Minister off to LA for film schmooze

Cabinet minister Pete Hodgson will fly to the United States today to promote investment in the information, communications and technology (ICT) and screen production industries.

Mr Hodgson, the Minister for Lord of the Rings, will meet screen production industry representatives in Los Angeles, in the build-up to the 75th Academy Awards on Sunday.

He will meet investors in the Silicon Valley to foster "high technology investment relationships".

While his trip is timed nicely to coincide with the Academy Awards appearance by the New Zealand-made film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, his ICT timing could not be worse.

Silicon Valley, which vaulted to astronomical prosperity in the internet boom, is still tallying the cost of an unrelenting two-year downturn.

California's latest revised employment figures showed Silicon Valley's Santa Clara County alone lost 191,500 jobs - or nearly one in five positions - between the employment market peak of December 2000 and January this year.

New Zealand film industry representatives will hold workshops and presentations for Hollywood studios until Saturday.

"I will join New Zealand representatives [tonight] for a networking dinner with Hollywood film industry players and again on Friday for a meeting for the Motion Picture Industry of America," Mr Hodgson said.

Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers has no chance of winning the best picture Oscar, British bookie Ladbrokes has said.

It has been so overwhelmed with wagers favouring the musical Chicago to win the best-picture Oscar that it has closed the books.

Also competing for best motion picture are the dramas The Hours, The Pianist and the epic The Gangs of New York.

Mr Hodgson will return to New Zealand on Monday.

- NZPA