Auckland-based writer, director and actress Jackie van Beek was the first recipient of Film Otago Southland's writer-in-residence programme, spending five days at Rees Valley Station last year.
Van Beek, last year's Spada New Filmmaker of the Year, worked on the screenplay for The Inland Road during her time at the station.
The $1 million production, which has just been approved by the New Zealand Film Commission, will be shot over six weeks from March 2. She will also direct the film, with the main location at Ayrburn Farm, near Arrowtown.
Van Beek said her time at Rees Valley Station had been valuable for immersing her in the environment she was writing about.
''It's hard to sit in Freemans Bay and write about farm life.
''The Rees Valley is such a different part of the world, and very inspiring.''
The main character in the ''relationship drama'' was a 15-year-old shearing gang rouser who survives a fatal car accident.
She recuperates at the farm where she last worked, along with the Scottish man responsible for the crash and the 5-year-old daughter of the man killed.
''There are three people from very different walks of life who are thrown together and patch together this little family, and try and get through the few weeks following the accident.''
Casting was well advanced, and although contracts had yet to be signed, two of the five main roles had been filled.
Wakatipu residents would have an opportunity to get involved when casting for extras began in February.
Preparations for the shoot were now ''falling into place'', but as a first-time feature director, it had been a steep learning curve.
''We've already started saying that the second time we do this will be so much easier.''
Film Otago Southland executive manager Kevin Jennings, of Queenstown, said The Inland Road was exactly what the writer-in-residence programme was aimed at.
''The more things that are written here, the more chance they'll be shot here.''
He expected to arrange another residency somewhere in the region early next year.
Although The Inland Road was not directly benefiting from the Government's film production incentives, introduced in April, more small-budget films were likely to gravitate to the region if the scheme fostered a ''functioning ecosystem''.
''It allow us to train more people, invest in more equipment - it helps to create a critical mass.
''I'm looking forward to more activity in both large and small projects in the coming year.''
