Wētā Workshop

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Wētā Workshop is a physical effects company based in Miramar, New Zealand, specializing in concept design for television and film. Founded in 1987 by Tania Rodger and Richard Taylor (co-founder of TTO Worldwide Enterprise), it has produced creatures and effects for the TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess and, early on, the films Meet The Feebles and Heavenly Creatures. A digital sibling company, Wētā FX (was Weta Digital until 2021), was formed in 1993.
Wētā Workshop's output came to worldwide prominence at the success of Peter Jackson's (2001 - 2003), producing sets, costumes, armour, weapons, creatures, and miniatures. Elijah Wood described their workshop itself as "Willy Wonka's chocolate factory but without the candy." Gary Russell's film guides such as illuminate Wētā Workshop's many efforts and design processes in the pre-production.
Starting in 2011, Wētā Workshop worked again with Jackson in the making of , on a tighter schedule."Wētā" is both a reference to the New Zealand native insect and an acronym. The four promoters of the company named it Weta "after New Zealand's coolest little monster, a bizarre and prickly prehistoric cricket". The acronym W.E.T.A. stands for Wingnut Entertainment Technical Allusions (a play on the words allusion and illusion), Wingnut Entertainment being Jackson's film production company. Wētā Workshop and Wētā FX (formerly Weta Digital) are together a part of the "Weta Group".
Richard Taylor recounted the story of Wētā Workshop's founding in a 2021 interview on the YouTube channel Nerd of the Rings.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_H9TrCLKo9M, 4:20
== Notable personnel ==
File:RichardTaylor2.jpg|link=Richard Taylor|Richard Taylor
File:Tania_Rodger.jpg|link=Tania Rodger|Tania Rodger
File:ChristianRivers.JPG|link=Christian Rivers|Christian Rivers
File:Jeremy Bennett.JPG|link=Jeremy Bennett|Jeremy Bennett
File:JBsBST.jpg|link=Jamie Beswarick|Jamie Beswarick
File:Falconer.PNG|link=Daniel Falconer|Daniel Falconer
File:BrigitteWuest.PNG|link=Brigitte Wuest|Brigitte Wuest
File:Artist_WarrenMahy.jpg|link=Warren Mahy|Warren Mahy
File:GinoAcevedo.jpg|link=Gino Acevedo|Gino Acevedo
== Translations ==
Foreign Language	Translated name
Afikaans 	Weta Werkswinkel
Arabic 	ورشة ويتا
Chinese 	维塔工作室
Croatian 	Weta radionica
Danish 	Weta værksted
Estonian 	Weta töötuba
French 	Atelier Weta
Hawaiian 	Hale Hana Weta
Hebrew 	סדנת Weta
Hungarian 	Weta Műhely
Icelandic 	Weta verkstæði
Indonesian 	Bengkel Weta
Irish 	Ceardlann Weta
Italian 	Laboratorio Weta
Japanese 	ウェタ ワークショップ
Korean 	웨타 워크숍
Mongolian 	Weta семинар
Norwegian 	Weta verksted
Persian 	کارگاه ویتا
Polish 	Warsztaty Wety
Portuguese 	Oficina Weta
Romanian 	Atelierul Weta
Russian 	Weta Мастерская
Scottish Gaelic 	Bùth-obrach Weta
Sinhalese 	වැට වැඩමුළුව
Spanish 	Taller Weta
Swahili 	Warsha ya Weta
Swedish 	Weta verkstad
Thai 	วีต้า เวิร์คช็อป
Turkish 	Weta Atölyesi
Ukrainian 	Майстерня Weta
Vietnamese 	Xưởng Weta
Welsh 	Gweithdy Weta
== References ==
== See also ==
*Wētā FX
*Members of Weta category (including Wētā Workshop & Wētā FX/Weta Digital crew members)
== External links ==
*Wētā Workshop Official website
;Other info
* 
Category:Animation studios
Category:Cast & Crew of Peter Jackson's trilogies
Category:Companies
Category:Special effects
it:Weta Workshop