The Good and the Bad: NZ screen industry

Written By: - Date published: 12:45 pm, December 16th, 2013 - 77 comments
Categories: colonialism, employment, film, national, overseas investment, tourism, trade, tv, workers' rights - Tags:

The NZ government have just announced some changes to their ways of supporting NZ’s screen industry.  It’s a mixed bag.

Government Press Release on Screen Industry Incentives.

The Government today announced changes to the structure and level of support for overseas and New Zealand film and television productions to ensure the further development of New Zealand’s screen industry.

The new changes are designed to encourage the growth of mid-sized New Zealand-based productions that can compete successfully on the world stage; while also increasing the competitiveness of our incentives for international productions in the short to medium term.

My bold.

The Good:

The part in bold in the quote above is part of The Good.

Medium-sized productions (between $15 million and $50 million) which feature New Zealand content and significant local creative control will qualify for more support than previously, in order to harness and grow the benefits from local intellectual property.

[…}

·For New Zealand productions, a two tier system will be created. ‘New Zealand productions’ means productions with very high New Zealand content, such as a New Zealand story and a high level of New Zealand creative control

For New Zealand film and television productions of up to $15 million, it will be necessary to gain a certain number of points on the New Zealand content points test to gain the 40 per cent rebate, payable as a grant.

For New Zealand film and television productions in excess of $15 million and up to a maximum of $50 million, support will be provided as an equity share as opposed to a grant payment and be subject to scoring a certain number of points on a points test relating to business as well as cultural factors.

[…]

“The Government will be consulting on these changes with the local screen industry early next year particularly how the new points system will be implemented.”

A Mixed Bag:

“These changes will help ensure a screen industry that is more sustainable, brings greater long-term economic benefits to New Zealand, and avoids the peaks and troughs that are solely dependent on large international productions,” Mr Joyce says.

“New Zealand is recognised internationally for our world-class expertise in making quality film and television. Our screen industry has grown significantly over the 15 years and is an important contributor to our economy and to our international profile.

“New Zealand has a lot to offer with a skilled and capable workforce, flexible employment laws, proven expertise in post-production, natural scenery and competitive labour costs.

My bold indicates the especially bad bit for Kiwi workers – it’s a recipe for exploitation.

On the other hand we do have a great screen industry workforce and post production expertise. Operation 8 is a great example of what can be done in NZ.

Operation-8_15075_posterpiclarge

Some of the past contributions to our economy have been dubious in the way they were brought about, and the long term impact on NZ workers: e.g. The Hobbit financial incentives and law changes to benefit Hollywood corporates.

All international movies made or filmed in NZ are not equal in their long term contributions to NZ’s economy.

This:

“It is intended that Ministers will keep reviewing these incentives over time, with the overall aim of encouraging more New Zealand-sourced creative intellectual property which is less dependent on competing with other countries’ international incentive schemes.”

It all depends on how it’s done, and opens the possibilities of uncertainties and instability.

The Bad

Talking up NZ’s “flexible” and low cost workforce is a biggie.

The continuation of some dubious international projects in NZ.  It seems the alleged protections to NZ’s screen industry, is not fully thought out – i.e. their needs to be further consultation with the industry.  key’s government does not have a good track record on how they respond when under pressure from powerful Hollywood corporates.

So it looks like a rushed effort, a bit of a sop to the local industry, in order to be able to announce this: Tom Hunt on Stuff reports,

Prime Minister John Key has announced that the next three Avatar movies will be made in New Zealand.

At least $500m will be spent in New Zealand making the films, Key said.

Key made the announcement of a memorandum of understanding with Lightstorm Entertainment and Twentieth Century Fox alongside Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and Arts Minister Christopher Finlayson.

Also present were Avatar director James Cameron, producer Jon Landau, and Paul Hanneman of Twentieth Century Fox.

Joyce said the sequels would provide “hundreds of jobs and thousands of hours of work directly in the screen sector as well as jobs right across the economy.”

The deal means New Zealand will host at least one red carpet premiere and a “featurette” on New Zealand would be included on DVDs and Blu Rays.

Finlayson said: “The filming of the Avatar films will be of substantial benefit to New Zealand economically and culturally.”

