Auckland & Wellington TVCs
Television commercials have picked up pace again with a lot of work being quoted between now and the New Year. It’s an improvement on last summer in Auckland. Wellington has also enjoyed hosting some large commercials lately, so it’s also refreshing to see some work head south. Many crew have been fortunate enough to gain employment on these local TVCs shooting at the moment, or have obtained work in other fields to tie them over between jobs. But sadly we’ve said goodbye (hopefully only temporarily) to some key crew who have found work offshore in their fields of expertise.
The Auckland industry seems to be in the middle of a huge rattle up due to forces outside its control. The recent announcement by Television New Zealand not to screen a further series of Nothing Trivial is just another disappointment in my eyes, when on one hand, we have a minister intent on using the “we need more local productions, and more local IP creation”, yet the state owned and operated broadcaster is not supporting our local talent, crew and producers.
South Pacific Pictures (SPP) has been terribly successful over the years, with incredible writers and talented people creating a broad range of television to suit most demographics. Many crew throughout NZ have come up through the ranks of SPP, and have learnt skills of their trade under the often fast turnaround environment that SPP has been able to offer.
In the last couple of months, we have also witnessed a huge change for post-production facilities in Auckland, in particular the job losses at companies such as Digital Post.
**Brendon Durey **(Guild treasurer and executive member), Nick Treacy (Auckland branch chair and executive member), myself and other industry representatives have engaged in many meetings this year at ATEED/Film Auckland in an attempt to lobby Government in regards to offering better incentives to compete against our international competition. As you are all aware, there has been no positive shift as at time of print, but we are quietly confident that if we all continue to put pressure on the Government, some form of change could happen. It is imperative that you all understand the difference between the words ‘subsidy’, ‘rebates’ and ‘incentives’. There is a difference between all these words, and it seems strange that the ministers keep referring to the word ‘subsidy’ (which makes the average taxpayer believe they are fronting up money out of their own pockets), instead of the correct reference ‘incentives’ or ‘rebates’ (where a total spend has to first take place, but a portion of that total spend is not taxed like the rest). It is important to explain this difference to the public, your friends and family, as we need the support of the whole country. They should understand that incentives have proved to be a positive investment for the country in the past, and can only be better than what is happening in our industry at the moment (i.e. nothing).
I have learnt this year that a lot more politics are involved in the many decisions behind getting film projects to our screens than I ever knew possible. It is astounding how hard our local producers have tried to bring work into this country against difficulties like a high dollar and the current incentive deal. These producers need the support of the technicians and the rest of the industry if we are to turn this current climate around again. I’d like to end my regional wrap up by saying I believe this is temporary, it will get better and we will reinvent ourselves and come out stronger and wiser in the long run if we stick together and prop each other up in the meantime.
Sioux Macdonald, Guild vice president and executive committee member
