The Beauty of Strategy
In the last issue of NZTECHO, we looked at the work of Michael Brook and the Film Auckland team in creating the Auckland Film Protocol that aims to encourage filming in the ‘super city’. We now look at issues impacting filming in Southland, where the emphasis is on shooting in remote and scenic locations. Film Otago Southland executive manager Kevin Jennings writes about opportunities being created through stakeholder strategies and working relationships to enable access and still maintain conservation values.
Ensuring access to locations is one of the many objectives of a regional film office. This falls under the ‘open for business’ category and whether we are attracting an international production or enabling a domestic production, it is crucial that we have a place to conduct our business. We realize it is the sum of our parts that creates New Zealand’s overall offering.
The regional film offices in NZ work well together, we have many unique assets that complement each other, as well as issues that affect each other and we market these assets and approach these issues in a collaborative way.
A SWOT analysis of the Otago Southland region would identify the main strength being world renowned locations and therefore the main threat would be losing access to these locations. Access relies on utilizing land owned or administered by private interests, councils, iwi, farmers, the Department of Conservation (DOC) and Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) along with its pastoral division. Public conservation land managed by DOC covers roughly one third of the country and access to these locations is paramount to our industry.
It’s important to understand there are two separate roles within DOC. Establishing policy such as management plans is done by DOC planners and other DOC staff with input from key interest groups and conservation boards. This ultimately gets sent to the New Zealand Conservation Authority for approval. Once these plans are in place, DOC staff must refer to them when making a decision as to whether or not to grant a concession.
We started engaging with DOC in 2006 during the Mount Aspiring National Park management plan review. It’s worth noting, that there are very few issues that are caused by actual activity of filming and most plans are enabling in this regard. The issue is the means of access to these locations, specifically the ability to land a helicopter. If we can’t get to a location, it does not exist.
The draft Mount Aspiring plan proposed a widespread reduction in our ability to access the park by way of eliminating existing landing opportunities. Ironically, these landing restrictions presented little or no likely benefit in the idealistic pursuit of what is referred to as ‘natural quiet’. Though the plan can cont rol landings, DOC has no jurisdiction over the airspace above the park. This could have a lose-lose effect of restricting access for park users/film crews, while potentially increasing the amount of overflights as tourism operators can only circle above an area, as opposed to landing for a peaceful picnic.
We were looking for middle ground, but soon realized we were lobbying against well-organized and resourced non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who ideally would have no one enter the park unless they can get in and out on their own steam. We also encountered some DOC planners who appeared to share this ethos. These NGOs had members represented on most regional conservation boards as well as the conservation authority and we have come to respect their well-coordinated and effective approach. We attended conservation board meetings, lobbied local and national politicians, engaged with DOC’s national office and put out a few stories in the media. We ultimately ended up making some good headway on the plan, and clawed back some access. One of the key issues was identifying the actual verses perceived impact we have, we don’t actually use the national parks that often, but having the surety that we can offer it up is vital to our industry.
We are now in the midst of engaging with DOC on what are known as conservation management strategies (CMS) – the overarching rule book that dictates what is allowed or not allowed for the next 10 years. DOC is trying to get a consistent approach to all the plans. I have submitted on plans that cover Otago, Southland, and Canterbury. There are other regions under review as well.
When creating management plans, DOC is in the inevitable position of getting polarized views from all sides, trying to achieve compromise and find a middle ground and more often than not ending up with most people ultimately feeling like they didn’t quite get what they wanted.
That said there are some progressive changes happening at DOC, the new conservation partnership group contains the recently formed commercial partnership unit. The CMS are the rule book that will either enable or hinder this unit’s ability to achieve goals, and they are providing a fresh perspective from within the department. The results of this are some great common-sense solutions being presented in the new draft CMS that recognize the unique one-off nature of the film industry as opposed to other concessionaires, who may operate every day for a 10 or 20-year concession. This will hopefully allow for the opportunity to enable access, while maintaining core conservation values.
Once the plans are in place, it comes down to interpretation of those plans and developing positive relationships with operational staff. DOC staff at the coalface, who deal with the industry on a regular basis are fantastic. They understand that we are staunchly passionate and protective of our environment, that we live in it and depend on it to make our living. Local DOC staff now feel like partners who share our ideal that if properly managed, we can become a truly sustainable industry with very little temporary impact while providing positive benefits. In Otago we are looking at new ways to work together, an example of this is that the local office is trialling an after hour’s contact for last minute changes to existing film permits. DOC staff, we appreciate you.
We envisage that these positive relationships and knowledge will provide a platform to educate DOC staff who might be in regions that do not see much filming, making the whole of DOC truly film-friendly.
Whether you agree with it or not, the game has changed. Government has cut funding to DOC and this department must now pay more of its own way. The new slogan is “conservation for prosperity”. This new environment should open up many new partnership opportunities and I am hopeful that some NGOs that previously might have thought of us as an intrusion into their playground will begin to look at us as possible allies. We can work together to find solutions to some of the real issues we face to protect this incredible environment we are all so proud of, and fortunate to call our home.
Since writing this article, Film Otago Southland executive manager Kevin (KJ) Jennings has been re-elected to the prestigious Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI) board of directors for a second term. The association is the official professional and educational organization for regional and national film offices around the world. Congratulations Kevin.
