Written by on Nov 21, 2014. Posted in On Location

New Zealand and China sign landmark TV co-production filming agreement

New Zealand and China have signed a TV co-production filming agreement, the first of its kind for China. The deal will enable co-productions to benefit from New Zealand’s national TV incentives while giving New Zealand producers better access to China’s tightly regulated market.

A New Zealand-China Film Co-Production Agreement already exists between the two countries but no features have been made in the five years since the deal was agreed.

In a bid to change this, the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) has launched a NZD 1 million China Co-Production Production Fund to coincide with the new TV agreement.

“The timing of the delegation to China with the signing of the television treaty and the introduction of the feature film co-production production fund is incredibly significant and will have a strong impact on our filmmakers working with China,” said Dave Gibson, head of the NZFC.

Added Maggie Barry, New Zealand’s Minister for the Arts, Culture and Heritage: “While the agreement, in the short term, is likely to be used for animation and documentary projects, over the longer term that may well expand.”

China recently brought its hit reality TV show Dad, where are we going? to New Zealand, which is expected to help raise the country’s profile given that the programme is viewed by a quarter of China’s population.

The timing of the delegation to China with the signing of the television treaty and the introduction of the feature film co-production production fund is incredibly significant.

Dave Gibson, New Zealand Film Commission

New Zealand has had difficulty attracting high-end international TV productions on the scale of the Auckland-filmed Spartacus (above). The China agreement could help deliver more opportunities and investment.

Earlier this year New Zealand boosted its overall filming incentive package in a bid to attract more big-budget productions. The move helped secure James Cameron’s upcoming trilogy of Avatar sequels, with a sizeable commitment to base the combined production in New Zealand.

(Image: Starz)