Q&A With Dave Gibson
The first time he interviewed Dave Gibson his phone deleted the recording and then the magazine closed. This time his laptop screen shattered and he got appendicitis. But Graeme Tuckett overcomes the apparent curse and finally presents a Q and A with the Chief Executive of the NZ Film Commission.
Q1: You’ve been in the job at the NZFC now for two years. What’s been the highlight?
A: Improving the number and diversity of films being made. I think if we can finance 15 plus domestic features a year we significantly increase the chances of audiences connecting with a NZ film they really like.
Q2: What have been some of the films you’re pleased with?
A: Decisions to invest in Dark Horse and Shadows pre-dated my arrival but with Dark Horse in particular I think we contributed a lot in its post and it’s the genesis (pardon the pun) of the new pause clause and audience testing regime. Tickled, Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Mahana we’re also very proud of. But really there’s a whole bunch of good films coming through now.
Q3: Do you feel the merger with Film New Zealand has been successful?
A: Absolutely. I think we are more cohesive now as a one-stop shop dealing with attraction and incentive enquiries. Looking forward we are waiting for a new budget allocation from the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment. We’ve pitched them a number of new initiatives for funding and our understanding is that the level of funding we receive will then become a guaranteed baseline for future years. This will enable some certainty around our activities in this space. Hopefully mid-year we will be able to share with the industry our future plans in the attractions area.
Q4: There has always been a lot of discussion particularly amongst crews about low-budget production and the pressures it puts on crews along with equipment and post providers. What are your thoughts there?
A: Well, if you go back a few years there was definitely some disquiet around the Escalator scheme and I was very aware of that when I came into the job. I think making some of those films at $250,000 was very ambitious and some only got finished because people worked for very low rates and a lot of favours were called in. Although a couple like Fantail and House Bound were successful! That said, we have been trying to encourage the scope of the films and the budgeting to be realistic. And we’ve introduced a match-funding scheme with a US partner for films under $500,000. Tickled, which was very well reviewed and sold successfully at Sundance recently, was the first of these. The other area that’s tricky is films with first-time directors at about a million dollars, where the track record of the team involved can’t attract much money beyond ours. Inevitably that means that it’s hard to have really experienced producers and production people on board which is really what you need.
Q5: So should the NZFC get involved in these films?
A: Yes. New directors and producers have to have a chance to prove themselves, and don’t forget people like Peter Jackson started by making lower-budget-genre films. I do hear criticism of the NZFC as if somehow we are responsible for these films as a production company and for every single decision made on them. It’s important to realise we are investors not producers. Each domestic film we are involved in is set up as stand-alone company and the producers are responsible for best practice (which we strongly encourage in our funding contracts).
Q6: What does that mean in terms of the new health and safety legislation?
A: Good question. As I said at the recent meeting in Auckland, we have always had clauses in our funding agreements around safety and reporting. I think our monitoring and questioning of these reports will change because our liability and that of our Board will now be higher. But I think the work being done by ScreenSafe spearheaded by the Technicians’ Guild with some financial support from us is heading in the right direction.
Q7: What’s the biggest challenge at the moment?
A: Infrastructure. Specifically a new studio in Auckland. We are working closely with ATEED and providing as much support as we can.
Q8: What are the NZFC’s core responsibilities to NZ film now?
A: I think the five-planet charter that we set out around 18 months ago is still valid. Our metaphor is that if you go out in the middle of the night and look up in the sky and these five planets are shining equally brightly then we should all feel the industry is in good heart:
- Pathways and careers for people
- Increased economic activity
- More eyeballs on films here and overseas
- Culturally significant films
- Amazing, original, different, satisfying films.
We check most of what we do against these planets.
Q9: What are the main funding categories open to NZ film makers now?
A: Wow, there’s so many ways we that we provide funding. From a quick check of the website there’s more than 20. Really it’s probably better for people to check the site www.nzfilm.co.nz
Q10: With the Escalator scheme wrapped up, what are the new ‘entry points’ for low-budget feature films?
A: The matched fund low-budget scheme I mentioned before which you can read about on our site: www.nzfilm.co.nz/funding/feature-films/production-funding/lower-budget-feature-films
And there’s nothing to stop young filmmakers applying for moderate amounts of feature funding at our normal production funding rounds: www.nzfilm.co.nz/funding/feature-films/production-funding/nzfc-production-financing
We’ve supported several films in those rounds over the last year or so for budgets between $300,000 and a million dollars.
Q11: Is there an NZFC policy on crew payment and working conditions?
A: We don’t publish rates for people but as a government agency we require people who take our funding for feature films to at least pay people above the minimum wage rate! Our funding contract for features also requires producers to adhere to The Blue Book and the revised Actors Equity SPADA agreement. And for feature applications our production exec Marc Ashton looks at all the budgets at an early stage and talks to producers about any concerns we might have.
Q12: There is concern in the Guild at the ‘special’ or ‘large event’ status recently granted to some sports broadcasters – that allows foreign broadcast crews to work here regardless of whether a NZ crew is available – could be extended to international feature films. Is the FC aware of this issue or does the FC have a role in supporting the current policy? Which is broadly that the bulk of any crew in NZ must be local as long as suitable local crew are available.
A: We are aware of some international broadcast crews covering major events in NZ under the Visiting Media Programme category of visas. This category is for participants in the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise or New Zealand Tourism Board’s Visiting Media Programme and doesn’t apply to international TV drama feature films. We support the engagement of NZ crew and cast where possible but also acknowledge that international financing and the marketplace also play a part.
Q13: All media industries are on shifting ground. What changes do you see coming to the NZ industry that might not be obvious yet?
A: This year we hope to run a number of industry events and put out discussion papers and videos on the theme ‘GPS 2026’. We want to promote and encourage discussion on what we think the industry will look like in ten years’ time. We’d like to partner with all the guilds for these discussions.
At the Big Screen Symposium later this year we hope to be able to paint a positive picture a decade out.
And then, next year start talking about how we get there.
