Jackson report wrong - Film Commission

Film director and producer Peter Jackson. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) has rejected highly critical comments about its relationship with the industry made in a Sir Peter Jackson report last year.

Sir Peter and Australian film academic David Court conducted the independent review of the NZFC for nearly a year, and presented their findings to Parliament last July.

Many stakeholders and industry experts interviewed in the report criticised the organisation, in one case saying "There's almost an us and them attitude. It's death to creativity".

Speaking in a Parliamentary select committee today, Labour MP David Parker said the report was "pretty stinging".

"The tone of the comments clearly indicates that a very real problem exists between the commission and its client base, this is not only a lack of trust it would appear that both sides have lost respect for the other," he said.

Asked if she accepted the report was right, chairwoman Patsy Reddy, who has been at the NZFC for 18 months, said she did not.

"No, I don't, but I should qualify that," Ms Ready said.

"I don't believe that that is the situation, and we've been told by many that that may have been the situation but it is not the case now.

"Bearing in mind the submissions made to the Jackson Court review were made basically in 2008 and early 2009. I think some significant changes have been made, so, while it's a bold thing to say, I don't believe it's the case."

Ms Reddy said some critics had come out when the report was published but now said they did not see the same problems under the NZFC's new regime.

"I think there were some issues around individual personalities on both sides."

NZFC was working to keep up good communication with the industry, Ms Reddy said.

"We started off last year with a round of meetings with the industry to discuss our relationship with the industry. Those were pretty successful by and large," she said.

"We've also undertaken to have annual online assessments so that the industry can give us feedback in a neutral environment.

"We've just taken on a communications assistant... because one of the things we've realised, being a fairly small agency, we really didn't have someone who was focusing on communicating with our stakeholders."

Speaking about the general financial state of NZFC, Ms Reddy said the global economic downturn had badly affected the organisation and there was now a more centralised focus on "picking winners" to give funding to.

The highlight of 2010 for NZFC was Taika Waititi's feature film Boy, which grossed $9.3 million in the local box office - a record for a New Zealand film.

- NZPA