Special forces? Satellite tracking? The playground that is Queenstown might be just around the corner from his business base, but Julian Grimmond deals in adventures on a rather larger scale, writes Shane Gilchrist.
''People drive past and have no idea what we do. That's deliberate.''
Julian Grimmond is referring to his ''red tin shed'', a nondescript structure snuggled into a gentle, leafy rise between Lake Hayes and Arrowtown. If it stands out at all, it's only because it can be seen from a road along which many buildings are discreetly tucked down winding driveways.
Grimmond's base for his business, Global Film Solutions, turns out to be much larger than his initial description. One of his employees likens it to The Tardis, the portal in which Doctor Who travels through aeons and epochs. It's apt: clad in old-fashioned iron, the building's rustic exterior gives way to an expansive hive of activity that does cross time zones and span great distances.
Beyond the entrance, a wall is dotted with various framed images, including one of Grimmond with Hollywood heavy-hitter Jerry Bruckheimer. The occasion? The 55th Emmy Awards in Los Angeles in 2003, when Grimmond won the first of three such gongs (for his work producing reality television game show The Amazing Race).
Those three statues, which stand on a less-than-obvious shelf, were the initial premise for this article, young New Zealand musician Lorde's recent success at the Grammy's prompting the idea to revisit someone among us who has garnered international acclaim, to gauge what effect that might have had on a career.
Yet Grimmond doesn't really want to talk too much about external validation (''I won those awards as part of a team. They have been ... tremendous door-openers, but apart from the recognition, you still have to turn up and do a good job ...'').
Instead, he is far more interested in the present and - perhaps even more so - in what might lie ahead. Grimmond, you see, is in the business of predicting the future. Specifically, he is founder and managing director of a company that specialises in identifying, and minimising, risk.
''We look after the reputation and the investment of major businesses; they just happen to be in the screen sector,'' he explains.
''We provide people with the tools to manage their productions in a way that will reduce the likelihood of experiencing negative outcomes in regards to physical aspects of their production, reduce the likelihood of them making an insurance claim as well as looking at the legal aspects of a production.''
From the Antarctic to the Arctic, the deserts of central Asia and Africa to the Amazonian rainforest, from scientific breakthroughs to social issues, war zones to wild animals, Global Film Solutions' projects run the gamut of filming environments and storylines, and the risk implications each entails.
Grimmond has provided safety advice for productions working with sharks, snakes and crocodiles; analysed the insurance needs of production companies seeking to film illegal activities; dealt with the shifting sands of various conflict zones; vetted would-be employees on behalf of productions; drawn up response protocols for crews attempting to intercept tornadoes; and worked out evacuation plans for a production following an unforeseen tropical cyclone.
In order to identify risks, his company employs a methodology that, in screen industry parlance, moves from narrowly focused close-ups to panoramic overviews, utilising a vast range of information: Subscription-based geo-political reports, on-the-ground accounts from various hotspots around the world, market machinations, film and television industry comings and goings, power struggles and power outages, the weather, tidal fluctuations, disease outbreaks, water quality and food hygiene, even metallurgy ... it all goes in the mix.
''We look at the absolute granular detail, from food analysis down to due diligence on seatbelts in vehicles, through to aircraft frames ... as well as who people are meeting and what areas they are travelling through,'' Grimmond says.
''And we will also provide them with different narrative options because, in documentary or other work, sometimes the people being filmed don't want to be. It's a creative product we provide.
''We are unique in how we approach this space. There are an enormous number of companies who supply people and expertise to oil and gas and other industries as well as to film and television. However, our unique selling point is to do with the latter.
''As a producer, I know what a production needs. We then thin-slice those needs in a way that is appropriate. The reason the networks and studios like working with us is that they can smell one of their own.''
The son of a zoologist mother and doctor father, Grimmond (46) says his interest in on-screen action was first piqued by the various wildlife programmes he watched as a youngster growing up in Dunedin.
Having attended Otago Boys' High School in the 1980s, he headed to the University of Otago, graduating with a bachelor of arts (honours in history).
''I wrote a history thesis on Natural History New Zealand, then worked for them.
''I was always fascinated by the behaviour of wildlife, but was more interested in how those images were captured. So I ended up working at NHNZ, but did a lot of contract work for overseas companies from the start, including the BBC. It made me realise that distance is only in your head.''
In 1999, Grimmond and long-time partner Frith O'Hagan moved from Dunedin to Queenstown, then Arrowtown, establishing Global Film Solutions in 2004.
