The new venture was an offshoot of Clocktower Games Ltd, the Dunedin company established last year which launched its first game, Casebook, Episode 1, last month.
38 Pictures executive producer Zoe Hobson (25), of Dunedin, said the new company was born out of the game's development, and staff would be shared across the two companies.
Casebook was a criminal investigation game that was part film production, with long sequences involving real actors and Dunedin locations.
A core group of Dunedin-based film production staff had been employed as contractors during a 10-week shoot for the game's film components, but Clocktower staff wanted to find a way to keep them in Dunedin and in work, she said.
38 Pictures' aim was to attract more projects to the city to make sure that happened, she said.
She was drawing up a list of more than 50 Dunedin people, including camera operators, editors, runners and those with directing experience, who could be called on to work on future projects in the city.
Negotiations with those behind several potential projects had begun already, including two local feature films, three television episodes and four music video clips, she said.
Several meetings with large advertisers were also planned, aimed at attracting television commercial productions to Dunedin, and large Dunedin businesses were also being approached and encouraged to use local production crews in future, she said.
"There's been quite a bit of interest since we started up. I think it's about how much we can create. That's my mission, to let people outside Dunedin know we have got beautiful locations here and it's a really great place to shoot with really talented people."
Mrs Hobson was born, raised and educated in Dunedin, but left for Auckland in part due to a lack of opportunities.
She worked for Maori Television and was employed as an Auckland-based assistant director for South Pacific Pictures, working on the popular Shortland Street television show, before being hired by Clocktower staff late last year.
The company was looking for someone with production experience, and she was lured back to Dunedin to work on their first Casebook shoot, which was only expected to last several weeks.
However, she decided to stay after being "totally blown away" by the production, which involved location shoots, as well as purpose-built sets and innovative robot and camera technology hidden inside a Dunedin warehouse.
"I left Dunedin because I couldn't do this type of work here - now it's happening here," she said.
"I came down here in November and by December I was living here.
"It was an interesting choice to leave, according to some people, but I just felt there was so much more potential in what was going on here. This is something really different and really exciting."
38 Pictures would offer services including location scouting and editing, and equipment including cameras and a full lighting unit, she said.
Locations across Dunedin and Otago could be scouted to see if they met clients' needs, she said.
"You can drive for half an hour in any direction and be somewhere that looks really beautiful, or you can drive for two hours and be somewhere that looks totally different.
"I think that's something we really have going for us," she said.