Culturally? As Morgan Godfery Tweeted:

Neo-colonial movie with massive white saviour complex to be made in New Zealand. Again. Boo colonialism. Yay jobs. But still boo #avatar

Avatar colonialsm

We need a government that is truly committed to ensuring the future of a sustainable NZ screen industry that also supports democratic NZ cultural values; one that just isn’t a film industry to support and reinforce, neocolonial, “neoliberal” values.

77 comments on “The Good and the Bad: NZ screen industry ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. shorts 1
    16 December 2013 at 12:55 pm

    It might be mean spirited of me but the Avatar movie deal sounds like a subsidy to Weta workshops plus Cameron – ie Jackson again!

    According to wiki the first movie had 31 days of filming… so this particular deal gets those thousands of extras etc about 3 months of work (not including the team involved in pre and post production)

    Still I am glad to see at least some easing of tax rebates to attract more work here – now to not just take the money and run and to invest in a sustainable film industry

    • framu 1.1
      16 December 2013 at 4:07 pm

      thats kind of the problem – while you need the big players it doesnt help if all the legislation and grants are structured to help them and (deliberately or otherwise) hinder those trying to move up.

      A really big problem for many NZ productions isnt attracting the off shore interest or co-production partners. Its getting the money locally to fund your share thats the hard bit.

      Its a fact that all too often you need to reach some big turnover numbers to get the grants – but you cant get there without the grant in the first place

  2. Tom Gould 2
    16 December 2013 at 1:26 pm

    Did a journalist ask Key how much the subsidy to Cameron will cost? They say it depends on the cost of the movies. Which means a blank cheque from the taxpayer. 25% of whatever it costs. Imagine if Labour announced a policy and said they’ve no idea how much it will cost. The media would go into meltdown. Cue the anti-left rhetoric …

    • Psycho Milt 2.1
      16 December 2013 at 1:39 pm

      If it’s a tax rebate, then yes, the dollar amount of the rebate depends on the amount of tax owed, which in turn depends on the cost of the movies. However, such a “subsidy” consists of accepting a smaller cheque from 20th Century Fox, not the writing of a cheque ourselves. The question of whether it’s morally superior to reject the business outright rather than accept a smaller cheque for it is one that could be argued extensively, to approximately the same productive effect as the one about whether infinity angels could dance on a pinhead.

      • Draco T Bastard 2.1.1
        16 December 2013 at 2:23 pm

        Actually, if the government was after the best deal for NZ they would have just coffed up the $500m to make the movies and distribute them. All the returns then would have gone to the government and they would have been a hell of a lot higher than the taxes.

    • Paul 2.2
      16 December 2013 at 6:35 pm

      The MSM…journalists… You’re having me on!

  3. Brett Dale 3
    16 December 2013 at 1:36 pm

    Fuck me.

    Seriously guys this is great news.

    • shorts 3.1
      16 December 2013 at 1:51 pm

      I can’t recall seeing anywhere where Cameron had said he may not to use Weta Digital / NZ for the Avatar sequels – so it could be suggested that this is simply in the case of these particular movies an increased subsidy for activity that would have happened anyways. Please note I’m not against the subsidies nor increase per se

      You could say I am very hesitant to be over the moon about this announcement as I don’t trust this govt to be doing anything that doesn’t simply benefit a small number of people not the industry as a whole and in this case give them more for what they’d be doing/spending anyways

  4. Macro 4
    16 December 2013 at 3:03 pm

    “At least $500m will be spent in New Zealand making the films, Key said.”

    You can bet the majority of that won’t find its way into the pockets of NZers, but whisked straight back off shore or into the pockets of the already well healed.

    Just like the hype around V8 Car racing – or Americas Cup, or world cup this or great event that – the talk of barrels of money descending into the NZ economy is just simply that – “Talk”,and almost all of it bullshit.

    If Key doesn’t know this, then he is an even greater fool than I give him credit. But of course he does, and is an even bigger liar to be repeating it.

    • Draco T Bastard 4.1
      16 December 2013 at 3:40 pm

      +1

    • shorts 4.2
      16 December 2013 at 3:40 pm

      if $500 million is spent here thats about half the current estimated budget of the three films and I’d suggest a huge chunk of that will stop at weta digital and stone street studios (ie stay here and repeat the process of the original) – the digital work alone is a very cost intensive part of the movies

      there are many actual real benefits in this deal/policy for local companies and kiwis – if the rebates are justified or if one agrees with them is debatable

    • infused 4.3
      16 December 2013 at 4:04 pm

      Have you seen the DVD promos? They are pretty epic. Everyone sees them. They are included as part of this deal.

