Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Irene Gardiner: Screen Production and Development Association President on the Film Commissioning cutting its annual Core Funding Programme

Transcript

Irene Gardiner: Screen Production and Development Association President on the Film Commissioning cutting its annual Core Funding Programme · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The New Zealand Film Commission's cutting its core funding, just
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: over a million bucks that goes to 10 film and
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: screen organisations. It says the programme is no longer the
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: most effective way to deliver strategic objectives. Projects can still
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: get public funding, but it'll be directed towards fewer higher
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: impact investments. Irene Gardner's with us. One of those organisations
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: that has been affected, Screen Production and Development Association, Sparta. Irene,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: good morning.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Good morning.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: How much? So it's up to $ 100, 000 per organisation. Do
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: you know what you are going to lose per year
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: because of this?
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: It'll be in that vicinity, yeah. I mean, Sparta, you know,
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: NFC's funding to Sparta is not our full funding. We
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: obviously have, you know, membership and various other ways of
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: raising money. But it is a lot, and, you know,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: it is going to affect the industry. Obviously, we understand.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: I mean, the Film Commission's under... you know, massive financial pressure,
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: as is our whole screen industry in New Zealand at
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: the moment. But, yeah, it's a tough decision for us
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: and the other guilds.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: How many members have you got, Irene?
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Sparta's got, I think, about 315 on the last count.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: We're the producers, obviously, but, you know, there's also a
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: guild for screen workers, you know, crew folk, and one
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: for writers and one for directors. And smaller guilds.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Irene, what did that money go towards?
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: For Sparta, I mean, it's our operational money, really. We
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: have to pay people and we have to organise events
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: and do all kinds of things, lobby government and all
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: of that. It all takes money and time to pay people. But,
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: you know, we'll find a way to continue. I mean,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: there has to be a producer's guild. You know, there
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: just has to be for the industry to function. So, yeah,
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: we'll find a way forward. It kind of just really
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: brings into sharp relief how tough it is across the industry.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: We're just, you know, we really need something to change
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: in terms of, you know, regulation of the international streamers
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: who've taken so much ad rev out of our ecosystem
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: and made things very, very hard. You know, something like that.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: A look at the funding agency's money. I mean, the
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: funding agencies haven't ended on the ATMP and the film
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: commission haven't had any increases in age. And then they
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: had a decrease recently in the last budget. So it's super,
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: super tough out there. So it's really concerning news for
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: us and for the other guilds. But it also wasn't shocking,
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: you know, in the current climate.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Irene, thanks for being with me this morning. That is
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: Irene Gardner, President of SPADA, the Screen Production and Development
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Association that's been affected by these cuts.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: to Newstalk ZB from 5am weekdays or follow the podcast
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: on iHeartRadio.