Piracy 'wrecking' an important industry

A report commissioned by the Federation Against Copyright Theft estimates the film and television industry contributes 40 per cent more to the economy than the wine industry.

PricewaterhouseCoopers estimates the industry added $2.5 billion to the economy last year, directly and indirectly. That is equal to 1.4 per cent of gross national product.

It accounted for nearly 22,000 jobs. Of these, 9572 were directly in the industry.

Motion Picture Exhibitors' Association president Paul Desmond says the industry could be "wrecked" by rampant piracy.

PricewaterhouseCoopers included the distribution, sale and rental of videos and DVDs in its figures.

But even excluding these, the direct contribution of the film production and television broadcast industries was estimated at $1.1b, more than double the $454m estimate for the direct contribution of the wine industry.

Statistics New Zealand says firms in the post-production industry earned revenues of $321m last year and employed 646 people.

The bulk of those revenues and workers are believed to be accounted for by Wellington's Weta Digital.

The average annual wage for people employed in the film and television industry last year was $63,000.