Navigating Screen Industry Challenges
As we come to the very wet end of 2022, it seems like time to reflect on the past year, its ups and downs, and the effect various events have had on the screen industry.
We seem to have come out of the shadow of COVID, and a lot of the country seems to have moved on and are getting on with things. In the screen industry (and I also think the medical fraternity), we are still in the grips of COVID damage control. We are one of the few industries, for a number of reasons, still holding onto mask mandates and surveillance testing. We have actors and specific crew who can cause the productions to lose a lot of money and time if they become COVID-positive. Nothing blows a good shooting schedule apart like COVID running through a film crew. Unfortunately, it seems that these COVID protection measures are looking to remain with us for quite some time, and I think it’s going to be a long while before things become normal again—if they ever do.
We have lost a number of our members over this time and have had frequent mourning periods and obituaries in this publication, on call sheets, and in safety briefings around the country.
The NZ screen industry has remained buoyant and active across all its subsections and markets. Infrastructure and capacity development for the NZ screen industry has continued, and we are moving to an environment where there will be more studios and locations to shoot and more training and skill development opportunities in the pipeline.
But there are some possible dark clouds on the horizon. There seem to be international headwinds that could slow down the industry’s momentum and growth. There is what seems to be an inevitable recession coming next year. There is talk of the insatiable appetite for content from the various streaming services and content developers waning with the increase in the cost of money and inflation rising all around the globe. There are stories of the forward production slates for many of the content generators like Disney, Netflix, and Apple being slashed and studio complexes in the UK, Canada, and other regions having excess capacity. Locally, the review of the SPG (Screen Production Grant) is said to be causing short-term reluctance to consider NZ as a shooting location until knowledge of how the SPG is going to evolve is known. And as we all know, uncertainty is a dangerous thing in the screen sector.
It's hard to forecast the short-term future and even harder to predict what’s happening in a year. I’m optimistic that our ability to quickly react to change and the tent-pole nature of our industry will serve us well through turbulent times and allow us to take advantage of opportunities that come up in the new year.
Brendon Durey
