All Blog Posts
Correcting the Imbalance
BlogTen years of business-focused government policy is now seeing a correction taking place in the New Zealand labour market. Health and education have been the focus of recent labour matters, but thanks primarily to Radio New Zealand, the independent…
Carving Out a Public Broadcasting Audience
BlogNew Zealand On Air’s Where Are the Audiences? 2018 Report makes for interesting reading. If you haven’t already seen it, the key findings for the screen industry are: Weekly audiences for traditional broadcast media are stable, and…
Movin’ and Shakin’
BlogThe New Zealand International Film Festival is upon us again. And there’s an even bigger selection of New Zealand films on offer, both feature-length and short, than I’ve encountered before—18 offerings, four of which are made up of programmes…
Ni Hao Taiwan
BlogThe New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) took an official delegation to China and Taiwan in June of this year, and I was fortunate to be invited along to Taipei for the Taiwan leg as the ED of DEGNZ. There was a strong indigenous focus to the…
Is it Time to be a Union?
Advocacy, BlogIn 2000, the Guild, which is an incorporated society, discussed whether or not to become a craft union when the Labour Government passed the Employment Relations Act making collective bargaining possible. However, because the majority of Guild…
Fair Pay
Advocacy, BlogOn Tuesday the government announced the appointment of former prime minister Jim Bolger to head a 10-person working group that would report back on the design of Fair Pay Agreements. This is welcome news to me as those of you who have read…
Hopes and Dreams
BlogThanks to the New Zealand Film Commission, I was fortunate to attend the Cannes Film Festival 2018 where hopes and dreams are realized or not, and was reminded of where we Kiwis sit in the global film industry with our 5 – 15 films each year—somewhere…
NZFC +
BlogThe New Zealand Film Commission has just announced its Te Rautaki Māori strategy and that’s a great achievement, even though it comes 15 years after New Zealand On Air’s—better late than never. It’s no secret that Māori films are…
A Professional Life Well Lived
BlogIt’s with great sadness that I heard of the passing of New Zealand International Film Festival Director Bill Gosden. I knew Bill professionally but not personally, and always watched with great admiration the way he orchestrated NZIFF with…
The Ultimate Disruptor
BlogIf you do a search on the Interweb, one of the definitions of a disruptor in business reads: To be a disruptor is to create a product, service, or way of doing things which displaces the existing market leaders and eventually replaces them…
What in the World is Happening with Film
BlogThe world of film continues to be shaken up both at home and abroad. The only thing that’s clear is that streaming is here to stay and picking up steam. Disney is just undertaking an entire reorganisation of its business to put streaming…
Much to Celebrate
BlogWe are in the midst of election turmoil both here and in the United States. Pork barrel politics are in full swing here with promises from all sides intended to sway voters. We are fortunate, though, that the Arts has already received…
The Interminable Wait
BlogThere are a few key unresolved issues in our sector and we are sitting on our hands waiting for action. The transformation of TVNZ into a proper public broadcaster is one. Then there’s the Screen Industry Worker Bill that will allow contractors…
Writing on the Wall for TV2?
Blog2020 is a watershed year in time for the screen industry because of COVID and the Level 4 lockdown we endured. New Zealand On Air’s latest ‘Where Are The Audiences’ research was conducted during May and June, when we had come out of…