Opinion by John Barnett CNZM.
Should popular reality TV shows be supported by a Government rebate?
Apparently, TVNZ, Three/Warner Bros Discovery, + Sky TV all say ‘yes’.
Which is not a surprise as it means the Government would be subsidising their costs.
If a local reality show receives the local ‘NZ Screen Production Rebate, 40% of the NZ spend would be rebated by Govt to the production company that makes the show.
In Three/WBD’s case this is often a 100% owned subsidiary.
Sounds great…. and clearly it means that rather than paying 100% of the cost as ‘Licence Fee’ for Dancing with Stars NZ, Married at 1st Sight NZ, The Block NZ etc, the broadcasters will only pay 60%, saving them several hundred million dollars a year.
SPADA the NZ Screen Producers Assn is a promoter of this suggested change in policy. It didn’t canvass its members, although it says ‘ a range of major production companies are behind the proposal’ (It names 3 ).
Its unlikely that ‘most’ of its members who are involved in Drama + Documentary think this idea has any merit at all.
The NZ Screen Production Rebate is defined by MCH as follows:
The New Zealand Screen production Rebate (NZSPR) supports a sustainable and resilient domestic screen industry, encourages international projects to locate in New Zealand, and provides economic, industry development and cultural benefits.
Its interesting to note that 2 of the 3 broadcasters, ThreeWBD,+ Sky, are overseas owned, and so a 40% reduction on the acquisition costs on these shows goes to the bottom line of their overseas shareholders. This must raise issues about its ‘economic benefit’ to NZ.
And TVNZ which is 100% owned by the Govt is predicting significant losses this year, and most probably going forward, and its shareholder, the NZ Govt, may be asked to contribute to its resources if the losses continue.
Under this Proposal, the Govt as the TVNZ shareholder may not have to support TVNZ’s overall deficit to the same extent , because the same Govt, in another Department ,will have already contributed 40% of the costs via the Rebate. ‘Robbing Peter to pay Paul’?
The NZSPR has been a major boost for NZ Screen production. Feature films and more recently ambitious TV Drama + Documentary have grown with this assistance.
The content it has funded has to meet criteria which encourage Producers to seek overseas sales income, and to build copyright, and creative expertise. Its mandate has covered projects which are ‘high value’ screen productions, which provide economic and cultural benefits to NZ.
Whilst that is feasible and achievable with Documentary, Drama, Animated content, it is less so with Reality shows.
As noted above the examples of shows quoted by SPADA are the NZ versions of shows which are derived from formats from which specific ‘local’ versions are made in every major tv market.
In every market a local version is made as the appeal in every territory is to see their own populace perform .
Very few NZ versions of any Reality show are sold anywhere else.. and often that’s because the original creator of the show has licensed it, specifically, for ‘adaptation’ in each territory.
The Block was created in Australia and has been licensed in NZ, Netherlands ,UK, Finland, Belgium, Germany , Israel and more.
We are as unlikely to acquire the Dutch/Finnish/German/Israeli shows as they are to acquire ours. And if, or when the NZ version is sold elsewhere, the original copyright creators receive a large chunk of the sale.
So the capacity to create ‘economic benefit’ for New Zealand is very limited.
And the NZSPR also requires a significant ‘NZ content test’ which an overseas owned format is going to struggle to meet.
It would make absolute sense to allow ‘Reality’ shows created in NZ, with the copyright held here, to become eligible for the 40% rebate.
In 1999 , Jonathan Dowling developed the show ‘Popstars’ .
‘Popstars’ is a NZ owned show which has been licensed to over 50 countries around the world.
The creative concept was developed here, and owned here.
That show meets the criteria set out as definitive in the NZSPR guidelines.
SPADA seems to display a complete absence of any economic reality when it seeks subsidies for productions which generate limited, or zero economic benefit for NZ.
It also seems to assume that the Government has an ‘unlimited’ amount of dollars to give to Screen Production.
In an economy where Health, Education, Housing, Infrastructure are all desperately in need of more funding, you don’t have to be a brain surgeon to see that expanding the list of content which can access the NZSPR is going to impact the whole economy.
And it wont be long before a Gross $ cap is placed on the Screen Rebate. The losers will be Drama, Documentary and the other categories which take our brand to the world.
Sky TV has suggested that the 40% rebate should also be allowed for NZ sport. It might benefit SKY to around $100 million a year.
It would also create, for the NZ Screen Production Industry an ‘Own Goal’.
Comments
Really funny – but not surprising – that this is happening.
We were in prep for a movie a couple of years ago, and DEGANZ openly stated that a 39 year old kiwi production company’s IP shouldn’t be eligible for the NZSPR, because we had a foreign director. Even though I developed the script in house, in Auckland, at a New Zealand production company. We owned the rights, and passed the points test.
Now it’s all good to give offshore companies a 40% rebate for reality television that is essentially line produced by a kiwi entity? How the tides have turned!
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