Weta Digital 'gobsmacked' as it scoops its first ever Emmy Award

It was a scene of jubilation for New Zealand's Weta Digital on Sunday (NZ time), as the Wellington-based visual effects company scooped its first ever Emmy Award.

The company's work on a zombie polar bear shown in hit HBO TV series Game of Thrones earns it the much-coveted accolade.

Visual effects supervisor Wayne Stables says he's gobsmacked by the win.

"I'm actually pretty over the moon. I actually didn't expect the win, to be honest with you," he tells Newshub.

"We came out here and we were very happy to be nominated and represent everybody that I work with out here. Then when they called the nominations it was all a bit surreal, to be honest."

Stables says working for the TV industry, rather than the film industry, is a different beast for the company.

"It's a faster turnaround time, so we had to do a little bit more thinking on our feet in terms of how we can adapt and work inside that world. Luckily, we were obviously quite successful at it."

The polar bear features in the HBO show for around five minutes, but Mr Stables says it was a mammoth effort from his team.

"You could easily say that 30 or 40 people were involved with it.

"In terms of time, [it took] probably a good nine months from the time we first started working with HBO to the time that we finished, which was just before the episode aired."

Newshub.