      • Macro 4.3.1
        16 December 2013 at 7:04 pm

        No, and I have no intention to do so.

        • infused 4.3.1.1
          16 December 2013 at 8:26 pm

          Then stfu.

          • Naki Man 4.3.1.1.1
            16 December 2013 at 9:48 pm

            infused these fucken moron’s are hard work
            no wonder they are so concerned about poverty, no one would employ them and they certainly wouldn’t have clue how to be self employed

            • Draco T Bastard 4.3.1.1.1.1
              17 December 2013 at 12:01 am

              The only people in this thread that have shown massive ignorance happens to be you.

            • Colonial Viper 4.3.1.1.1.2
              17 December 2013 at 12:38 am

              Hey naki man

              I hope you are competitive with US$2.50/hr labour in China. Or prison labour which is free. Because that is the way every western country is now being pushed.

              No one remains under the illusions that you are. Corporations are not great, they are merely systems of consumption and destruction. Employers are not great, they are merely human.

              And being ‘self employed’ means you die at the bottom of some corporation’s corner cutting mine, and get sealed in there forever.

      • Draco T Bastard 4.3.2
        16 December 2013 at 9:43 pm

        That doesn’t make the deal worthwhile.

      • idlegus 4.3.3
        17 December 2013 at 5:22 am

        ‘everyone sees them’ ha! – source?

      • David H 4.3.4
        17 December 2013 at 9:05 am

        And I am sorry to say this. But how many people do you know, who actually look at anything on the extra’s disc/chapters. And they know this. So it costs them an extra 2-3 bucks to add the extra DVD into the package. And it’ll be NZ pays to make the NZ Demo programme, so another hole in the 500m to make that. Even treasury is not saying nice things about this.

        • Tracey 4.3.4.1
          17 December 2013 at 9:10 am

          I dont know if people do or dont. Are tolkien fans like trekkies and other science fiction fans who do pilgrimages etc?

          I read that following the rugby world cup it was discovered that we didnt have more visitors, we just had different visitors. So, those who would have come, didnt cos of the rugby, and the rugby people who wouldn’t have come normally came.

          I suspect it is different with a “pilgrimage” type scenario.

    • Naki Man 4.4
      16 December 2013 at 5:07 pm

      As for the V8’s it lost money in Hamilton because it wasn’t run well . Street race’s are expensive to run. You can blame the council for that.
      The America’s cup created a lot of boat building jobs

      • Macro 4.4.1
        16 December 2013 at 7:00 pm

        LOL Auckalnders saw thru that Bullshit – that’s why the street race never happened there. AND having actually run street races in the past, (Motorcycle admittedly) I can say quite categorically that you have no idea what you are talking about.
        The boat building jobs existed long before the Americas cup (NZ has been building boats for home and overseas for over 150 years)- but now they are being exported overseas. My friend’s brother used to build catamarans in NZ – now they are built under license in China.

        • Naki Man 4.4.1.1
          16 December 2013 at 9:27 pm

          Well actually I do know what I am talking about. Motor bike racing is different to car racing
          and is expensive to race on the street you need a lot more than a few hay bales to stop a V8.
          The V8,s can be a success but at Pukekohe or Hampton downs rather than on the street.
          I know boats were built here before the Americas cup but now there are more jobs for boat builders, now those rich prick capitalists from overseas are paying millions for us to build their luxury boats.

      • Tracey 4.4.2
        17 December 2013 at 8:23 am

        NZ was already number one in boat design and boat building. And despite not holding the cup for some time, we are still number one…

        Do you and infused consider yourselves educated men? I ask because you seem to simply accept as truth anything your preferred party utters. There are plenty of those on the other side too which is why the country is such a self interested mess. You guys, and those like you who support other parties (Labour Greens etc) are simply vessels for propaganda. You hear something you like, and you disseminate it widely, true or not.

        Oh how the 1% must laugh at how easy you and others make it to perpetuate their lies and thereby maintain and build on their wealth and yours and everyone else’s expense.

  5. Tracey 5
    16 December 2013 at 3:08 pm

    October 25 2013

    The softening up which borrowed the script from The Hobbitt.

