H/T to Kevin Wild for sending me this link from the blog Micropsia – an interview with writer-director Peter Jackson. Jackson, whose latest movie The Lovely Bones debuts this weekend, agreed to take questions from blog readers. Here’s one Q&A:

KYLE ST-AMOUR-BRENNAN asks: What are your thoughts on the current economic climate in relation to film production? Does the continual integration of digital technology in Hollywood (you being a heavy supporter of the RED digital cinema camera), make it actually cheaper to make a film, or has it just allowed more money to be allocated more so on postproduction elements (special effects, etc..) ?

PETER JACKSON: Interesting. The main problem with the current climate is not so much to do with the advent of new technologies as it has to do with the changing face of distribution, and the changing nature of the audience demographics as well. The studios are finding it harder to make sense of the film industry, partly that has to do with the fact that studios are now part of these large corporations for which film is just a part of the conglomerate’s larger business. So there’s this particularly weird way in which Wall St. is controlling the production of movies, leading to quite a depressed time, where there doesn’t seem to be a market for medium or small budget films. Some of it’s the change in distribution, some of it’s a little bit to do with piracy; it’s all more complex than I could ever go into and I’m not an expert.

However, I think it’s a cycle. And eventually I think we’re going to arrive at a place where the internet and that type of technology settles down, and the film industry figures out a way to live with it. I’m looking forward to that particular conflict coming to an end within two or three years.

I don’t think any of it has much to do with digital cameras. I think there’s a whole economic thing going on that’s quite serious. We’re also talking about the audience, too, the fact that young people today have a multitude of different things to do, ways to occupy themselves during the weekend, and that going to the movies has a lot more to compete with.

But I do feel optimism. And where I do feel optimism, that’s where digital technology comes in. When I think my depressive thoughts of how hard it is to make interesting movies, I remind myself, “Hang on, there’s a generation of young people with access to movie equipment that’s cheaper and of higher quality than ever before.” Cameras like the RED camera. It makes me feel like saying, “If you’re out there reading this, go and get to making movies!” I really feel like it could lead to as exciting a creative explosion in filmmaking as what happened in the 70s.

The thing that excites me most about the RED, incidentally, is the image quality. I like the fact that is was designed by a camera buff. Jim Jannard’s passion is to create a digital camera available to everybody. Each generation of the RED is just going get better and better.

Jackson zeroes in on the biggest issue, I think, which is film distribution, a subject we have discussed often including here and here. I’m glad to see Jackson feeling optimistic as it buttresses my own feelings that somehow, this is all going to shake out in a way that there will be more access to more movies with a broader spectrum of genres and story styles.

Elsewhere in the interview, Jackson talks about the possibility of getting back to making some lower budget horror type movies – and I think that would be great. Braindead (1992), aka Dead Alive, is one of the better zombie movies:

But then there’s that little trilogy that Jackson directed called Lord of the… something…

UPDATE: Received an email from Trevor Hogg in the UK who has a fantastic blog called “Flickering Myth.” You can go here and here to read a great 2-part profile on Peter Jackson. And while you’re there, bookmark Trevor’s blog. Great stuff.