Hi BK,

Great article and good on you.

I agree we should have a standalone entity to promote the film business model ie: the internationals.

It’s a world away from the NZFC which promotes and encourage local talent to eventually screen to a local market of 5.5m people – if they were serious about our industry they’d train our Above The Line to compete at an international level. It’s not like we can’t make films to that standard so clearly the issue is around our emerging talent.

And that issue won’t be solved by compelling streamers to provide quotas or invest in the local industry while you have a bunch of people not actually in the real industry judging them on some arbitrary criteria that doesn’t include good storytelling.

Why promote auteurs who spread themselves thin over several crafts. Why a Director should ever be allowed to write is beyond me – they don’t allow Producers to be Writers so why Directors. Writing is the most important craft and the blueprint for all films. It’s beyond important that it’s taken seriously.