    Co-starring, Stephen joyce

    “Star Sam Worthington revealed this week that the long-awaited films are due to begin shooting in October 2014. It had been expected that Cameron would return to New Zealand, where special effects company Weta Digital are based. But public-owned broadcaster TVNZ has revealed Twentieth Century Fox may be considering other options for cost reasons.

    New Zealand currently offers a 15 per cent tax rebate to foreign studios, but the UK and Australia are now offering 25 per cent for major productions. The disparity has reportedly fuelled a downturn for the country’s film industry, with thousands out of work, and the loss of Avatar could prove crippling.

    New Zealand economic development minister Steven Joyce told TVNZ’s ONE News the nation was keen to hold on to the high-profile sequels. “Obviously New Zealand’s very keen to do it because there’s a strong association with James Cameron, also a strong association with Weta Digital,” he said. “So yes, we’re keen to. But also, it can’t be done at any price.

    “There’s still, I think, discussions going on, and there’s no doubt about that,” Joyce added. “Film Commission and Film New Zealand are working with the producers and the director and are keeping me informed as to how things are progressing.”

    • Tracey 5.1
      17 December 2013 at 8:40 am

      “There’s still, I think, discussions going on, and there’s no doubt about that” Which is it, you think there there are discussions going on, or there’s no doubt discussions are going on?

  6. Philj 6
    16 December 2013 at 3:40 pm

    Xox
    More corporate subsidies. What happened to letting the market decide and keeping government out of business? Not quite Nanny State, but getting there.

    • Naki Man 6.1
      16 December 2013 at 4:48 pm

      More high paying jobs for kiwi’s.You bitch and moan that there are no jobs
      then bitch again when a foreign company wants to spend $500 million here.
      NZ made millions from tourism from the last promo movie deal and it will happen again
      This is fantastic news for lots of people. Don’t be so negative

      • Colonial Viper 6.1.1
        16 December 2013 at 5:23 pm

        What part of that $500M will be disbursed as wages and workers incomes, Naki?

        Come on, you’re so positive, tell us.

        • Naki Man 6.1.1.1
          16 December 2013 at 5:57 pm

          I don’t know the answer to that but in the past the wage rates have been very generous and the tourism industry did very well from the last promo movie.

          • Colonial Viper 6.1.1.1.1
            16 December 2013 at 6:45 pm

            Any more laws passed fucking NZ workers, as part of this deal?

            • karol 6.1.1.1.1.1
              16 December 2013 at 6:49 pm

              Too late. Already done.

            • Naki Man 6.1.1.1.1.2
              16 December 2013 at 9:39 pm

              The only people that fuck NZ workers are unions and lame actor’s that have to higher opinion of them selves. Heard of Holden in Aussie that’s what greed does prices you out of a job. No sympathy for them.

              • Draco T Bastard …
                16 December 2013 at 9:48 pm

                Ah, no, the people who fuck NZ workers are National, Act and UF with a helping hand from the Māori Party.

                Heard of Holden in Aussie that’s what greed does prices you out of a job.

                Yeah, because workers having enough to live on is just too expensive for the greedy sociopaths at the top of the Ponzi Scheme.

              • Colonial Viper …
                17 December 2013 at 12:52 am

                Naki Man.

                Do you have no economic sense whatsoever?

                Do you think that you can compete against Chinese or US prison (slave) labour?

                Are you willing to work for US$2.50/hr to be “competitive” (while the corporations siphon off billions – funny that you aren’t calling them “greedy” are you? Why is that?)

                • Wayne …
                  17 December 2013 at 9:23 am

                  CV,

                  News to me that film workers in Wellington are essentially on the same conditions as “US prison (slave) labour”. Care to provide at least a skerrit of evidence.

                  Now I have been to the Weta Digital buildings. I didn’t see that many people in prison orange, but maybe they were all out back. I guess they don’t drive the BMW’s that were everywhere in the carpark. But maybe they have to push them to work.

                  • Tracey …
                    17 December 2013 at 9:25 am

                    skerrick.

                    How many BMW’s did you see?

                  • karol …
                    17 December 2013 at 9:44 am

                    More importantly, how will this contribute to a sustainable NZ screen industry? The incentives to Hobbits and Ring Lords hasn’t achieved that so far.

                    Is boom and bust good for providing a secure income (as well as living wages) for NZ workers in the industry?

