Could Southland be the next Hollywood?

Granted, it's certainly not as big as the City of Angels but the rural region could be hot on the toes of Tinseltown as more and more film productions head south for filming.

Venture Southland general manager of business and strategic projects Steve Canny said there were a number of movies which were looking at Southland as a filming location.

"We've got two quite large feature films and a smaller feature film and quite a large scale music video production being planned," he said.

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Canny was not able to confirm the titles of the productions and said there were still details to be confirmed and contracts to be signed however some of the projects were moving quite quickly.

"The situation's changing rapidly," he said.

Last year, $20 million of film production work took place in Southland, a growing industry which Canny said was great for local businesses.

As part of the negotiations for upcoming filming work, Canny hoped Venture Southland would be able to organise some practical opportunities and internships for Southern Institute of Technology (SIT) students to work on the films.

"I guess what we're seeing is Southland is being recognised as a film-friendly region," Canny said.

"We've developed quite a range of skills... to support the industry when it's down here."

Film Otago Southland executive Kevin "KJ" Jennings said a number of large productions were in talks for Southland, though some were "quite far down the line".

"We seem to be at the start of a really good run," he said.

"Things are very buoyant at the moment."

On January 28 the Invercargill Licensing Trust (ILT) gave a grant of $50,000 to Venture Southland "to assist in the production of two film projects" which could be filmed in Southland and Otago.

The appropriately titled Pork Pie would be a remake to the 80s cult classic film Goodbye Pork Pie.

Canny said the grant was to help them "secure" the movies to be filmed in the region, which included Fiordland, the Catlins and Stewart Island.

Invercargill mayor Tim Shadbolt said negotiations for Pork Pie and Lonely Girl, which is set to be filmed on Stewart Island, to be shot in the region would be finalised at the end of next week.

According to the Firefly Films website, the company producing Lonely Girl, the film is about a girl who accidentally runs down and badly hurts a suspected killer.

"Terrified for her life, she locks him in her basement. And then she decides to keep him," the website says.

Shadbolt also said he knew of three other major New Zealand film productions that could be happening in Southland but was not able to reveal what films they were.

"There's been quite a bit of activity, a lot of inquiries being made at the moment so I think it's going to be one of our best years of filming in 2016," he said.