Irene Gardiner: SPADA President on James Cameron calling for more investment into Wellington film industry

Acclaimed film director James Cameron says investment and innovation, especially in the film sector, is the key to Wellington’s future.

Cameron spoke at Vision for Wellington’s inaugural public event and said the capital’s film sector sets it apart from other cities in New Zealand - but needs more financial support from the Government.

SPADA President Irene Gardiner says Wellington's film sector brings more money into the economy if a film performs well - and she agrees with Cameron's sentiments. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bryan Bridge.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
So James Cameron was down at this event in Wellington
last night. He was a guest speaker for the lobby
group Vision for Wellington. It was meant to be the
meeting focused on the city and all the issues they're
having and the fact they can't fix their pipes, etc.
But James Cameron took the opportunity to talk about how
important it is for all of us to support the
film subsidies that we have in New Zealand.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Now.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
International film and TV productions currently they can get about
twenty percent of cash rebate if they film right here.
Iren Gardner's the president of the Screen Producers New Zealand.
She's with me Hi Irene Hi there. Good to have
you on the show. Do you know when I saw this,
I thought, of course, James Cameron loves this. He just
wants more money out of the government.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Well yes and no. He does bring an awful lot
of money into New Zealand, so you know, I think
we have to give them credit for that. And that's
the thing with the rebate, And I think it's the
point James was trying to make is that people kind
of think, oh, it's just you know, free money. It's
a grant, it's a giveaway, it's a subsidy, whatever, But
it is in fact a centage rebate. It's what happens

(01:02):
in the screen industry all around the world, and really
for every dollar that goes back, we get about six
into the economy, back into the New Zealand economy and
so and in fact Avatar is probably at the higher
end of that. Their contribution to Wellington and New Zealand
is incredible. So I'm quite pleased that James was talking

(01:25):
up the rebate because he's right.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Would the industry survive without it?

Speaker 1 (01:32):
No, No, it is absolutely the background backbone rather of
the New Zealand screen industry, and that goes for international
and domestic. For international, they just wouldn't come here without
it because they can get it in pretty much every
other territory. And so even though we have wonderful scene
or any wonderful landscape, great cruise, they would not come

(01:53):
here without it and we would lose all of that
international money. But also for the domestic industry now that
things are extremely tough for local production because of years
of the streamers hoovering up advertising dollar, well not advertising dollar,
but the eyes that we made advertising dollar off. A
lot of our producers are now having to work in

(02:15):
the co production area, you know, doing shows that screen
all around the world, and they tend to be the
rebate shows. So we would be really berefed without it
for domestic these days because you know, everything is just
so tough in that area.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
There's a show on Netflix at the moment. I just
noticed it the other day actually, when I was flying
on that Jetstar flight that I was talking about, and
it's a New Zealand show on Netflix based in Cay Colder.
It's all based around it or after an earthquake. Do
you know the one that I'm talking about.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
I do know the way, and it's called Friends Like Her. Yes,
it's a great little well. It's interesting actually because we've
had a bit of a beef with Netflix and that,
you know, they set up an office a while back
called you know, Netflix Australia New Zealand, but they actually
never commission anything out of New Zealand. But that's an acquisition.
It's not a commission. It's a show that was actually

(03:06):
made for three here, but they've now bought it and
it's screening on Netflix. So that's a little foot in
the door, which is good because Netflix has been using
New Zealand as a location for international productions and now
they're starting to buy a few existing shows. So we
really hope that the next step is that they would
actually commission some shows from New Zealand production houses. What

(03:29):
would they pass do?

Speaker 2 (03:31):
You know?

Speaker 1 (03:32):
I don't know, because it'll be different from show to show,
But to be honest, it's not terribly much when they
just buy it late in the piece as an acquisition.
Where the real money is is when people invest in
the show at the front end. You know, they commission it,
they put money in it. It might be a bunch
of different production companies. All of that money comes into
New Zealand and it may have some New Zealand funding

(03:54):
as well, and then of course it gets the rebate
percentage taken out, which is hugely helpful.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
I see this, you know, one that they've acquired it
does well on the streaming platform. I mean, is that
how you start to build a relationship with them to say, hey,
some of our content might actually do well on your platform.
Maybe you should start to go from the ground up here.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
I think so, and I really hope so. And that's
a great show and we've had a few factual shows
on there as well, which have been good little shows
like Casketeers and Down for Love and things like that,
and then to see Friends like Her, which is a
really good drama. It can only be good, you know
that one thing leads to another because I think we
do still suffer a little bit because not so much

(04:38):
in factual because it's a bit more level playing foot field,
but in drama and comedy, where New Zealand's budgets haven't
quite been so high as the world, I think there
is perhaps a perception, oh, can they do it? And
of course now that we've got more into the co
production world which that show is, you know, you get
shows like After the Party going all around the world
and The Gone and you know North and things like that.

(05:02):
So I think we are proving that we can do it,
and it's just getting them to understand that and take
a punt.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Really interesting stuff. Iren, thank you very much for that,
Iron Gardner the Sparta Present. That's the present of these
screen producers in New Zealand. For more from Hither Duplessy
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