                    • Wayne …
                      17 December 2013 at 10:06 am

                      Well I do think the the industry in Wellington is sustainable in the sense that there is a fully developed specialist work force with great expertise, who despite CV’s skepticism are very well paid.

                      However, clearly the industry needs to have comparable incentives as occur in other developed nations (UK, Australia, Europe, various US states). Effectively it means the industry has a lower corporate tax rate. But without it there would be no industry, and therefore no tax paid at all.

                      Of course it can be argued that there should be no tax preferences for any industry category. That is OK for non-mobile industries, but clearly does not work for highly mobile industries. You either give the preference and have the industry or you don’t, but then do not have the industry.

                      Labour had exactly the same dilemma when in Govt.

                      Now the Nats will also add employment law flexibility, which Labour does not. That is a clear philisopical difference. Labour would sooner loose the industry than shift on that. Fair enough, it is a choice you can make, but not one that the Nats would make.

                      The voters get to decide which approach they prefer.

                    • KJT …
                      17 December 2013 at 10:09 am

                      If they are such good employers, why did they need the changes to employment law?

                    • karol …
                      17 December 2013 at 10:35 am

                      Wayne, Wellington & Jackson’s stuff are the show pieces of the screen industry. But a lot of the bread & butter work is in Auckland. And it is the Auckland industry that has noticeably hit a major trough.

                      The basis of Auckland’s on-going screen work has been in TV series. They offer more certainly of work over time, than the one off (or 2-3 off) movies. Such work enables various teams (from lighting to stunts etc) to build up the necessary equipment and buildings.

                      Think Shortland Street, Spartacus, Power Rangers etc. The facilities then are also available for small to medium budget movies, both NZ produced and international.

                    • One Anonymous Knucklehead …
                      17 December 2013 at 10:40 am

                      Dr. Mapp says if you elect a Labour government the sky will fall on your head, economically speaking, but he knows his own party’s economic track record is worse by every single measure.

                      A Tory lecturing the left on economics has zero credibility.

                      In this case I think the National Party took money to do this deal, and has eyes on a few directorships to hand out as rewards to its shills ex-MPs, as detailed by Simon Lusk.

                    • Draco T Bastard …
                      17 December 2013 at 4:10 pm

                      Effectively it means the industry has a lower corporate tax rate. But without it there would be no industry, and therefore no tax paid at all.

                      You either give the preference and have the industry or you don’t, but then do not have the industry.

                      Oh, BS Wayne.

                      We really don’t need foreign companies coming in here to make films. We could do it all ourselves. As I say above, just have the government spend the money directly into the industry and keep the IP – the returns from the sales of the films around the world would far exceed the minor tax take from having foreign firms here and we’d still have the full rate taxes as well.

                      Labour had exactly the same dilemma when in Govt.

                      That’s because they’re following the same failed ideology, the belief that we have to have foreign firms come into NZ to do anything rather than supporting NZ doing it itself.

                      Now the Nats will also add employment law flexibility make employment laws weaker as they’ve already done.

                      FTFY

                    • Colonial Viper …
                      17 December 2013 at 4:14 pm

                      Trans-national companies make sovereign nations bottom of the barrel beggars.

              • Tracey …
                17 December 2013 at 8:35 am

                Are you sure its greed?

                “The global car-maker recently announced its third-quarter result for the 2012-13 financial year, reporting a $US700 million profit, well down on the $US1.5 billion it had earned in the previous year.

                Part of that downward spiral in income was attributed to a pre-tax earnings drop for CIO – down to $US300 million ($A330 million) from $US800 million for the same period last year. ”

                The car maker’s parent company, General Motors, cited the strong Australian dollar, high cost of production, small domestic market and competitive global auto market as factors for the decision.

                • KJT …
                  17 December 2013 at 10:12 am

                  Don’t forget that the USA still has tariffs on car imports.

                  And subsidies.

                  Makes Aussie even more uncompetitive when the USA continues industry support, when Australia removes it.

          • Tracey 6.1.1.1.2
            17 December 2013 at 8:26 am

            “but in the past the wage rates have been very generous”

            Fair enough. Which jobs and how much did they pay?

      • Tracey 6.1.2
        17 December 2013 at 8:25 am

        “More high paying jobs for kiwi’s.”

        Is that your hope, your belief, or a verifiable fact? Given the warners changes to legislation, prima facie, the jobs will not be high paying jobs.

