Film body praises rebate funding
Film Otago Southland chairman Kyle Murdoch says a half-billion-dollar funding boost to New Zealand's film and television sector will ensure the country remains competitive on the world stage.
Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis yesterday announced the $577 million funding boost to sustain the international screen production rebate.
The Budget increase over the next four and a-half years would take the total funding for the rebate scheme to $1.09 billion, ''better reflecting expected demand for the scheme''.
First introduced in 2014, under the scheme eligible productions could access a cash rebate of 20% for production costs, where those costs were more than $15m for feature films and $4m for TV productions.
A further 5% rebate was available to productions spending more than $30m, which met additional criteria for industry and economic growth.
Ms Willis said yesterday those settings remained unchanged.
''The rebate scheme is working and we want New Zealand's film industry to know the government is backing them to grow into the future.
''We are sending a clear message to the world: New Zealand is the best place in the world to make movies.
''Bring your productions here to take advantage of our talent and locations.''
Mr Murdoch said the announcement was '''massive''.
''It's really good news for us.
''I think it's fantastic recognition that, actually, the New Zealand screen production rebate works because without it we lose work to other parts of the world, in terms of good-quality international film and TV projects.
''That's what we really need, as an industry, to attract work from overseas to come here, because it really supplements our much smaller domestic market.
''It keeps people working, gives people this amazing work experience and keeps the industry ticking over.''
He said the rebate had a huge impact on the industry in the South and believed it was likely responsible for some recent major shoots, including East of Eden, a Netflix production starring Florence Pugh shot in Oamaru and blockbuster American movie Heart of the Beast, starring Brad Pitt, shot in Queenstown.
Without the incentive, ''it would be very likely they wouldn't be working here'', Mr Murdoch said.
''This is really helping make New Zealand more competitive on [the] world stage.''
Ms Willis said industry incentives were ''not generally our favoured approach''.
However, she doubted New Zealand, which competed with more than 100 global territories providing ''more generous incentives than ours'', would get the offshore investment without the scheme.
Over the past 10 years, inbound productions had invested almost $7.5b in New Zealand, supported by $1.5b in rebate payments, while the industry generated about $3.5b in revenue.
''We want New Zealand's film industry to know the government is backing them to grow into the future.
''The government will continue to work with the New Zealand Film Commission to ensure we continue to attract high-value productions from around the world,'' she said.
tracey.roxburgh@odt.co.nz
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