealand.

The programme is deliberately designed to operate in the regions, connecting training with production opportunities and helping build sustainable local screen economies. For Hawke’s Bay, this creates an exciting opportunity to develop a workforce that does not simply wait for productions to arrive but is ready when they do.

The invitation is open

Emma Slade’s career is a powerful example of what can happen when New Zealand stories are backed with ambition and taken to the world.

LOMU is one of those stories.

It is a story rooted in Aotearoa and the Pacific, made through an international production partnership, and now reaching audiences well beyond New Zealand. Emma’s role in bringing that story to the screen is a reminder that the journey from a local idea to an internationally significant production is very real.

The challenge and opportunity for Hawke’s Bay is to make sure more of those journeys can begin here.

Emma Slade came to The Profit Unleashed to talk about film. She left Hawke’s Bay with a room full of business people thinking about something much bigger:

What if screen becomes one of the next great economic drivers for our region?