Prompt Service: 25 Years of Supporting Shoots in New Zealand

How did your company get started, and how has it evolved alongside the New Zealand screen industry?

I had purchased a teleprompter kit for my own use in corporate video productions and after a few years was starting to get requests from other production companies to hire it and would always provide an operator. In 1999 I was looking for another income stream to offset times when I just didn't have enough production work and decided to separate out this service as it's own branded business- and Prompt Service was born.

My experience until then had been that companies with their own kit would send it out with the receptionist, because she could type. We changed the paradigm and started hiring out our eqipment accompanied by operators who were trained on it and experienced with working on set.

Hiring a teleprompter for a shoot went from being something that was often a hassle and slowed the production down- if not the recording of the actual takes- to helping with a more efficient shoot.

What key trends or changes have you noticed in demand from productions in recent years?

There was a definite drop-off in video production business with the advent of the iPad and tablets. There’s absolutely a place for that technology- and I used it as a producer, but I kept Prompt Service focused on the people skills we could provide rather than the technology and eventually the higher end productions got fed up with trying to work around the limitations of that software and hardware.

Having an operator who understands what will make the shoot go more smoothly is equally as important as having the appropriate equipment.

So many productions have adapted to take full advantage of the service we offer- the knowledge we have on presenting and wordsmithing rather than simply engaging us to put the talent’s lines in front of the lens.

With 25 years in video and event production these days I enjoy bringing all that experience together into doing just one role extremely well to add value to the productions were engaged on.

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How are new technologies or shifts in production styles influencing the services you provide?

As cameras have got smaller in some cases and more complex in others we’ve made sure to keep our on-camera kits as adaptable as possible. We like to say that we’ve yet to meet a camera we couldn’t mount a prompter on. So that’s meant adding many new rigging and power adapters to accommodate the multitude of camera and camera mounting options we encounter

Improved- and more cost-effective- wireless video technology has probably had the biggest benefit- both for handheld rigs but even just in reducing cabling on set.

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What do productions often underestimate when planning a shoot, and how can your business help address those challenges?

With our decades of experience, the information we provide when clients book our services usually heads off the majority of pitfalls, such as requiring tripod legs with an appropriate weight rating, and some of the limitations on using certain lenses or matte boxes when using a teleprompter (though there’s always a solution- even if it’s not pretty!).

We also provide on stage prompters for live events, and these productions are more likely to have neglected to take the prompter into consideration by not leaving enough space on stage, or allow for cabling.

What factors do you think make New Zealand a strong (or challenging) environment for screen suppliers right now?

New Zealand’s competitive rates and the clarity provided by the Blue Book continue to keep the local industry attractive, particularly for producers navigating mixed crews and tight schedules.

For Prompt Service, what once functioned as a sideline to video production has nearly doubled in annual bookings since before the pandemic and is now a full-time operation. They are the busiest prompter service in the country,  but even so, not quite busy enough to hire a second full-time operator. The upcoming Auckland Convention Centre brings hope for more consistent work and, ultimately, the ability to grow the team and build a succession plan.

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Looking ahead, how do you see the regional or national production landscape evolving over the next few years?

If the Screen production rebates work as we hope, bringing more overseas production into the country then, with the increase in work, we’ll be able to employ more people and, importantly, retain them here in the industry.