Talking Pictures: Absolutely Profitably Wellington

So you’ve got a $5000 NZ On Air video grant. Now what?

Well, you might want to give some consideration to shooting the video in Wellington because of a recent initiative from the local city councils to support the music video industry.

The deal involves top up funding for the making of the video to the tune of $1500 (gst incl.), and an incredible camera deal from Panavision Wellington – a basic 16mm camera kit for only $500 (plus gst), saving you close to another $1000.

All you have to do to qualify is have a NZ On Air grant, attach the Made in Wellington logo to the video directly after NZOA’s, and provide a copy of your receipts to the Wellington grant givers on completion of the clip.

Chris Lipscombe, Film and Creative Sector Manager for Positively Wellington Business is the architect of the scheme that has been running since mid year.

"We all know that the majority of the industry is based in Auckland but a lot of the music is actually coming out of Wellington," he says.

"It’s designed to support the marketing activity of musicians and their labels and also I guess lever off the reputation we have in Wellington for video making and the supporting of video and filmmakers in the city.

"Part of my brief is how do I create the business layer in that burgeoning scene down here so we don’t go through that whole boom and bust rollercoaster ride that we’ve been on before?

"So anything I can do to make not only the bands successful but the people attached to the bands. If I can support those clusters of businesses around the musician or the band then I’m creating some of the business conditions for them to be successful in the future."

Funding for the scheme has come from Positively Wellington Business, the economic development region for the Wellington region, and represents a joint venture between the Wellington City, Hutt City, Upper Hutt, Porirua and Kapiti local councils.

The majority of the funding has come from the Wellington City Council who also provided money for a trial run of the scheme earlier this year.

"We ran it as a pilot for a couple of months at the end of the last financial year, and on the strength of that decided to continue to fund it to everyone who basically makes the cut," says Lipscombe.

"Our best figures showed us that out of NZ On Air’s funded videos, we had about 10 of those in the city in the last 12 month period, and we want to get that up to about 25 or 30% (30 to 33 videos).

"Over the two months the pilot was going we approved five music videos so you can see that the figures were starting to stack up so we thought 'Let’s continue this and see where it goes’", he says.

Since the scheme was introduced it has provided funding for videos by The Black Seeds, Rhian Sheehan, Gramsci, and a video for Tourist which I directed.

For an independent band such as Tourist, the top up funding represented the difference between shooting on film and shooting on video tape, and so the band made the cold journey down from Auckland for the weekend to shoot it.

Chris Lipscombe has noticed that the top up scheme has had a positive effect on music video production as a whole.

"The other thing we found was that a couple of the videos we supported were actually ones that had been approved (by NZ On Air) in February, but had sat on the shelf. I think both Rhian Sheehan and The Black Seeds had been approved for three months but hadn’t gone anywhere. It’s not just supporting existing activity but it also accelerates activity as well."

One potential argument against this new grant is that it is only open to bands who have been awarded a NZ On Air grant, prompting some quarters to be dismissive about the scheme.

"We set that up as an initial gateway because we didn’t want to be the arbiters of taste of who gets the grant and who doesn’t," explains Lipscombe. "And also it’s important for us to know that the work that we are supporting is regarded by the industry or by one important industry player as worthy of screening."

Wellington is the only region that is currently offering this level of assistance to the music community when it comes to music videos and I wondered how long it will last, and if it does, who will follow suit.

Lipscombe is hopeful other local authorities will follow suit.

"Personally I’d be delighted if every local authority or every economic development authority in the country made a similar offer," he says.

"Because I think that would result in a better quality of output and it would result in more bands putting their projects on, rather than putting them off indefinitely."

Visit www.smartwellington.co.nz for more information.

Richard Hobbs runs production company Amino Films Ltd and in 2002 won the 'Knack’ at the NZ Music Video Awards for his video Red Rubicon by Cloudboy. Check out www.aminofilms.com for more info.