NZ shines in Rings report

Kiwi film crews are among the best in the world, a report into the lasting effects of the Lord of the Rings project says.

The study, by the Institute of Economic Research for the Film Commission, shows that in 1998, before work on LOTR started, New Zealand's film industry was perceived internationally as being little better than Mexico's.

Now, the report suggests, New Zealand's ranking may be in line with countries like Ireland, which is just behind Australia.

It said that with an increased international profile, New Zealand had reduced the perceived "risk" of being a distant and chancy production base and so would be more favourable to "runaway" productions - United States-backed films made outside the US.

Rings film-maker Peter Jackson made available data from the trilogy to give insights on how best to develop the film industry.

It showed Rings production company Three Foot Six spent $352.7 million in New Zealand to March this year.

The report outlined three possible scenarios of growth for the film industry, stemming from LOTR in the next 10 years.

Using a base of about $37 million a year for the value of the industry had LOTR not happened, the first scenario depicts an average increase in industry value of $20 million a year, the second $85 million and the third $120 million. A figure between the second and third options is being picked as the most likely scenario.

The study said there were two main influences on choosing New Zealand as a film location: entrepreneurship (film-makers like Jackson and Weta Digital's Richard Taylor); and support service factors such as cost, local resources and helpfulness of Government agencies.

Looking into tax incentives or rebates was not part of the reporting team's brief. But Jackson has said the Rings trilogy would not have been made here if it had not been for the large tax break the project received. The Government has since closed the tax loophole from which the trilogy benefited.

Post-production work on the next two Rings films, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, has kept 350 people in full-time employment, most in special effects departments such as Weta.

The Rings report concluded there were seven main lasting effects from that project: it had raised the Kiwi film industry's international profile; upskilled Kiwis in the industry; established a foundation of creative entrepreneurship; changed attitudes towards Kiwi writers, directors and producers; developed better infrastructure; had tourism spin-offs; and created a merchandising industry.

"New Zealand is no longer just a scenery-based location."

- NZPA

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