From: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org (chakram-refugees-digest) To: chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Subject: chakram-refugees-digest V1 #77 Reply-To: chakram-refugees@smoe.org Sender: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-chakram-refugees-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk chakram-refugees-digest Sunday, December 23 2001 Volume 01 : Number 077 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [chakram-refugees] NZ, Pac Ren and LOTR [KLOSSNER9@aol.com] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 21:40:50 EST From: KLOSSNER9@aol.com Subject: [chakram-refugees] NZ, Pac Ren and LOTR Variety, Dec,. 17-23, 2001, p. 22-27, is a special advertising supplement by Film New Zealand, an illustrated article by Matt F. Palmerton titled New Zealand, Home of Middle Earth. It includes -- p. 23 -- US cable TV supplier Studios USA and its production company, Pacific Renaissance Pictures, spent about $US160 million making 288 hours of successful sword 'n' sandal TV shows such as Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess in locations based in and around New Zealand's largest city, Auckland. Hercules and Xena co-executive producer Eric Gruendeman is straight up on why his company went to New Zealand: "There are no cons, only pros about shooting in New Zealand." /// p. 24-- It is productions like Shortland Street, Hercules and Xena that have generated the skill base that could create LOTR, says Ruth Harley, head of the country's Government film fund, the New Zealand Film Commission. "If Shortland Street had not existed, Hercules and Xena couldn't have been made in New Zealand. Shortland Street created the technical talent base on which Hercules and Xena were able to operate. I don't believe LOTR would have been nearly so easy to make in New Zealand if it were not for Hercules and Xena ... [they] up-skilled a lot of people and gave people experience in huge volume management." /// This all seems correct except that $160 million sounds too little for Pac Ren's costs for 288 eps. of Hercules, Xena and the lesser shows. Perhaps they spent that much in N.Z. and more in the U.S., for stars, directors, scripts, overhead, etc. Palmerton also says -- p. 24-- Indian filmmakers, who have shot some 70 Bollywood features in New Zealand in recent years, are even keener to shoot in the safety of New Zealand in the wake of the war on terror. (India has the biggest film industry in the world, based in Bombay. "Bollywood" is a coined word for "Bombay Hollywood". I hadn't heard before that the Indians are filming in NZ.) The previous Variety, Dec. 10-16, 2001, had their review of LOTR:FOTR, which included praise for Xena costumer Ngila Dickson-- p.36-- The world of the "Rings" has been superbly physicalized by the locations, Grant Major's impressively varied production design, the costume work by designers Ngila Dickson and Richard Taylor, the latter's sensational makeup, creaure and armaments inventions and the extensive special and visual effects. Boeotian ========================================================= This has been a message to the chakram-refugees list. To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@smoe.org with "unsubscribe chakram-refugees" in the message body. Contact meth@smoe.org with any questions or problems. ========================================================= ------------------------------ End of chakram-refugees-digest V1 #77 *************************************