Written by new-contact on Jan 21, 2013. Posted in Incentive News

Future of New Zealand’s filming incentives likely to be announced in coming months

The future of New Zealand’s location filming incentives is likely to be announced within months. A review has been underway for some time and the size of subsidies paid to Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films has ignited a political row.

Jackson’s films received around NZD70 million in incentive support but the movies’ direct benefits to the New Zealand economy have been questioned. The Government has already completed reviews of the various incentive programmes but is not yet making them public, the NZ Herald reports.

A spokesman for the Labour Party – currently in Opposition – spoke to the outlet: “If the Government's satisfied that the taxpayer's dollar is being well spent then there's no reason why it would withhold this material.”

New Zealand made international headlines when it changed an employment law and confirmed substantial incentive support to keep the Hobbit films in the country. Peter Jackson and James Cameron have both urged the Government to stay flexible with filming incentives, but Prime Minister John Key is under pressure to be more transparent about the direct economic benefits.