DocNZ: The minister, the broadcasters, and the bloodbath
by: Keith Barclay

Screen Hub
Thursday 26 February, 2009

This is the story of how a Minister was polite and platitudinous, and inadvertently triggered the bloodbath of the broadcasters.

Chris Finlayson, the gubbermint's Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage, gave the Keynote address to the Summit to kick off day two. Unusually for a minister, he came to the position already having some understanding of his portfolio, having been a Creative NZ board member for six years prior to entering parliament.

However, he's also Attorney General – sort of like Witchfinder General but without the hat – so he's no slouch when it comes to choosing his words carefully and saying a lot that means very little. Mind you, most politicians develop that skill.

Inevitably, cultural gleanings in Auckland for dubious benefit mate nation Kiwistan were thin on the ground. Platitudinous statements such as 'the government recognises and values your work' don't stand up to the scrutiny that someone smart enough to be Attorney General could bring to bear.

The government recognises a documentary? One would hope so. And if it values the work, how highly? Apparently not enough to make any firm commitments.

It was hardly news that the government will be conducting a review of the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) although the caveat - not that anyone's unhappy with it - came as a surprise. Bitching about funders is a dinner-party game in all countries where artists suck off the public tit. Safe in John Barnett's shadow following his Onfilm article late last year, many people slunk out of the woodwork to express their unhappiness about the NZFC.

However, the Minister's aside that documentaries are 'not on TV as much as I would like' paid dividends later on, but he made his exit shortly before the fighting broke out.

Facilitator Pat Ferns (told you he was ubiquitous) led a panel of funders (NZFC, NZ On Air [TV content funders], Creative NZ [Arts funding body], Screen Australia [you know who they are]) and international commissioning editor Hans Robert Eisenhauer from ZDF/Arte.

Discussion around aspects of NZ funding models, such as compulsory NZ content requirement, suggested they might not be in film-makers' best interests in attracting overseas funding. Conscious of the long ministerial shadow, the various funders politely noted their need to work within their respective regulatory frameworks.

In the absence of other targets, and perhaps drawing on a recollection of the Minister's aside, the blame for the dearth of documentaries on TV was suddenly thrust directly at the broadcasters.

Someone noted it was a shame that broadcasters weren't part of the panel. Actually the phrasing was more a suggestion they perhaps lacked the balls to participate. It was all on.

Springing to their feet in outraged unity, TVNZ's Arts and Digital Commissioner, Philippa Mossman, and TV3's Head of Factual Production, Sue Woodfield, insisted that they had not been invited to participate in the session as panellists.

Not one to miss a cue, Pat Ferns co-opted them on to the panel instantly. Unfortunately the table was full, so they were despatched to the naughty table on the opposite side of the room, where fingers could be pointed at them.

The sight of the nation's broadcasting rivals cast in the role of whipping boys (or girls to be accurate), forming an alliance of convenience to defend themselves from attack was, one suspects, quite a welcome distraction for the funders usually cast in that role.

Just so we could watch them squirm a bit more, Pat asked them to respond to the question, “If you were the minister, what would you do to help the documentary industry?”

It wasn't really a fair question to ask of people who aren't policy-makers, but nobody cared. The mob was restless, hanging out for coffee and the scent of fresh blood in the water had become intoxicating.

After a fair amount of squirming, Sue Woodfield – obviously not a follower of Billy Wilder's advice - scored a points victory with the marginally low blow, “We're not funding film-makers. We're funding content... for our audience.”

In the free-to-air television world of NZ, that funding comes from advertisers. The content comes at a cost. By June 30 this year TVNZ will make budget cuts of NZD 25 million due to falling advertising revenues. It's not a small amount to have slip through the cracks, and – like it or not – it's likely that funding for a raft of projects including documentaries will go with it.

Keith Barclay
Our New Zealand editor, Keith Barclay, can be contacted on 021 400 102

editor@screenhub.co.nz

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