Written by new-contact on Oct 8, 2012. Posted in Incentive News

James Cameron suggests New Zealand could benefit from improved filming incentives

James Cameron has suggested that New Zealand could benefit from improving its filming incentives. The filmmaker hosted New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on a trip to the US and praised New Zealand for creating film industries that easily compete with the US and the UK.

Cameron spoke to TVNZ: “What Peter [Jackson] has done - and others that have followed in his footsteps such as ourselves with Avatar - what's been created there is a global industry that's competing directly with what's competing in Los Angeles or London."

He added: “I think if some accommodation needs to be made to foster that I think the benefits to the New Zealand economy will far outweigh any deficit.”

Prime Minister Key hinted that the spending threshold to qualify for New Zealand’s filming incentives could be lowered from the current NZD15 million. Cameron plans to film parts of his Avatar sequels in New Zealand, so he’s likely to be following the financial set-up carefully.