Comments on: Hobbit producers to New Zealand: if you tell people how we got our sweet tax/labor deal, no one will want to make movies in your country

By: First Last

First Last — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 04:14:00 +0000

The issue is that the government is compelled by law to release these things when asked for them unless they meet very specific criteria for refusing.

They don’t disagree that it’s a public contract, because that’s in the law. They disagree that people should see it because it’ll lose them polling points in the next election.

By: That_Anonymous_Coward

That_Anonymous_Coward — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 12:12:00 +0000

The cartels whine about how they are losing money… how much money are
you losing when the content isn’t available at any price in the market.
While the downloading might be ‘illegal’, I think it screams more of a market being ignored.
Someday when the dinosaurs who are running the content cartels die off, I would like to think someone who wants to make money would build a system that sells the content globally at the same time at the “right” price.

By: Mandy Scott

Mandy Scott — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 07:25:00 +0000

Yes…..we sometimes have to wait 6 months for a “new release”, if things get picked up at all…. we only have 2 broadcast tv companies, and one cable/sat company. We are some of the biggest pirates in the world, in terms of illegal downloads per capita.

By: That_Anonymous_Coward

That_Anonymous_Coward — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 07:17:00 +0000

Which gives me a tiny sliver of hope that some content people are starting to understand that “piracy” isn’t about stealing from them that it is consumers who are fed up with being ignored. Content makers are obsessed with keeping control and trying to maximize profits at the expense of the consumer… but they now aren’t the only way for consumers to access it. Its nice to see some of them understanding declaring war on your customers isn’t a good way to do business.

By: Steven Caron

Steven Caron — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 03:35:00 +0000

http://vfxsoldier.wordpress.com/

on going debate and opinion of how tax subsidies are ineffective and cost more money in the long run. london and vancouver are heavily subsidized and as the governments and tax payers realize they dont get their money back, they cut the subsidy and the production studio leaves. :)

By: Andy T Coombs

Andy T Coombs — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 03:19:00 +0000

You should see how shit our media is.

By: random

random — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 02:44:00 +0000

Personally I would prefer to have my rights to unrestricted speech, privacy, bodily integrity etc. written down clearly somewhere, rather than being subject to the interpretive whim of a judge or parliament. Although, maybe there’s no difference in practice, since if a powerful enough group can get enough force and lawyers behind an infringement of my rights, there’s probably not a lot I can do about it.

I need ice-cream. They can’t take away my right to ice-cream can they?

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 23:38:00 +0000

Willful ignorance isn’t a valid legal defense.

By: cleek

cleek — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 21:40:00 +0000

apparently, some of the gerbils in the NZ government and all of the gerbils who run New Line cinema disagree. they seem to think there’s something in there that shouldn’t be made public just because someone else thinks it should.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 21:34:00 +0000

A contract with a government is not a private contract. A gerbil should be able to figure that out before signing.

By: Alden

Alden — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 21:29:00 +0000

It depends on the show. Traditionally shows are often heinously delayed. Nearing the end of Smallville’s run, we were something like two years behind. I believe our screenings of popular UK soap Coronation Street are currently 18 months behind.

With the rise in internet downloading, TV stations are slowly learning that if they play shows ASAP after they screen elsewhere, they get better ratings. We got episodes of Revolution a mere two weeks after they played in the US, and the last Doctor Who Christmas special played here on boxing day, something like 13 hours after its UK screening.

By: Alden

Alden — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 21:23:00 +0000

We, the people of New Zealand, in order to provide a location for Hobbit films to be made, do hereby bend over and take it up the posterior from New Line.

By: adrian mcdonald

adrian mcdonald — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 20:22:00 +0000

True…but it’s also wishful thinking. The only way NC can keep the big projects coming is to keep giving them the free money. The second the handouts stop, Hollywood is gone. At their present rates, film incentive programs like NC or Georgia or Louisiana are simply unsustainable. That’s why the NC film incentive is set to expire in 2015. I hope they keep going to NC after that, but without free money its not very likely.

