"There is not a shadow of a doubt that film is an integral of our culture," says Ruth Harley, Chief Executive of the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC). Harley speaks to The Big Idea's Isaac Davison about the nightmare of movie piracy, tax incentives across the ditch, a resurgence in biopics and documentary and why a good film can take ten years to make."There is not a shadow of a doubt that film is an integral of our culture," says Ruth Harley, Chief Executive of the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC). Harley speaks to The Big Idea's Isaac Davison about the nightmare of movie piracy, tax incentives across the ditch, a resurgence in biopics and documentary and why a good film can take ten years to make.What was your path to Chief Executive of the NZFC?
By the time I was appointed CEO I had done a lot of work in film. My journey started when I did a film paper as part of a Masters Degree in English Literature, and when I taught New Zealand film in Continuing Education at the University of Auckland. After that I was Chief Advisory Officer at Arts Council, Commissioning Editor at TVNZ, Chief Executive of NZ On Air, and I worked at Saatchi & Saatchi. I had an association with film all this time.

What is the state of New Zealand film-making?
It is healthy. On the domestic side of the ledger, we have five films about be released and five going into production. Peter Jackson has a film about to go into production, so there is some action on the large-scale side also.

What is the process of funding a film and how long is the turnaround?
The turnaround is, on average, up to ten years from a film's inception to its showing. We always want things to go more quickly, but a good film is better than a quick film.

I first came across the film Strength of Water five years ago; we are just starting shooting, and we will be working on it for two more years from now. This is not slower or faster than overseas film production. We once did a comparison with Australia - one of their classic examples, Shine, took 11 years to make, and our Whale Rider took 10 years.

Is the Commission risk averse?
We finance films by experienced individuals, and also give money to Creative New Zealand to help entry-level film-makers. But every film is a risk.

How big is the squeeze on the funding dollar?
We do turn a lot of people away. For example, we run a programme called First Writers which is for writers of feature film scripts who are inexperienced, but show desire. To get into the programme they must submit a full script. There are six places in the workshop, and we usually get between 80 and 110 applications.

We also fund nine short films a year, which are chosen from about 300 short film submissions.

How great a threat is piracy to the New Zealand film market?
It is enormous. It is a serious problem for the marketing of films. We attack wherever we find it, but it is a Hydra - when you cut off one head it has plenty more. On National Radio recently an expert talked about doping in the Tour De France. He said that drugs in sport were a fact of life, and were in every sport at every level. This is comparable to piracy in film world: it is fact of life, it is everywhere, and it's a nightmare.

What were the hot topics of conversation at the Cannes Film Festival this year ?
Piracy was a major topic of discussion. But the thing that interested me was the talk about Video on Demand (VoD). It has been discussed for a long time but now it's a reality. France has 20 or 30 VoD channels. An interesting conversation to listen into was the Europeans' discussion of the regulation of this market. New Zealand has an extraordinarily deregulated environment, and seeing the care and attention Europeans were putting into regulation made one feel rather vulnerable.

There is also a trend for governments to encourage the making of films by providing tax rebates for filmmakers. In Australia, producers receive a 40% rebate to cover the costs of their production. New Zealand does not compare. The Commission has put a lot of effort into ensuring New Zealand has a level playing field with Australia in terms of international films, and I believe we will have to do the same with domestic films.

Another trend is the large number of biopics and documentaries. I think there is an appetite at the moment for stories about the real human condition. I am not sure what brought this trend about - it is the zeitgeist. Easily the best film I saw at Cannes was a biopic called The Diving Bell and The Butterfly.

How much does the film industry need to take climate change and sustainable practices into account now and in the future?
The film industry already has a mindset of sustainability called "Greening the Screen" which South Pacific Pictures is a leader in but which many organisations including the NZFC are committed to. SPP has a worm farm so they are way ahead of us (and way bigger) but we have a new building into which we put ecologically sound lighting. We have a new script printing format which uses one quarter as much paper as before. So we are conscious of a responsibility to minimise our footprint.

What is your number one tip for getting to the top and staying there as a filmmaker?
I'm afraid this is a cliche, but you need to be absolutely driven to tell stories on the big screen and you need a near genius ability to control the level of detail it takes to make a brilliant film.

What does film contribute to New Zealand culture?
We have been asking ourselves the same question. We all say that film has a significant impact, but how do we know and what is that impact? We commissioned a survey which investigated the impact of local films - the answers were encouraging. 80% of New Zealanders believed that film contributes massively to New Zealand culture. 80% of those surveyed also said that local films made them proud to be a New Zealander. Maori and Pacific Islanders in particular warmed to the way that local films accentuated New Zealand's uniqueness. There is not a shadow of a doubt that film is an integral of our culture.

Interview by Isaac Davison

Check out Statistics New Zealand's 2006 Survey on the Screen Production Industry

7/7/07