Aussies landing plum film roles

By ALAN PERROTT


Hosting glamorous feature films has helped put New Zealand talent on the map, but it has also created a job market for Australian film workers.

The Government, film buffs and tourist operators are overjoyed at the attention generated by projects like The Last Samurai and Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, a run that could stretch to seven Narnia movies if The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is a success.

But groups representing production staff, technicians and actors are concerned too many jobs are being lost to overseas workers, while the big budget efforts are pushing up costs for other local productions.

The New Zealand Film and Video Technicians Guild has been outspoken in its concerns over the number of Australians flooding into this country, because of a downturn in the film industry across the Tasman.

Guild spokesman Andrew Madigan could not comment on the issue further because their complaints had already led to threats of legal action.

But in an interview with OnFilm magazine, guild vice-president Murray Milne criticised the appointment of Australians to senior positions.

These appointments have created a trickle-down effect because they are importing their usual Australian support staff with them.

Mr Milne said about one in five people working on the production crew for The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was Australian, with 40 Australians working in the art department alone.

"I am worried about this setting a precedent of Australians being seen as better than us, and the possibility, if more of these high-level productions come here, that this same situation will happen again."

A spokeswoman for actors union, Actors Equity, said it was watching a similar trend among actors and extras.

The union was notified last week of two new film projects that would each bring in 30 foreign actors.

She said Equity was wary of being too outspoken because of the risk of scaring projects away.

Tim Thorpe, executive director of the New Zealand Screen Council, said major movies could be a mixed blessing.

There were economic spinoffs from films like Lord of the Rings, but care was needed to ensure that they did not disadvantage the local film and television industry in the long term.

Bigger budgets mean bigger pay rates and local productions were already having to rely on technicians willing to work for "mates rates".

Wellington-made film Stickmen was reportedly assisted largely by key workers who accepted lower than usual pay rates after earning big money on the American film Vertical Limits.

Preventing New Zealanders from taking senior positions could hold up efforts to improve local skills, but Mr Thorpe said New Zealand was enjoying such a wave of success that some projects had been forced to look elsewhere because of overcrowding.

He said at least one big-budget picture had recently decided against coming to this country because so many resources had been swallowed up by directors Peter Jackson and Andrew Adamson.

But he welcomed the NZ On Air decision to put $5.3 million into a new drama, Outrageous Fortune, being produced for TV3.