By: cleek

cleek — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 19:25:00 +0000

if you think of the money as stimulus or development (to attract future movie business), maybe we should.

By: adrian mcdonald

adrian mcdonald — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 19:13:00 +0000

Of course they are. When the state throws tons of free money to Hollywood, they will send their projects there. But should NC taxpayers really be footing the $20 million bill for Iron Man 3?

By: cleek

cleek — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 18:17:00 +0000

and hundreds of NC’ers are employed.

By: Linsey Young

Linsey Young — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 18:16:00 +0000

It also allows the government of the day to do pretty much as it pleases – rights of the populace be damned – as long as it has a parliamentary majority.

By: adrian mcdonald

adrian mcdonald — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 18:13:00 +0000

Yeah, the NC taxpayer pay for 25% of the budget with a cash refund to the studios.

By: C W

C W — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:39:00 +0000

I’d love a doc along the lines of http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119165/ to come out of this.

By: toyg

toyg — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:17:00 +0000

Tax breaks to multinationals are the equivalent of women “putting out” on their first date just because they’re insecure.

By: toyg

toyg — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:08:00 +0000

The NZ constitution is “uncodified” because it derives its practices from the (also uncodified) UK one. This is mostly because, where the British monarch remained the official Head of State, countries didn’t experience revolutions or any real break in the continuity of power since the times of absolute monarchies. By instituting Parliament and adopting some “ancillary” documents like the Magna Charta, English monarchs basically sidestepped the issue with a practical hack that somehow stood the test of time. In fact, the absence of a codified constitution allowed for a lot of flexibility in the role of any institutional British power, whereas most constitutional documents are very rigid and prone to catastrophic results when they fail to deal with new circumstances.

Where many political theories tend to absolutes that may or may not stand the test of time, the British approach is inherently pragmatic: “we’ll fix what breaks, as it happens, and leave the rest untouched”. This can result in the survival of archaic concepts and practices (aristocracy being the main example), and also misguided “reforms” (see the current UK jumbling around the role of Lords and Judiciary, which currently seem to change every few years with shocking carelessness) but it also meant that England didn’t suffer through Illuminism-inspired upheavals like most of Europe, and it was able to survive the rise of mass-politics in the first half of the XX century — whereas all main European countries experienced years of one-party rule at some point.

By: blearghhh

blearghhh — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:55:00 +0000

No no, I’m sorry. It’s not your fault.

By: SomeGuyNamedMark

SomeGuyNamedMark — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:53:00 +0000

My precioussss inside dealses!

By: elix

elix — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:29:00 +0000

We’re sorry. :D

By: That_Anonymous_Coward

That_Anonymous_Coward — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:27:00 +0000

You missed mentioning the sweetheart deal that is giving them cash for each episode they shoot from the feds (US variety)… they reupped that in the stuff to avoid the fiscal cliff. They are worth destroying our civil rights to protect their business model, but we have to give them handouts to make their content…

By: cleek

cleek — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:26:00 +0000

a lot of TV and movies are filmed in Wilmington NC, these days. and there’s a reason for it.

By: That_Anonymous_Coward

That_Anonymous_Coward — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:25:00 +0000

<– might be US based…
I know that Oz has a long history of being screwed over by content providers, but am unsure if the same applies to NZ.

I often like to explain the delay in getting things to Oz because the galleons have to sail past the sea monsters… or the inverter that turns all the content upside down is on the fritz again.

Galleons make more sense, and this would explain the preoccupation they have with pirates being a large concern…

By: That_Anonymous_Coward

That_Anonymous_Coward — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:22:00 +0000

Because you thought it was the polite thing to do, darn you Canadians and your manners!
:D

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:19:00 +0000

New Line has a grasp on the wallets of NZ, and they’d like to keep it that way.

By: Diogenes

Diogenes — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 15:17:00 +0000

Translation: If you put your duty to your citizens ahead of your allegiance to us (and our bribes), other sleazy bastards just like us may not trust you in the future.