Big TV shows ‘really, really at risk’
A little over a month ago, one of our most successful screen production companies, Greenstone TV, celebrated its 30th birthday at a glitzy party at a central Auckland bar. The conversation and champagne flowed, the mood buoyant and boisterous at the height of summer. Among the
300-plus guests were some of the great and good of the New Zealand production industry, including wellknown faces of the small and silver screens.
A couple of weeks later, all hell broke loose.
Greenstone chief executive Rachel Antony dryly noted this week that if the 30th party were to be held today, it might feel more like a wake for the industry. “I’m so glad we did it when we did.”
In a few short weeks, Warner Bros Discovery has announced proposals which would see up to
300 job losses followed, a week later, by cost-cutting proposals at TVNZ.
While much of the media coverage in recent weeks has focused on news and current affairs cutbacks — including the proposed scrapping of Newshub and the loss of TVNZ shows such as Sunday and
Fair Go — there are also major concerns about the future of local programming, including some of our biggest television shows.
At the moment, almost all of our home-grown, primetime shows are funded commercially — think
Shortland Street, Married at First Sight NZ, The Traitors NZ, Border Patrol, Highway Cops, Celebrity Treasure Island and The Block NZ.
The networks throw their support behind these shows, investing millions in helping have them produced and marketed.
But Warner Bros Discovery has been very clear that producers will need third-party support in future, while TVNZ has said there are “no sacred cows” with speculation of big cutbacks at the likes of Shortland Street in the next 12 months.
“Big, key tentpole shows like The Block, The Traitors or Married at First Sight NZ . . . are really, really at risk,” says South Pacific Pictures managing director Andrew Szusterman.
“It doesn’t really matter what you personally think about those shows and what they add. They are well-watched and are representative of our culture. They’re big formats and people absolutely love them. They employ thousands of freelancers.”
Rachel Antony, of Greenstone, says: “The forward-looking slate is looking really questionable. It’s feeling very uncertain. We’re based in the creation and production of local stories. And without local platforms that are robust and investing in local stories, what does that look like for us? I guess for many of us in the space of creating and telling original New Zealand stories, it’s feeling a bit existential.”
Greenstone is in production for a new season of Border Patrol — “that is fantastically positive for us” — but longer term, there is “no line of sight” on funding.
“I don’t want to scare the horses. Until we deliver a new season, until they have got budgets confirmed . . . we are so used to uncertainty in the industry. But rather like the Fair Go team with extremely successful, still high-rating shows you would hope, but we’re not taking anything for granted.”
While the likes of SPP, with The Brokenwood Mysteries, and Greenstone, with My Life Is Murder, have other top-notch shows in the near future, they’re both deeply concerned about network cutbacks and the jobs of thousands of people.
NZ on Air chief executive Cameron Harland says recent announcements have “absolutely” given the funding agency pause for thought.
“We are genuinely concerned about the sector,” says Harland.
“The starting point was the concern about the lack of news and the decision that came out of Three, but then quickly followed by the changes at TVNZ, and obviously the realisation that aside from the news piece — which is in of itself a concern — there is the very real likelihood of a significant reduction in the investment in local programming. That’s a pretty significant concern.”
TVNZ and Three had traditionally invested in primetime content themselves.
Shows produced a commercial return, which in turn fed the production sector. “It was commercially viable content, it was worth them funding,” says Harland. “They could get a return.”
NZ on Air was now working through what that content looked like in future, alongside the public media that the agency had traditionally funded. The agency was talking to as many broadcast and production sector leaders as possible, including the likes of Warner Bros Discovery’s New Zealand boss Glen Kyne.
“That‘s the bit that we‘re still trying to get our heads around. What is the impact going to be? And then, ultimately for us, understanding what that means for audience,” says Harland.
“We try and make balanced decisions around what we believe is in the best interests for audiences — that’s our legislative remit.
“We are definitely trying to get our head around where that balance now sits.
“We’ve got to imagine that it’s changed a bit. Content that we might not have funded before because we felt like it was commercially viable for a broadcaster to fund it, we may have to think slightly differently.”
Andrew Szusterman and Kelly Martin of SPP fear some production companies won’t survive the next few months.
Szusterman warns that many production industry freelancers — much like medical nurses — would venture to Australia for opportunities. “They already are, to be perfectly honest.”
They and Greenstone’s Rachel Antony say that would have a flowon effect for bigger-scale productions. Television shows acted as a nursery or training ground for people to build their skills up to eventually work on a James Cameron or Peter Jackson blockbuster.
“At some point, we’re not going to be able to feed that system.”
Martin reminisces about Kiwi shows such as Bro Town and Seven Days, that helped launch some of New Zealand’s biggest names.
She believes it is critical TVNZ and Three continue to screen local shows, “because otherwise they may just as well be Netflix or Amazon or Apple”.
“There’s no point of difference otherwise. And it’s really important as a society that we protect that.”