      • David H 6.1.3
        17 December 2013 at 9:37 am

        What high paying jobs????

        FFS RWNJ special today only. 2 for 1

  7. infused 7
    16 December 2013 at 5:10 pm

    if (party == “Labour”)
    {
    writeLine(“Awesome news. Labour are so great xoxoxo”);
    }
    else
    {
    writeLine(“This is bullshit. Corp sellouts, fuking JK!!”);
    }

    • karol 7.1
      16 December 2013 at 5:16 pm

      Nope. If you check you will see I disagreed with Labour (Parker’s) latest announcements on raising the retirement age. I have also been critical of Labour’s lack of policies on social security and in support of struggling beneficiaries, etc, etc. And I still say I will continue to party vote Green.

      Also I didn’t say the government’s announcement on the screen industry incentives wa all bad – I said it’s a mixed bag.

      Now do you have anything of substance to say about the content of the post, or the government’s announcements about the screen industry today?

      • infused 7.1.1
        17 December 2013 at 12:26 am

        There is virtually no reason to have an alternative view on this blog, or at-least a right view. You either get flamed to shit, or banned.

        Only topics I will actively engage on are the tech based ones.

        Other topics get my $0.05c (waits for the flame…)

        • felix 7.1.1.1
          17 December 2013 at 5:28 am

          And yet karol seems to manage.

        • karol 7.1.1.2
          17 December 2013 at 8:02 am

          So we should just cheer Key and Joyce for raising incentives, especially for securing Avatar to be made in NZ?

          yet it wasn’t so long ago that Joyce was rejecting doing just that, saying he didn’t want to get into a race to the bottom, and that there was limited benefit from it for NZ…?

          Oh, and look…. today’s NZ Herald editorial (the column usually so supportive of Team key, has come out against yesterday’s announcements.

          What is it about Hollywood that causes the Government to go weak at the knees? To ensure the next three Avatar movies are filmed in this country, it has now offered the sort of concessions that might be expected of the most star-struck of teenagers. An initial disinclination to provide more generous incentives to film-makers has given way to a virtual capitulation. Not for nothing was 20th Century Fox’s Paul Hanneman yesterday referring to New Zealand’s “unparalleled support to films of this scale”. The cost of that backing will be measured in millions of lost revenue dollars and an industry which, unlike almost any other, continues to believe it will be subsidised to survive.

          Not so long ago, the Economic Development Minister, Steven Joyce, was adamant the industry must stand on its own feet, and that increasing incentives to match those of other countries represented an ultimately fruitless race to the bottom. Support for that view came from an in-depth review by the Treasury, the Ministry for Building, Innovation and Employment and the Film Commission.

          It recommended the rebate for major film and television production should remain at 15 per cent.

          ha! They called it with Key’s “star-struck teenager” MO!

          And even the Herald editorial writer is not convinced of the alleged benefits that will follow for NZ:

          >It also pointed to 90 per cent of the live action crew being New Zealanders. But the memorandum of understanding for the three films falls some way short of committing James Cameron, the director, to these. They will be fulfilled only if this country has the “capacity and capability” to meet the production requirements. Mr Cameron has the wriggle room to take shooting and visual effects and post-production work overseas if he wishes.

          […]
          The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies at least provided an obvious tourism benefit in terms of this country’s image. Even then, it is hard to quantify this, and it was certainly not worth the incentives and changes to the workplace law that were required to retain the filming of the Hobbit here. Seeking to link the Avatar movies to this country’s image offers even less, given that it is already ingrained by Sir Peter Jackson’s films. In all this, there is more than a whiff of the Government’s similarly ill-judged $30 million subsidy to keep the Tiwai Pt aluminium smelter open.

          Maybe some righties here should just try to improve their arguments/analysis, rather than blaming moderators and others at TS for their (said righties) own poorly presented arguments and/or inadequate analysis?

          • Colonial Viper 7.1.1.2.1
            17 December 2013 at 8:12 am

            The Herald was just fine with the LOTR crony deal for Peter Jackson.

            Which says to me that this editorial is as much a pro-Peter Jackson piece (a “who the hell is this Canadian interloper” piece) as anything else.

            • karol 7.1.1.2.1.1
              17 December 2013 at 8:24 am

              Yes, there is that, CV.

