Juggling juggernauts with local stories

NY Times piece entitled ‘Spunky NZ film Industry Takes on the Hollywood Juggernaut’ ponders the pros and cons of NZ’s bold new presence in the international film community. Interviewees such as director Vincent Ward and producer John Barnett worry that big budget Hollywood projects shot in NZ have driven up production costs for more modest, local films. “You get six years of Xena and Hercules, three or four years of Lord of the Rings or a year or two of King Kong, and you have a whole generation of film crews who have worked only on big-budget productions,” says Barnett. “And they say, ‘This is what I get paid, and it’s your problem if it’s a low-budget job.'” NZ Film Commission CEO Ruth Harley opposes the view that big budget projects stifle their local counterparts, pointing out that “the year under review has been one of the most successful in the organization’s 27-year history, with more local films being made than ever and more local films winning awards and acclaim overseas.” Producer Tim White, production designer Phil Ivey and OnFilm editor Nick Gant also support the new balancing act between an international and national film industry. “Those big films provide some continuity of work for local film crews,” says White. “Then those people bring skills they’ve honed to smaller productions like [Toa Fraser’s] No.2.”