Overnight The Hobbit movies have been saved, which is something of a relief to those whose livelihoods depend on continuity in the NZ film industry. And hopefully the whole episode of facing their removal from NZ has created a new appetite for all parties to work together for the success of the industry. The last couple of weeks have been, in the Chinese sense of the phrase, interesting times.

The solution, a payoff to Warners to keep the films in NZ, is more dubious. Kind of like a man justifying sleeping with a prostitute as a way of improving his marriage. Just to highlight one aspect of the deal – the NZ government has agreed to contribute $10m toward the marketing expenses of the two films. Fair enough, maybe it’s money well spent. But just to put it into perspective, the same government contributes an annual total of just $8.8m toward genuinely NZ films – that is, films that are based on NZ stories, and employ NZ casts and crews to tell the world something about our life and culture. Internationally, NZ films (the real thing) punch hugely above their weight and are widely respected. We’ve just got back from the UK where The Insatiable Moon received an ecstatic response. But for how much longer can kiwi filmmakers hang on – surviving as they do on the crumbs from the blockbusters’ tables?

Our film was made for $0.5m. That means it was developed, shot, edited and finished for that. Our publicity budget is $35k. The government contributes nothing to that. We struggle to find the resources to get the word about the film out to the public. We can’t afford bus stop posters or TV advertising – just a small square in the newspaper. Forgive us for looking hungrily at the $10m that is on the table for Warners. We could use some of it. Our film has done brilliantly in terms of response. Have a look here at the sort of critical reaction from a wide variety of sources. But the most telling has been the audience love for the film. A friend of mine works in a cinema in Auckland. Last night, he sent through a sample of what he’s observed from audiences emerging from the film. They come out, he says:

• Saying it’s a really great movie
• Saying that it’s amazing the talent we have in this country
• Asking if there’s a soundtrack
• Asking about particular songs and who they’re by
• Coming out with tears and smiles
• Not coming out until the very last frame has played through
• Coming out feeling renewed and enjoying life more than when they went in (it’s like Stars in Their Eyes – they walk in kind of glum, and walk out all tall and happy).
• Asking how much longer we’ll be playing it and when the next session time is
• Taking all the darn flyers! (I think we may have almost run out now for the second time)

For all that, we have failed to permeate the common imagination – with a little bit more P&A budget, we might have been able to translate this superb word of mouth into genuinely big audiences. We’ll never know. In the meantime, hats off to The Hobbit!

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