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Local TV and movie producers -- suck it up!

Video on demand (VOD) streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ and others have changed the face of living-room entertainment.

For someone whose formative years were pre-TV and who spent decades subsequent existing with just one TV channel without choice or options, today's "everything is just a click away" VOD offerings are just mind-blowing.

However, it seems that some folk are never happy.

This time it's not the consumers of these services that are griping, it's the local content production industry. Those people who, for decades have been producing the TV series and movies we've been watching under the guise of "locally made".

This RNZ story explains it all.

Apparently NZ's film and TV producers are unhappy that US-based streaming giants are effectively making life hard for them.

As is so often the case with people who've been used to getting handouts from the taxpayer (via NZ On Air), some of these folk want the government to inflict taxes and other punitive measures on these streaming giants.

"It's not fair, we don't want to compete on merit, we want to be given special privilege" seems to be their perspective.

Oh, cry me a river why don't you?

According to these crybabies, the situation threatens the NZ economy and will have a "massive cultural impact".

What are they smoking?

Whilst some might want to play victim (it's very trendy and highly encouraged by so many others), surely there are at least a few content producers out there who recognise that there is as much (if not more) opportunity as their are hurdles involved in this change.

I watch content on the basis that it's relevant and enjoyable -- not simply because it's "made in NZ" or because I've paid for it through my taxes. If these producers want my eyeballs (and the money that goes with them) then create stuff that people want to watch, rather than stuff you can con the taxpayer into subsidising.

Guess what, if you make really good content that is relevant and entertaining then you may find that those big US streaming networks might pick it up and deliver it to a far greater audience than the occasional midnight screening on TV1 might offer up. The financial rewards could also be far greater.

But no, it's probably just easier to cry and whinge that "it's not fair" and to demand that the government takes money from these streaming platforms to fund your vanity works that obviously nobody really wants to watch (or they'd alread pay to do so).

Neither the NZ public nor Netflix has any duty to gift these producers money just because someone thinks "they deserve it" because their content, although boring and irrelevant, is "worthy" in some way.

We live in a competitive world where commercial pressures define what is made and what gets watched. Sure, that's the sort of thing that produced the glut of "reality TV" a while back but if that's what people want -- where's the problem?

If local content producers really believe that their projects are worthy of funding then go to IndieGoGo or Kickstarter and raise the funds yourself. If enough people agree with you then you'll get all the funding you need. If people aren't interested then you'll also find out and nobody will have squandered valuable taxpayer funds on something that will never see an audience.

As someone who is very much a local content creator, I don't expect nor do I want the taxpayer to fund my efforts. Likewise I don't expect the government to introduce punitive taxes on VOD platforms and give me part of their earnings. If I can create material that has worth then those platforms may seek out my content and pay me for its use.

And remember, given that my content has been seen almost 150 million times by a global audience on YouTube, I think my voice should carry some weight in this argument. There are many tax-funded producers who can't boast figures anything like this. Suck it up you sissies and live or die on the quality of your work.

Carpe Diem folks!

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