John Barnett: Former South Pacific Pictures Boss on whether the Film Commission is funding the right projects

The Taxpayers Union has said that the New Zealand Film Commission needs to stop giving out film subsidies – because they’re not good value. 

According to numbers compiled by former boss of South Pacific Pictures, John Barnett, the Film Commission has spent a whopping $88 million of taxpayer money on 54 movies over the last few years. However, they only made $14 million at the NZ Box Office.  

John Barnett told Heater du Plessis-Allan “Our stories need by told by us, and to us.” 

Barnett said “We should be smarter about what we put our money into.” 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Heather do for Seela. Nine two ninety two is the
text number standard Textee's plan. I'm sure that Barry Soper
will be talking. He'll tell us a story about Muldoon,
won't he It'll be our story about Muldoon when he's
back with us. Never misses the opportunity. He's with us
in just over half an hour now. The Taxpayer's Union
says the government shouldn't be giving out any more film
subsidies because we're just not getting bang for our buck anymore.

(00:20):
According to numbers compiled by former South Pacific Pictures boss
John Barnett, the Film Commission has spent get this, eighty
eight million dollars of taxpayer money on fifty four movies
over the last few years. How much did those movies
make in the total New Zealand box office take fourteen
million dollars. The Taxpayer's Union says, will be much better

(00:41):
just to give the eighty eight million dollars to far
Mac instead and John Barnett's with us.

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Now, Hey, John, oh yeah, I'm very.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Well, thank you. What do you reckon? Do we ask
the subsidies?

Speaker 2 (00:51):
No, because living in a country, any country, you wanted
to reflect a whole lot of ours speak of yourself,
and included in that is our film and television, our
stories being told by us and to us.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
Yeah, but what's the point what's but what's the point
in them telling the stories of absolutely none of us
are watching the stories.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Well, then I think that's about we should be smarter
about what we put our money into, as opposed to
indulging every idea that comes across the counter. So I
think that's where wisest pending rather than us throwing around
And just as an example, use in and on air

(01:38):
under the Fantastic show which is on the spin off
called Juggernaut, which is exactly I think at least today,
and it's exactly about the history of the incoming Longy
government and the nineteen eighty four lesson and it's electrified.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Have you watched it?

Speaker 2 (01:59):
No, it's actually it's a podcast.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
That was Actually it's going to be my weekend listening.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
It should be. Roger Douglas is very funny and quoted
at length, and he's going to the cast of all
the stars of the We're Alive from that time, and
that's part of the thing that funding for film and
television and audio visual stuff goes into Yeah, okay.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
I see what your point. But okay, so the Chloe
Swarbrick documentary, do you reckon we should be putting money
into that? Because the Film Commission is well.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
I think that there are two essential questions that you
ask before you put money into any film, and that
is who is your audience and how you're going to
reach them? And I think that when you look at
a number of the things that have been made, nobody
asked who is the audience, because if they had, they
would have said, look, we don't think we should spend

(02:58):
as much, or maybe this is better on television and
it make cost less And I think those are the
kind of things that we have to look at. And
the New Zealand Film Commission was set up forty some
years ago Closer You Get Mom for fifty and it
was to enable New Zealanders to see stories about themselves,

(03:21):
to hold by themselves. And the successes include the whole
canon of work that for instance, Peter Jackson made, which
has brought billions into the country, into the tourism and
employment and all of those things. So it's easy for
the Taxpayers Union to say the money should go somewhere else,

(03:42):
because there's always somewhere else it should go. But you
don't achieve that just by wiping out or or support.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Do the people in the film commission have the expertise
or the kind of gut and stink to be able
to put money into films that are going to be
success like that? Are they actually any good at that?

Speaker 2 (04:03):
From time to time they have been. But I think
if you look at the chart that I prepared, which
is twenty twenty three to twenty twenty three, you would
look at a number of titles here and say, I
don't know that I would have put money up. I mean,
there are all sorts of ways that you can you
can tell you can ask a local distributor if they're

(04:26):
interested in putting up some money in the hope of
getting it back, and if they say no, then you
wouldn't make it because nobody here.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah, fair enough, John, thank you, I really appreciated good
work on putting that that chat together. That's John Bunnett,
former South Pacific Picture's chief executive. For more from Hither
Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news talks. It'd be
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