KEY POINTS:
The film and TV production industry is pressing for a 20 per cent increase in taxpayer subsidies for big overseas productions to keep Hollywood studios coming here.
The Screen Council confirms it is lobbying for the main incentive - the Large Budget Screen Production Grant rebate - to be increased from 12.5 per cent of production spend in New Zealand to 15 per cent.
The council was playing down a Statistics New Zealand survey released yesterday that showed United States investment in this country fell 37.7 per cent to $325 million from 2005 to 2006.
But the council - representing New Zealand producers - is worried that the high-value dollar, coupled with increased Australian taxpayer incentives announced last month, will put the skids under its attempts to attract productions here.
US productions such as Narnia and the Bridge to Terabithia give work to local producers but they also mean business for the contractors who service them.
Industry players are relaxed about the fall in investment, saying that individual projects are so large the production levels can vary enormously year to year.
There was no big-budget epic last year like Peter Jackson's King Kong in 2005, and a single project can have a big impact on statistics.
Screen Production and Development Association executive producer Penelope Borland says producers in Auckland - which is where most of these US productions are filmed - have found Hollywood studios reviewing their commitments.
Veteran New Zealand producer John Barnett - who made Whale Rider and Sione's Wedding - says the high dollar means New Zealand is only marginally cheaper to film in than Los Angeles.
Screen Council executive director Tim Thorpe says there is increasing pressure from Australia, which is New Zealand's major competitor in attracting overseas productions.
The lobbying effort to Economic Development Minister Trevor Mallard points to the Australian Government's move last month to raise its tax-based rebates from 12.5 per cent of Australian spend to 15 per cent.
Mallard is reviewing the Large Budget Screen Production Grant which is available to films that spend more than $15 million and more than 70 per cent of their total budget in New Zealand. The scheme started in 2005, and the grants were dominated by money for King Kong and Narnia.
Last year it fell to $24.41 million, made up mostly of a second payment of $23.44 million to King Kong.
So far this year the Government has allocated grants of $9.42 million, with Water Horse receiving $6.72 million and a US children's TV series, Mystic Force, given $2.7 million.
Film credits
* Taxpayers have given film-makers $90.4 million under the Large Budget Screen Production Grant Scheme since 2005.
* Peter Jackson's King Kong tops the list with a grant of $48.65 million.
* The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion The Witch & The Wardrobe was given $16.73 million.
