ANNECY: The New Zealand Film Commission was at MIFA this week as part of a world tour to boost its international partnerships and coproductions, forging relationships and deals to lift production back home.
New Zealand Film Commission and Screen Wellington delegates
New Zealand’s NZ$3.5bn (US$2.1bn) screen production sector has been on the front foot in actively seeking new funding opportunities from regional neighbours and global coproduction partners.
The New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) has recently wrapped up an extended international trade mission that has included India, the UK and the Cannes Film Festival in France and yielded a new International Placement Initiative (IPI), offering global opportunities for emerging- to mid-career writers, directors and producers from New Zealand, aka Aotearoa.
This week, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival & Market (MIFA) in France saw the largest delegation of NZ companies to date, supported by the NZFC and Screen Wellington. Among the 30 or so New Zealand companies in the delegation were Wētā FX, Ama Digital Studios, Tai Huri Films and 37 Degrees Studio, marking NZFC’s return to Annecy for the first time since 2016.
Chris Payne
“Animation provides a major growth opportunity for New Zealand. Like VFX, it fits seamlessly into a digital economy. Supercharging the New Zealand animation industry involves scaling up the development and production of unique, universally resonant feature film and series animation for global audiences, while growing New Zealand’s role as a key provider of animation services for the world’s leading studios,” says Chris Payne, head of coproduction and incentives at the NZFC.
In Annecy, New Zealand invested for the first time in an exhibition presence and delivered a programme of sessions showcasing its animation and VFX prowess. On Wednesday this week, MIFA held a session titled New Zealand: Animating the Future, hosted by NZFC and Screen Wellington, highlighting the country’s globally renowned creative capabilities and cutting-edge technology. A second MIFA session was titled Story to Screen: Realising a Filmmaker’s Vision at Wētā FX.
“MIFA is the world’s key animation market annually, attended by leading sector representatives from around the globe. This is a crucial date in the calendar for the NZFC to build on our recently announced support for the animation sector and goal to expand it,” adds Payne.
“We’re here [in Annecy] providing a significant strategic opportunity to support local animation studios and practitioners to progress their slates of projects, secure coproduction and market partners, and scale their business activities, while also attracting high value animation, post-production and visual effects work to New Zealand.”
The trip to Annecy comes after the NZFC visited Ireland in a bid to strengthen its existing coproduction treaty and relationship with the country, where it has had a coproduction treaty for almost 20 years. The fruits of NZFC close relationship with Screen Ireland include feature films such as Come to Daddy and Evil Dead Rise, and the TV series The Gone which is now in its second season.
NZFC chief Annie Murray’s global mandate is clear: “In a time of immense change, we are doubling down on what makes us unique, our stories, our talent and our connections. We’re here in India, the UK and France to fly the flag for Aotearoa’s storytellers, to forge deals that benefit our creators and crews back home, and to invite the world to be a part of New Zealand’s next screen industry chapter.”
Animated series Badjelly is based on Spike Milligan’s children’s book
Over the last six months, New Zealand has appointed a new minister for economic growth, Nicola Wells, who has delivered an uplift to the Screen Production Rebate in last month’s budget.
The sector is also working through a significant media modernisation consultation process that could see the merging of the two biggest screen and media funding agencies, the NZFC and NZ On Air, and the creation of new regulatory measures that enforce local investment from global streamers and the potential for a revised and streamlined funding model.
New Zealand currently has 18 official international coproduction partners across both film and TV, Payne says, yet the staple content partners remain Australia, Canada and the UK. As global alliances become more vital in accessing funding, the drive for stimulating coproduction activity is being fuelled by the demand for high-end narratives, many of which are being co-developed in New Zealand.
Recent official NZ coproductions include drama The Gone (NZ/Ireland) coproduced by Kingfisher Films and Keeper Pictures in association with Southern Light Films; and toon Badjelly from NZ’s Mukpuddy Animation, the UK’s Cantilever Media and Canada’s Sphere Media. Payne affirms a number of official coproductions at different stages of production are currently underway, including Tralala (New Zealand/Canada), Crowded House (New Zealand/Australia), Moss & Freud (New Zealand/UK), Holy Days (New Zealand/Canada) and Lomu (NZ/UK).
Television projects in the unofficial coproduction/joint venture space include Screentime’s A Remarkable Place to Die (S2) and New Zealand/Germany collaboration Bust Up, along with The Ridge, a New Zealand/Scotland collaboration, and Good Bones (New Zealand/US).
In terms of cultivating deeper country content alliances, Payne says that increased activity and interest is developing from both the Irish and German coproduction sector, which he anticipates is “a trend we foresee continuing in coming years.”
The Gone is now filming a second season
RTÉ
“Additionally, Asia-Pacific regional coproduction is a real growth area for New Zealand, with increased activity underway with partners such as India, Singapore and Taiwan. In the case of the latter, New Zealand has the world’s only coproduction arrangement with Taiwan, which is part of a high quality, comprehensive trade agreement known as ANZTEC,” Payne adds.
Closer neighbours in South East Asia are also on NZFC’s radar. “We are actively exploring opportunities in South and Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on India and Singapore, the two countries in the region with which New Zealand has coproduction arrangements.” Payne adds that Singapore positions itself as a gateway to the wider Southeast region: “Their ethos is ‘make it with Singapore, not necessarily in Singapore’ – which provides an excellent access point for New Zealand creators exploring regional collaboration and market access.”
Given the challenging fiscal times globally across the production sector, Payne says the lure for global production companies striking coproduction deals in NZ are pleny: “The benefits include the ability to access local and foreign development/production/distribution funding, incentives and subsidies, as well as the domestic market of the other coproducers.”
Additionally, “producers can build international networks, gain access to international expertise, talent and technologies and secure global distribution and sales for jointly produced film, television and streaming content.”
He adds that subject matter is not a consideration for official coproduction approval, explaining that international producers shouldn’t think of official coproductions as being restricted solely to subject matter or cultural content intrinsic to one or more of the coproducing countries. “If a film or TV show is certified as an official coproduction, then it’s automatically treated as a ‘domestic production’ for the purposes of the 40% New Zealand Government Rebate for New Zealand productions and does not have to pass the Significant New Zealand Content test.”
Tralala is a New Zealand copro with Canada
What incentives are available from NZFC?
The designation as a domestic production that comes with official coproduction certification means feature films are eligible to apply for development and/or production funding from the NZFC. They also gain access to benefits that domestic films in the coproducing territories can receive, such as eligibility for development and/or production funding, regional grants, tax rebates or incentives.
Official coproductions are also deemed to have met the Significant New Zealand Content Test for the New Zealand Government Screen Sector Rebate (NZSPR-NZ). In terms of other benefits, official coproductions can also use the Total Production Expenditure (TPE) rather than Qualifying New Zealand Production Expenditure (QNZPE) to meet the minimum expenditure threshold for the NZSPR-NZ. This enables the NZ producer to access a cash rebate equivalent to 40% of their QNZPE, which converts to their equity in the completed film or TV production.
Unofficial coproductions or joint ventures won’t necessarily have access to these benefits, but they will still benefit from the ability to pool financial resources, share the financial risk of a project, and deliver a project of larger scale.
As an alternative to the NZSPR-NZ, there’s also the Government’s rebate for international productions – the NZSPR-International – a 20-25% cash rebate for productions that opt to film and/or post-produce in New Zealand. Eligible productions can access the 20% rebate where production costs are more than NZ$15m for feature films, and N$4m for television productions
Additionally, the Screen CanterburyNZ Production Grant is a regional incentive that is open to scripted and factual content, including film, television, web series, and video on demand.
