Screen boss doubts broadband bonus

Former Screen Council executive director Tim Thorpe has cast doubt on the impact that ultrafast broadband will have on the film and television industries, arguing that broadband has not held them back and a report pointing to big productivity gains got it wrong.

Mr Thorpe, writing in industry magazine Onfilm, said he would have supported the Government's $1.5 billion investment in fibre when he was at the Screen Council, but now he was "not so convinced". The Screen Council has been wound up after a bid for government funding failed last year.

If New Zealand was seen to be technologically backward, it could have an effect on investment, but the issue was one of perception, said Mr Thorpe, who is now a film and television industry consultant.

"While still at the Screen Council, I asked a number of production companies for examples of where broadband speeds had caused problems. Only two companies had concerns and one was subsequently able to resolve these with its broadband provider.

"Earlier this year I was involved in research that included meeting with nearly 20 television production and broadcasting companies. Only one, an animation company, mentioned broadband speed as an issue 'because everyone else thought it was'."

Mr Thorpe notes the current state of broadband didn't prevent The Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia being produced in New Zealand.

"Peter Jackson has put in his own network around Miramar and linked this with broadband providers the length of the North Island, bypassing traditional telcos such as Telstra and Telecom."

Mr Thorpe says the costs and benefits of the proposed government investment should be studied.

A 2007 report by the New Zealand Institute, a private think-tank, estimated the screen industry would lift annual productivity by 15 per cent to 20 per cent if fibre was widely available and its exports would increase by 5 per cent to 8 per cent a year.

Mr Thorpe says these figures were "hard to believe" and the institute erred by using $1.3b as the baseline for export receipts, when the actual figure was two to three times lower.

Recently appointed New Zealand Institute chief executive Rick Boven could not comment on the methodology behind the institute's study, but says New Zealand needs to make sure it is future-proofed.

"What we need to do is not just focus on what might be needed today, but what might be needed tomorrow. Others are investing in fibre, Australia being one example. We need to think very carefully before we take some choices that lead to us falling behind."

Screen Production and Development Association president Richard Fletcher disagreed with Mr Thorpe, saying he believes more high-speed broadband would be beneficial.

"Increasingly there is not one party doing all the visual effects and post-production, but a number of parties. A film I produced, Under the Mountain, had four different vendors for visual effects and the files would be moved around by courier and hard drive. There is a timing and cost implication to that."

- © Fairfax NZ News