              Though there is this sentence in the editorial:

              One definite plus, however, is that Cameron’s presence means the local industry depends less on Sir Peter.

              I actually think the turn against the Avatar deal by the NZ Herald, and The Dominion Post, at least partly indicates that Jackson is a very slick spin doctor and media manipulator. The MSM thus finding it difficult to criticise him and his initiatives.

              I would also prefer that the MSM journalists spent more time looking critically at the proposals to build a more sustainable NZ film industry, focused on NZ productions and stories.

          • David H 7.1.1.2.2
            17 December 2013 at 9:44 am

            @Karol You can imagine Keys face upon reading that. Lemon’s anybody?

        • Tracey 7.1.1.3
          17 December 2013 at 8:38 am

          Do you post at WO or kiwiblog? If you do, do you defend those from the left who post there and get flamed, and in the case of the former blog, with quite repulsive vernacular?

    • Paul 7.2
      16 December 2013 at 6:39 pm

      Good point, infused.
      Can you name some National Party policies you don’t support slavishly?

  8. KJT 8
    16 December 2013 at 6:41 pm

    In case you haven’t noticed, many of us on here are not at all happy with either of the main parties.

    Especially the continuation of worker and welfare bashing policies pursued by the rabid right wing, in both.

    I for one, am generally in favor of leveling the playing field so that New Zealand industry, and workers, get a leg up in international competition.
    Especially after successive NZ Governments have, blindly and ideologically, tilted it so far and fast in favour of foreign corporations. Hoping, mostly in vain, that other countries would be silly enough to follow suit.
    I am not in favour of a leg up to, only, the few companies that fund National. Like trucking to the exclusion of other transport modes. To name one.

    Some things should not be for sale, however, including workers, human rights!

  9. karol 9
    16 December 2013 at 6:48 pm

    Sickening sycophant. John Key, doing all he can for the NZ Screen industry, and NZ culture.

    3 news video on the Avatar sequels to be made here (apart from Joyce’s Uturn from when he said there wasn’t a lot of benefit from the “race to the bottom” to get big Hollywood productions to NZ).

    Check Key out at about 2 mins 26. Where he does a big suck-up turn to Cameron et al, saying he really enjoyed watching the Avatar movie in Hawaii….. then sucks in his breath.

    Why is he PM of NZ again?

    • Paul 9.1
      16 December 2013 at 6:59 pm

      Merrill Lynch sent him and they’re very happy with the job he’s doing.

      • Draco T Bastard 9.1.1
        16 December 2013 at 7:54 pm

        +1

        • Paul 9.1.1.1
          16 December 2013 at 7:56 pm

          For some reason a lot of posters frame their comments on the assumption that Key cares about us. He doesn’t.

      • ghostwhowalksnz 9.1.2
        16 December 2013 at 8:46 pm

        Merrill Lynch doesnt exist more

      • Will@Welly 9.1.3
        16 December 2013 at 9:55 pm

        Thanks karol. That’s what stood out for me. He watched the movie elsewhere. He can’t even support the local cinema’s. Too bloody precious.
        And Cameroon’s attitude really was one of take it or leave it. He was going to make the movies, whether it was here or wherever. Still, this time next week, dear leader will be sunning himself on the beach, being briefed what to do next year to free the New Zealand economy of more taxpayers dollars. Now there’s a million dollar movie just waiting to be made.

        • Tracey 9.1.3.1
          17 December 2013 at 8:39 am

          he probably got a free DVD signed by the cast with a lovely thank you card from PJ and Warners.

  10. vto 10
    17 December 2013 at 6:10 am

    $500 million.

    What a load of horseshit.

    How much of that includes bank and funding structures based in New York?
    How much of that includes payments to the US-based workers?
    How much of that includes payments to distributors, etc, all foreign?
    and how much of that leftover spend is not cash spend but exchanges in kind?

    Just like when people spouted $750 million or whatever the bullshit number was for Lord of the ring……. about one-third of that is the true amount spent in NZ.

    The hoodwink is right there.

    And guess what – they get $125million of our money – given to them – IN CASH FOR FUCKS SAKE.

    Deal’s done for these arseholes. Money is made. Right there. Next deal mr key…

  11. tricledrown 11
    17 December 2013 at 11:20 am

    Merril Lynch is a subsidiary of Bank of America Now.
    Lord of the Rings hobbit was a story about the rise of Facsism.

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