On Location - November 9, 2005

When Peter Jackson unveiled the first "Lord of the Rings" movie in 2001, it ushered in a torrent of attention on New Zealand and its film industry, kicking it into high gear and showing that the country was a viable place for Hollywood to make its movies.

Four years later, with Jackson's "King Kong" about five weeks away, the director's shadow still looms large over New Zealand's film industry.

"He's hugely important," New Zealand Film Commission CEO Ruth Harley says from the commission's office at the Santa Monica-set American Film Market, which concludes today. "He's important because of the films he makes himself; he's hugely important because of the infrastructure he's developed to enable him to make the films himself. And also, because of the standard of the films he's made, people know it's possible for New Zealand to turn out that high quality of work."

She adds: "I'm sure if we hadn't had 'Lord of the Rings,' Andrew Adamson would have had a lot of difficulty bringing 'The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe' to New Zealand."

Harley took over the film commission in 1997, and it is under her watch that the local industry has evolved into a force that has spawned such films as 2003's "Whale Rider" and "The World's Fastest Indian," which opens Dec. 9 in the U.S.

Back then, film was not on the country's radar, Harley says.

"Film wasn't at the grown-ups table; we had a little low table in the corner. And I wanted us to be at the main table with all the other art forms," she says. "And that meant accomplishing two important things, which are linked: to get experienced artists working, and in order for experience artists (to work), you needed money. There had to be enough money to get bigger films to get made. Because serious artists don't want to work with tiny budgets."

The commission has two weapons in its arsenal: the New Zealand Film Production Fund, which with its annual budget of NZ$20 million ($13.7 million) helps out local productions, and the Large Budget Screen Production Grant. The latter offers a 12.5% grant on productions, local or international, of more than NZ$50 million ($34.2 million). If the production costs less, 70% of the total must be in spent in New Zealand in order to qualify.

Harley says her "primary job is to get New Zealand films telling New Zealand stories and getting them made." Her model consists of finding talent to make short films. Those who excel are encouraged to make a first feature and, if successful, are pushed to do bigger films "before going out to the world market and bringing big films back to New Zealand so that they can tell New Zealand stories off that credibility."

Harley sees Niki Caro as an example of what that model can accomplish, pointing out Caro made a short called "Sure to Rise," which went to Cannes, then a first feature called "Memory & Desire," which also went to Cannes, before her internationally acclaimed "Whale Rider." That led her to making her U.S. studio debut with "North Country."

After this winter's high-profile releases of "Kong" and "Narnia," plus "Indian," New Zealand should remain on the radar next year with the big-budget productions of Universal Pictures' "Halo" and Walden Media's "Bridge to Terabithia" as well as the local horror comedy "Black Sheep."

"I think that we haven't gotten as far as I hoped on the domestic side, but we have achieved beyond my wildest dreams on the international side," Harley says. "So I guess the combination of the two is probably way more successful than not."

She adds, "But it doesn't mean the job is done."