Amazon’s Highly Subsidized Foray Into Middle-Earth w/ Thomas Coughlan

Tech Won't Save Us

Paris Marx

Silicon Valley, Books, Technology, Arts, Future, Tech Criticism, Socialism, Paris Marx, News, Criticism, Tech News, Politics

4.8 • 626 Ratings

🗓️ 1 September 2022

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Paris Marx is joined by Thomas Coughlan to discuss Amazon’s foray into Tolkien’s fantasy world, the big subsidies it received to film in New Zealand, and how its decision to move the series to the UK is giving fuel to demands to reassess the support for Hollywood productions. Thomas Coughlan is a senior political reporter at NZ Herald, and formerly was a journalist at Stuff and Newsroom. Follow Thomas on Twitter at @coughlthom. Tech Won’t Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its w...

Transcript

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0:00.0	films aren't attracted here purely because of the talent that we offer.
0:03.2	And I think New Zealand's film industry is incredibly talented.
0:06.4	It is about tax deals, which is, you know, it's a shame.
0:08.5	I think it's a sad thing for the film industry globally that it really is a race to the bottom
0:12.5	in terms of these subsidies.
0:13.7	It's not about artistry or talent, which it really should be. Hello and welcome to Jack Won't Save Us.
0:35.5	I'm your host, Paris Marks, and this week my guest is Thomas Coglin.
0:39.0	Thomas is a senior political reporter at the New Zealand Herald and a former reporter with Stuff and Newsroom.
0:45.6	I've been looking forward to this episode because there is a new Amazon series that will be launched by the time this episode comes out called The Lord of the Rings, the Rings of Power.
0:55.4	Now, listen, I have lived in New Zealand in the past. I was supposed to go down there to do a PhD,
1:01.4	but unfortunately, plans changed because of some visa issues there. And I was a big fan of the Lord of the Rings and honestly still really like the series.
1:12.1	You know, since I was in my early teens when I first saw the Fellowship of the Ring in theaters. And so when it was
1:17.2	announced that Amazon was going to be making a Lord of the Rings television series back in 2017,
1:22.6	when it bought the rights for $250 million US dollars, I was certainly conflicted. Obviously, it's a series that I like,
1:30.4	the Hobbit movies I did not really like, and so I was worried that it would continue down that
1:35.4	trajectory. And of course, Amazon, as listeners of this show, will well know, is also a company
1:40.9	that I am not very fond of. And so Thomas has been reporting a lot as this series has gone into production, as it has
1:50.5	encountered issues during the pandemic, as production on the show has now moved from New Zealand
1:57.0	to the United Kingdom.
1:58.7	And so I thought he would be the perfect person to have on the show to discuss the aspects
2:02.8	of this production, what it has meant for New Zealand, certainly what working with Amazon
2:08.9	and trying to entice Amazon to film the show in New Zealand meant for the New Zealand government
	...

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