Council Applauds Changes to Large Budget Grant

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
16 July 2007

Screen Council Applauds Changes to Large Budget Grant

The Screen Council has welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Economic Development that the criteria for the Large Budget Screen Production Grant have been enhanced.

“The new criteria, which were announced today, mean that incentive levels for larger productions and the post-production digital visual effects sector will match if not exceed those recently announced in Australia,’ said Tim Thorpe, Executive Director, NZ Screen Council. “The Screen Council has been pursuing a number of these changes for the past two years, ever since the government asked us to collate industry feedback on the grant in 2004/5. It’s great to finally see them come to fruition.”

Essentially these are:

- An increase in the grant rebate provision from 12.5% to 15% of New Zealand expenditure

- Removal of the current requirement for at least 70 percent of production expenditure between $15 – 50 million to be spent in New Zealand

- The introduction of bundling – allowing several productions costing a minimum of $3 million each to “bundle” to meet the grant provided bundled expenditure meets a minimum level of $30 million over 24 months

- Adding a new incentive for the post-production digital and visual effects sector with qualifying expenditure between $3-15 million

A number of administrative changes have also been introduced to ensure certainty of process.

“With the increase in the exchange rate and rises in incentive structures worldwide these changes will underpin New Zealand’s place in the world scene,” said Mr Thorpe. “It’s great to see the post-production digital visual effects sector also get an incentive. This is a vitally important area of growth for New Zealand.”

The Screen Council is intending to undertake further analysis of the recent changes to incentives in Australia to see if there are further lessons to learn for New Zealand, particularly for smaller domestic production companies.

ENDS

The New Zealand Screen Council is the film and television production industry organisation
tasked with facilitating economic growth in the New Zealand screen production sector. www.nzscreencouncil.co.nz

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