Economic Uncertainty in Screen Sector

Greetings fellow guild members and screen industry colleagues,

The last quarter of 2022 and the beginning of 2023 has been a productive time for the New Zealand screen sector in several areas. Broadcast TV and local productions have been busy and buoyant. Offshore productions have been shooting in Wellington and Auckland. The TVCs have been increasing in their frequency. There has also been some important consultation and changes being made to the screen incentives/rebates that regardless if we like it or not, affect us all.

The incentive rebate review closed its consultation phase in December 2022. Called “The review of Government Investment in the Screen Sector,” essentially, it’s a review of the incentive, how it was targeted, and how effective it was for attracting the types of productions that work best for NZ. There was discussion about how we encourage more NZ content and also put training and development of NZ crew and creatives into the picture.

The Guild Executive discussed what we felt was best for the guild and provided feedback on behalf of our members. Whilst the consultation finished in December last year, the decision from the Government will not come until June this year.

The Screen Workers Act has passed through parliament and is now law. What exactly this means to us all is still essentially being locked down. Much of the content is already in place for our industry in the Blue Book and the ongoing dialogue that SIG has had with SPADA and the NZAPG over the years. Essentially it looks like many aspects of the conditions we work under in the Blue Book will be formalized under the new law, and we will need to go through a process to work out all the details in the coming year.

International economic headwinds are hitting the world in the wake of COVID, its ongoing economic impacts, and the increased inflation internationally that has resulted. Interest rates have been on the rise globally, and the increased cost of borrowing will have real ramifications for the screen sector as studios and streaming services trim their budgets and the amount of content they have lined up to shoot internationally.

I’ve heard anecdotally that studios previously booked out long-term in the UK and Canada now have space, and the period of rampant international production appears to be slowing down.

I’ve also heard from those involved in the NZ studios that forward booking for our studio spaces for the second half of 2023 is the lowest it’s been for a long time. There is concern locally that the uncertainty around the changes to the rebate coupled with the uncertainty about the Screen Workers Act paired up with the global economic headwinds might spell a quiet second half to this year.

Here’s hoping that things start looking better soon.

Brendon Durey