FILM FRANCHISE PRODUCTION GROWTH NEW ZEALAND – INVESTING IN KIWI WRITERS & SCREENWRITERS IS THE KEY

There is nothing more powerful than ideas whose time has come.

–Victor Hugo.

There is nothing more powerful than ideas whose time has come, 
filmed on landscapes that are resources rich. ImagiNATIVE writers are the world's first 
architects of a future new world and new frontier.

–The way of global film sales marketing patterns observed over a few years now.

The pen is mightier than the sword.

–Winston Churchill as a writer, storyteller, peace maker and boozy warrior leader.

Developing a sustainable film industry in New Zealand really comes down to investing in New Zealand writers more and fostering relationships with the world’s best screenwriters too. It is vital that New Zealand encourages writers, as writers become the billionaires after all the effort has gone into producing successful film franchises. We need some Maori billionaires in New Zealand. Maybe some could write their way into the history books invisaging a cinematic light to project the new way.

We must write films from New Zealand, as if we don’t other people’s written ideas of the South Pacific, will be written about our territory. So, it makes sense to always be writing our own version of the world and attaching our definitions and meanings of landscape of the South Pacific to our own words and ideas in our films. We can write futuristic films, yet the messages in them attached to our landscapes have a resonance all over the world for the good.

We have the locations and enough filmmaking capability now in New Zealand. We just need better scripts, film franchise ideas created in New Zealand and a belief in fast tracking screen-writers to a global level of writing ability. Film crews travel (actors included) to where whoever has the best ideas - to collaborate on – film projects of significance.

New Zealand is soon to become that place even more so, then we have been already on some major film projects.

So what kinds of writers could happen in New Zealand? As a precursor to Mitt Romney‘s rise in politics as a star figure for the US, novelist Stephenie Meyer was a Mormon housewife of Arizona, who mimicked the UK’s JK Rowlings star template as a novelist.

Meyer’s story as a humble writer is one of a stand out success for relativiely new billionaires. Meyer’s novel ideas, even created a brand new studio to make her novels into films. It was then aquired by Lionsgate to import a strong youth audience following into Lionsgate’s entertainment brand.

The young actors cast in Meyer’s films now lead California’s box office (Kristen Stewart being one). JK of course, mimicked Brit authors like C.S Lewis and JRR Tolkien to find her own voice as a single parent writer. Magic was JK’s theme of children learning at school. Meyer’s was a voice of fantasy, romance, angst – youth under threat. Meyer’s creative literary bent, was a huge hit.

What this tells us: Perhaps we need to invest in single parents and-or Kiwi housewives more. If we go by two of the most successful writers who created film franchises from their own homes that were a global success, then we must acknowledge that single parents and housewives could have the box-office-spinning writer’s goods.

Then again, there’s always Canada’s James Cameron too, whose working in reverse.

James, the world’s no.1 box office director has moved from film first to now writing novels too, for his Avatar series. Cameron taking a note from Rowling’s and Meyer’s earning star power template, seguing into books as well to clip the ticket twice. Smart guy.

Actors, directors and the next big things in talent (smart producers and EPs hopefully), are always signed talent. They sign on to new ideas that are strong and give them a celebrity skin to wear for the next eight to ten years (eg: the UK’s Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson being two examples of normal kids who transformed into global superstars because a novelist created characters and roles for these two young people to step into on the screen).

Casting agents sourced them into the roles that would showcase talent and elevate the youth to be global leaders today.

If New Zealand is to create our own supply chain of movie franchises, perhaps we should invest in our housewife, stay-at-home moms more, who have really good ideas.

They just need funding, mentors, trips to screenwriting workshops abroad, heaps of non-stop encouragement and their books need to be tested on audiences too, with an adequate marketing budget to place the books in the right places to be read.

It’s all exciting ahead. With NZ being a hot oil, gas, minerals rich, big fish destination too in the USA’s sites, and a strong food supply nation fifteen years down the track (especially); America can’t wait to open the doors to expanding NZ film industry ties, right now.

It has to deepen ties with NZ and the South Pacific for its children being born now to survive and thrive further down the track. Thus New Zealand has strong negotiating power with the U.S to work together more in film. We basically can say, this is how it is going to be. The US will share audience share with New Zealand. Film texts are virtual (an experience to watch for the imagination to be inspired), oil, gas food etc – are real. So, NZ can say what our box office contributions will be, how we see increased production panning out, and how many films we expect the US to support and promote with the USA’s endless media at hand and numerous numbers of Facebook, twitter, etc followers at hand. Then our film industry has a degree of certainty when we colllaborate with USA’s filmmaking community more.

What really needs more work in New Zealand is Maori cinema. Hollywood films are numerous. Maori cinema done well has the potential to really open up the film market for China and the USA. I wonder if Maori in New Zealand will be afforded that opportunity to develop to the level that Sir Peter Jackson‘s fillmaking auteurship has, say, and NZ property owner James Cameron has too? I hope so. It’s on my wish list of things to see happen in and from New Zealand in the future. :)

Women make good candidates to write film franchises. Men, we just want to blow stuff up in Hollywood films mainly. So perhaps writing combos, of men and women, both collaborating on blockbuster film franchise scripts, or just women writers – could have a high chance of writing sustainable film franchises creating sustainable employment for talented people all over the world working and living more in New Zealand and especially for Maori and New Zealanders.

EQ filmmaking with the big budget blow up movies themes stuff too, if we must (Avatar for example – an Indigenous Peoples tale set to animation pastiche 3D fx), would help create more nuanced and intelligent stories for humanity’s good from NZ.

NZ: a new frontier. So exciting!

~Posted by Horiwoodblog, Aotearoa New Zealand, Polynesia Asia-Pacific. 3.10.12~