Jason and the motorbike used in the Louis Vuitton shoot at Poolburn.

His family has owned and operated Wanaka’s National Transport and Toy Museum for decades. He’s been involved in the museum since before it was constructed and opened in 1995 - most of his adult life. Branching into the movie business though, that was all his idea.

For Jason Rhodes, 49-year-old businessman and company director, the museum "is what I do for a real job,” he said, "but the film industry, that’s what I like to do on the side.”

His commitment to the museum is as a parent to a child - it’s 24/7. But his involvement in the film industry "gets me out of my little space and switches my brain over to something else. I find it’s a lot of fun,” he said.

Studio South, as he has named it, is Jason’s ambitious dream to build a permanent film studio. The finished multipurpose building will spread across eight acres behind the current museum complex. It will encompass a multitude of indoor filming options, including a wet tank the size of an olympic swimming pool, as well as being suitable for aircraft displays, trade shows, events or even indoor sports training. The roofline will stand around five stories high and the basement will extend nine metres underground.

It’s been a frustrating project though, he said. "There’s a whole lot of little things which aren’t allowing us to move forward,” he said. "I’m more or less just stalled at this stage on the whole project.”

Even without the studio in action, Jason’s regularly fielding requests from the advertising world and film industry.

The museum houses 650 vehicles, 16 aircraft and more than 60,000 toys and collectible items and every week there’s another industry request.

"Mostly, it’s just supplying bits and pieces,” Jason said. "Often it’s for advertisements or movies we will never see here. Sometimes I’ll have no idea how the props we provide will actually feature in the end. We’ll just get someone approaching us saying ‘this is what we need - can you supply it’.”

The museum’s Louis Vuitton display is extensive.

For instance, the museum was involved in Disney’s "A Wrinkle in Time” production filmed at Hawea last year, but in a manner that will never appear in the credits.

"We supplied the space for calibrating the cameras. When their equipment was flown into New Zealand, it all had to be recalibrated for our light stream. So we had half of hangar one rented out to them for a few days.”

Sometimes his involvement is so slight it barely registers as a business transaction."They’ll want small, very random, off-the-shelf stuff like cameras, bottles, stuff you see in the background, but it’s got be authentic,” he said.

Other times… "With Pete’s Dragon (filmed in Tapanui in 2016) we were involved for about six months; we had two to three staff working on it permanently; and then there were all the vehicles we provided as well.”

The film industry, whether it’s movies, television or advertising, is huge and covers so much from accommodation to catering - "it touches everyone and it leaves money in its wake, and we just clip the ticket along the way.”

His involvement in the film industry is not yet at the stage where it’s providing a reliable income, he said, but that’s the purpose of the permanent studio. He said this region is popular for filming but we don’t have enough infrastructure to make a viable permanent industry.

About 80 percent of the industry work Jason does is with overseas advertising companies, often shooting clothing catalogues requiring props. While film production is proportionally smaller, it usually takes more time, he said.

Jason said he never advertises with the film industry - it’s mostly word-of-mouth which keeps him connected. "I talk to art directors and people like that. I have spent a bit of time in the States to just keep in the picture, to be aware of things coming up, to see if it’s something we want to get involved in, and just keep our name there.”

Jason admits he’s not passionate about movies but he’s fascinated by the historic settings and attention to detail employed in filmmaking. He likes the documentaries best and has been roped into "being an extra” on set on more than one occasion.

The delayed momentum of Studio South is actually to the benefit of the museum, Jason said. He’s been able to focus on "getting the museum up to where we want it”. This means improving display lighting, wheelchair access and displays.

One of the museum’s smartest new displays originated with the shoot for a Louis Vuitton advertisement. The shoot required a range of historic props, from suitcases to a vintage motorbike and sidecar, and was filmed in Central Otago.

Seeing an opportunity to blend his film industry "fun on the side” with a permanent feature at the Museum resulted in a very classy display. "This is an example of how we want to change the museum and we’ll quietly work back through the museum and develop other displays,” he said.

It’s a symbiotic relationship - the film industry and the museum - and one that Jason clearly enjoys.

PHOTOS: Wanaka App