Don Blakeney

Don ‘Scrubbs' Blakeney was born in New Plymouth on 11 September 1943.

Blakeney graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from Victoria University,. By age 30 he was given an overseas appointment as financial controller of shipping company P & O. It was an invaluable business opportunity, but Blakeney became increasingly disillusioned by the corporate world, and dropped out in 1973.

Returning to New Zealand he met producers John Barnett and Grahame McLean. McLean asked Blakeney to help him out on the production of Sleeping Dogs, one of the earliest films of the Kiwi movie renaissance

Blakeney found himself acting as the unit caterer, a role which brought him into the orbit of filmmakers like Roger Donaldson and Geoff Murphy, who soon discovered that Blakeney knew a thing or two about financing.

The filmmakers in turn, recommended Blakeney to Jim Booth, who was looking for someone to help facilitate the establishment of the NZ Film Commission. Blakeney recalled that he "didn't have any background about what film commissions were about". By the time the Interim Commission became a fully fledged body in 1979, Blakeney was asked to become its first Executive Director.

Producer Kerry Robins remembers Blakeney's time at the New Zealand Film Commission: "What impressed me the most about him was his open door policy to ALL Kiwi filmmakers, his enthusiasm for their projects and the sound financial advice and NZFC support he would offer where ever he could . . . he saw the NZFC were there to serve the filmmakers . . .  if you needed photocopying done, the NZFC photocopier was freely available, and as a result filmmakers were in and out of the offices all the time."

Once the Film Commission was up and running, Blakeney recalled that "films went into production pretty much straight away". Managing the limited funding, it was decided that "as a rule of thumb, we would try not to finance more than about 50 percent of the cash cost of any movie".

He pioneered the use of tax shelter mechanisms in the financing of Paul Maunder's Sons For The Return Home (1979), and Geoff Murphy's Goodbye Pork Pie (1981), helping raise private equity to get these films made.

After almost four years, Blakeney left the NZ Film Commission and became an independent producer, taking on Murphy's next project, Utu (1983) as a co-producer. Blakeney managed the financial and resourcing side of the production, leaving Murphy free to "concentrate on the creative side".

Although Utu won many viewers at home, and rave reviews elsewhere, overseas sales proved elusive. Blakeney chose to recut the picture, a decision that resulted in a turnaround in sales. Unfortunately the Inland Revenue Department had decided to open the books on dozens of film productions (including Utu), alleging financing irregularities that equated to tax evasion.

Blakeney was one of only two producers who chose to fight the IRD Commissioner's assessment, rather than settle. After 20 years, and a legal battle that went all the way to the Privy Council, the production was cleared. The battle took its toll on Blakeney and his public career as a producer, although privately, his advice was sought, and he worked behind the scenes on various productions.

 Although justifiably proud of his contributions to New Zealand film in the past, Blakeney remained content to stay out of the arena, though he served a judge in local heats of the 48Hours film contest.

In later decades Blakeney settled with his family in an old kauri house in Anaura Bay, on the East Coast of the North Island. There, he opened up his doors to a revolving cast of guests, playing host to global travellers working their way around New Zealand. He surfed, made rose petal wine, and was an advisor for the Labour Department’s Community Employment Group, offering business expertise to mainly Maori individuals and community groups. Blakeney described the East Coast as a taonga which needed to be "protected from outside exploitation". He viewed the homestead as "a community resource" for locals and visitors alike.

Blakeney passed away on 3 May 2025, at the age of 81.

Profile updated on 13 May 2025

Sources Include
'Don Blakeney: The early days of NZ film...' (Video Interview) NZ On Screen website. Director Pat Cox. Loaded 1 April 2011. Accessed 13 May 2025
 'The happy-go-lucky highway'  - New Zealand Geographic 28, October 1995
'Waipare Homestead', New Surf Dialogue website. Loaded 11 February 2010. Loaded 13 May 2025