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A film and television company has hit back at allegations that it "hounded" a terminally ill woman while making a documentary about her dead motorcycle-racing husband.
Visionary Film and Television head Richard Driver told the Weekend Herald the claims, made by Auckland-based writer Tim Hanna, were "outrageous" and "the stuff of fantasy".
The film, Love, Speed and Loss, documents the life of Kim Newcombe up to his death in a race at Silverstone, England, in 1973.
Hanna approached the Weekend Herald in September, claiming Visionary usurped the production from him, then showed a lack of respect towards Newcombe's widow, Janeen.
Those claims are the subject of a pending High Court action but this week Driver said his company had the full support of Mrs Newcombe and her family. He believed the documentary was "the family's legacy".
"It was never going to be easy but Janeen is on the record as being happy with the film."
Visionary had made several changes to the film at Mrs Newcombe's request, Mr Driver said. Hanna's allegations were "not true".
The Newcombes' son, Mark, told the Weekend Herald recently he did not believe his late mother felt pressured by Visionary.
"After we saw it, I thought it could have been more motivating, but at the end of the day they made an accurate documentary."
Generally, the family were happy a documentary had been made.
Mr Driver also spoke out against claims by Hanna that Visionary had muscled him out of the production.
He said Hanna had never held broadcast rights to Love, Speed and Loss and denied Hanna had ever commissioned the project in an agreement with TV3.
"When he came to me, he had no broadcast commitment from any television network," he said.
Visionary had drafted a temporary "deal memo" with Hanna, which recognised his broadcast rights, but the deal was only for three to six months - and Visionary later learned Hanna held no such rights.
The film was originally commissioned by TV3 but the station would not discuss the arrangement, citing commercial sensitivity.
TV3 has yet to air the documentary, but it has been shown at film festivals here and overseas, and a DVD is on the market in 18 countries.
The case is set to return to the High Court at Auckland at the end of the month for an in-chambers conference.
