KEY POINTS:
The exchange rate will provide a big boost to sales revenue for producers selling offshore
The crash of the Kiwi dollar is helping attract US film and television productions to New Zealand.
The New Zealand dollar has fallen from US81.89c in February to US55.13c yesterday, a drop of 33 per cent.
David Madigan of the Technicians Guild - which represents the crews who work on those productions - said the New Zealand industry had performed well even when the dollar was worth US80c.
The new lower value would bolster New Zealand as Hollywood producers calculated the savings from moving production offshore.
Madigan said after last summer's boom period of overseas production - much of which is centred around Auckland - production for US based TV series and films had slowed slightly.
The US productions - many of them, such as Power Rangers, linked with the US entertainment giant Disney - had come here because of a long-term relationship rather than the exchange rate.
He said other countries competing for work, such as Australia and South Africa, had also seen their currencies depreciate against the US dollar.
The managing director and part owner of New Zealand's largest film and television production company, South Pacific Pictures, had no doubt the exchange rate would make it easier for New Zealand to attract projects.
That will be a boon for the film services sector - companies that provide the crew and production facilities for US principles to make movies here.
But he said that the exchange rate would also provide a big boost to sales revenue for producers selling offshore.
That is because most sales of screen productions - such as South Pacific Pictures' Shortland Street - are paid in US dollars.
But the events that preceded the exchange rate crash - a financial crisis amidst a deep-seated credit squeeze - also present dangers to the local film production business.
Screen Production and Development Association president Richard Fletcher says no New Zealand film productions are in grief yet.
But the credit squeeze is going to have an impact next year if it is not resolved.
Film finance is regarded as a specialised high-risk investment.
Local film producers faced "a rough ride" with the credit crisis limiting the the cash for investors - such as film distribution companies - to buy into films in advance.
This is a key source of finance to actually get the films made.
The credit crisis will also have an impact on gap finance and bridging loans.
The majority of screen industry financing is from taxpayers, with $74 million for television through New Zealand On Air and $23 million for film through the New New Zealand Film Commission.
The commission's acting chief executive Mladen Ivancic described the market for other film finance as "pretty dire".
With private sector investment under pressure, emphasis is expected to lie in Film Commission funding, with contributions from the commission and from other funding agencies or tax break schemes.
