The new CEO of the New Zealand Film Commission Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga has had to hit the ground running. No sooner had David Strong taken over from the outgoing Annabelle Sheehan when he had to deal with the fallout of Amazon taking the multi-million dollar Lord of the Rings series out of the country. Not to mention the ongoing problems caused by Covid 19. But David is used to facing challenges. He spent 22 years in the New Zealand Army, where he was a Lieutenant Colonel serving in the Middle East and Bosnia. He became a specialist military adviser for movies like The Water Horse, The Hobbit, Mulan and, yes, the Amazon Lord of the Rings.