By Patrick Gower
The Prime Minister is off to Hollywood to sell this country as a destination for movie making.
But John Key's critics say his trip's a bad look, coming as it does after the Kim Dotcom affair where New Zealand bent over backwards to help the US authorities arrest Dotcom for intellectual property theft.
“Some would say this is pretty bad timing,” says Mr Key. “I’d say it’s excellent timing.”
That's because Mr Key is there to drum up business. He will visit the six major Hollywood studios.
The American film industry is worth $387 million a year to the economy here.
The 48-hour trip includes a private dinner hosted by James Cameron, director of Avatar.
To Hollywood, Dotcom is public enemy number one. Megaupload is accused of piracy, costing copyright holders half a billion dollars. Mr Key will also meet with the Motion Picture Association of America, which called Dotcom a career criminal.
“These very people are the ones that were pushing for Dotcom's extradition, and in New Zealand we pride ourselves on being independent,” says Labour Party leader David Shearer.
Dotcom is not impressed, tweeting that the visit was about "getting paid for the raid".
“There's at least an appearance of impropriety by visiting Hollywood during this very sensitive time,” says Dotcom’s US lawyer.
New Zealand First Party leader Winston Peters believes Mr Key has discussed Dotcom's case before when he met Warner Brothers in Los Angeles in July last year.
“You tell me that these people from Hollywood, jealous as they are about their copyright, patent rights and royalty rights, and the fact of the threat that hundreds of millions, or possibly billions being lost to them, would not have been raised with Mr Key,” says Mr Peters.
And the Greens had a script suggestion, based on one of Mr Key's favourite movies, spy caper Johnny English.
“Apparently John Key's favourite movie is Johnny English,” says Green Party co-leader Russel Norman. “Maybe Key is there to pitch a sequel, called The Kim Dotcom Affair. Maybe that's what he'll be pitching to the Hollywood directors. Does John Key want to star as some kind of bumbling inspector?”
Mr Key goes to Hollywood, but no one knows how the Dotcom movie is going to end.
3 News