The results from last year's Screen Industry Survey have just been released. (Yes, it does seem a long time since 09/10 but we guess it takes a long time to wade through all those numbers.)
ScreenHub had this to say about the figures. "An overall expansion of 1% to $2.874 billion spent within the sector was better news than a contraction, but the underlying numbers seemed to suggest fewer people working, but earning more money - except in the post-production field, where more work was done by more people for more money."
And "The survey period, the year to March 2010, excludes a number of changes for both better and worse in terms of the amount of work around in NZ."
Also, "The major story is the growth in post-production. Obviously, a good chunk of Weta Digital`s work on Avatar appears within the 2010 figures and represents a project on a scale unlikely to be repeated quickly. However, with Tin-Tin and, now, The Hobbit both going ahead, work on both projects will contribute a good level of both work and money into the overall figures for the next survey."
But "Issues that should be of concern include the overseas spend in NZ, which dropped by double digit percentage figures. From $525 million in 2009, it fell to $414 million in 2010, a fall of 21%. Beyond the figures from North America (10% fall to $247 million), it's difficult to identify major trends as the figures by territory are so small that a single project going ahead or not can skew them dramatically."
You can fossick through the full results of the survey here.