Second Hand Wedding, a hit that hasn’t made a profit
According to Second Hand Wedding director Paul Murphy, his 2008 hit New Zealand comedy – released in Australia last week by Potential Films – is yet to make a profit.
“Due to great DVD and airline sales we have managed to climb from 30 percent (cinema income) to around 60 percent recoupment, which has been distributed proportionately to investors – including deferred payments to cast and crew. As successful as the film is considered, it has still failed to make a profit as yet,” Murphy told Encore.
Murphy said that due to the way the income is distributed, Garage Sale Productions only receives approximately 15 percent of the box office intake.
“The film made around NZ$1.9m, so approximately $280,000 came back to the filmmakers. It was shot on a production budget of around $200,000 and received a post grant of $700,000 from the New Zealand Film Commission for a total budget of around $900,000,” he explained.
Where is this film showing, I can’t find it anywhere in Sydney.
I know. I can’t find it in Canberra either.
There’s that word again “deferred”. Just imagine how many films would be made here in Australia (or New Zealand) if writers, cast and crew had to be paid up front. However, in most cases they’re lucky if they get paid at all.
Just imagine the building industry operating like this. “I want you to build me a house but I can only pay you for it if I can find someone to buy it later on.” We’d all be homeless. The same old same old… where there’s passion there’s poverty.
Sad thing is, I don’t think the people running some of the funding bodies are even aware of how most film makers live. How can we compete in the international arena when talented people are being starved out of the industry on a daily basis?
The answer is, we can’t. Mickey Mouse isn’t the only one living in Disneyland.
Tom Galbraith