''Frith runs the business affairs side of the company. It is really a team effort. We always have done it that way: we work, live and play together.
''Being here works for our lifestyle,'' he says of the mix of family life (the couple have two daughters, Bella (16) and Lulu (9) and work.
''We ski, mountain-bike, kayak, paddleboard ... all that stuff, so it's great for us. Also, the growth in this region, combined with the airport's proximity is great. It takes me 10 minutes to get to the airport.''
Appointed to the board of Film New Zealand in 2006, chairman since 2008 (Film NZ's role is to market New Zealand as a film-making destination), Grimmond is also director of production company Mountain Film Unit, again based out of his Arrowtown headquarters. In 2012, he was appointed director of the Auckland Council-owned Auckland Film Studios, New Zealand's largest studio complex.
His Mountain Film Unit covers a broad range of work: ''We do television commercials, documentaries and TV series. This region has extraordinary stories to tell, but we operate globally.
''We've filmed deep under the ocean, covered free-diving in the Mediterranean, done a story about an American contractor being kidnapped in Baghdad, followed mercenaries in the Congo and Liberia as well as made base-jumping films in Queenstown.
''I'm a South Islander. I love this part of the world. My passion is growing opportunities in this area around screen. Sure, a yacht in the Mediterranean sounds attractive, but this is home.
''As a family, we do travel and enjoy that. But we love it here. Every day we wake up here and think how lucky we are to live here,'' Grimmond says.
''What's great about the nature of our business, the film industry and communications, is that it really doesn't matter where you are in the world these days.''
There might be glitz aplenty in the showbiz world, but Grimmond judges success - at least when viewed through the lens of risk management - as the hand played invisibly.
''It doesn't matter how much is going on behind the scenes; we don't want to become part of the story. We like to be low-key and it's for that reason that we have major clients,'' he says.
Although confidentiality means Grimmond is unable to disclose specific shows or networks with whom Global Film Solutions has dealt, they comprise ''the major United States and United Kingdom networks, studios and production companies'' as well as leading news-gathering organisations.
''We are a 99% export business; we only do a fraction of our work in-country,'' Grimmond says.
''But we were also the executive producers of the Auckland Super City Opening Celebration at the 2011 Rugby World Cup. It was about obtaining a global audience of 75 million for Auckland, which we achieved.''
Recently, Grimmond's firm provided risk management documentation and consultancy services for a television show that followed a high-profile chef and author as he attempted to uncover and showcase the best in culture and cuisine from around the world.
''The production company decided to travel to Libya in the aftermath of the revolution that overthrew former leader Muammar Gaddafi, and while there was a political vacuum and militias were making a power play. GFS thus responded with a plan for on-the-ground close protection security, supported by a 24-hour watching brief on the security environment.
''The fluidity of the security situation in Libya meant that pre-production planning was integral to the personal security of the production crew and talent, as well as to a successful outcome in terms of creative objectives.
''Media reports at the time said local insurgents wanted to hunt down some film crews. There was a specific and real threat around a BBC journalist. We found out our crew had also become potentially a target, so we had to keep them mobile and, using ground-based intelligence, keep them ahead of the threat,'' Grimmond explained.
''We put in a four-person security team around that; they were former UK and US special forces; we had real-time surveillance on them but were tracking them out of here.''
Special forces? Satellite tracking? The playground that is Queenstown might be just around the corner, but this is adventure on a rather larger - and occasionally scary - scale.
''At the sharp end, and where appropriate, we do deploy former special forces personnel, mainly from the UK, US, Europe, New Zealand or Australia,'' Grimmond says.
''We try to employ people we refer to as 'double-hats', meaning they are multiskilled: they have very good security backgrounds, but will also have medical, first-response trauma skills; they will also have mountaineering and outdoor survival skills. These are highly skilled, highly motivated, sensible intelligent people.''
Grimmond recalls an American client who had a production requiring a specific person with alpine experience, a strong understanding of local flora and fauna, medical skills as well as production knowledge ... ''and specifically from a little village'' in the United States.
''We went hunting for that person and found him. The project was a success.
''We do a lot of intelligence gathering around people. And that's one of the reasons companies come back to us.
''There is not a day that starts or ends without us thinking, 'What an incredible business to be part of','' Grimmond reflects.
''I'm fascinated by what the world has to offer. We are in the business of telling stories - and those stories can be big business. So we need to look after those companies who are bold enough to put money into that.''
