Contracts and Pay Rates

 

I have received a number of telephone calls recently about pay rates and contracts for both directors and editors.

In regards to pay rates, they vary greatly depending on level of experience and type of work. That said, there is a significant difference between exploitative rates and low rates.

On the DEGNZ website we have some simple guidelines for pay rates for experienced practitioners here. Obviously, you have to weigh up these basic rates against what you are being offered, the type of work you will be performing, and your level of experience. If you can, ask around to get a steer on what pay levels might be.

When it comes to contracts, there are fair contracts and there are unfair contracts. It would seem (surprise, surprise) that some companies are leaving out clauses that help to clarify what the actual terms and conditions of the contracts are, and in some cases not fulfilling the terms and conditions stated.

Worse, I am aware of one contract that states that the person being contracted is not allowed to show the contract to anyone else without the express permission of the production company. Untrue.

Firstly, unless you are experienced with contracts do not sign one without seeking advice. You do not have to sign a contract the moment that it is given to you.

As a member of DEGNZ, you can access through the guild a half-hour consultation free of charge with lawyer Tim Riley of Dominion Law, and discounted rates for ongoing work. While you might think that the cost of legal advice is not worth it, you may well find that you more than cover it through gains made, monetary or not, through a negotiation process with the right legal advice.

Don’t be afraid of negotiation. It is merely part of the employment process. It may well be that there is no room for negotiation, but a good employer won’t be upset by you testing it out. If a company seems to be using scare tactics to put you off doing so, then it’s highly likely that they are seeking advantage to their benefit, at your cost.

Yes, the less experienced you are the harder it is to negotiate, but that shouldn’t stop you from trying. And getting that legal advice may save you a lot of pain, because contracts are most useful when something goes wrong. When it does, you want to have one that serves you best.

Second, according to Tim, every contract can be reviewed by your authorized legal representative without you having to inform the production company that you are getting them to do so. It’s your right.

Third, don’t just throw your contract in a drawer and forget about it. If there are obligations that must be met by either side at particular intervals or by certain dates, ensure that you and or they keep to those obligations.

While DEGNZ cannot offer legal advice, we can offer you information and advice on pay rates, contracts or other matters. It’s one of the services you can access as a member. So make use of it.

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

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What Does Sundance 2016 Mean for Kiwi Filmmakers?

The news about New Zealand films at Sundance is good.

Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople (Premieres section) prompted a bidding war, which The Orchard ultimately won for a reputed US$2 million.

David Farrier and Dylan Reeve’s Tickled (World Doc) went to Magnolia Pictures and HBO for an undisclosed sum.

While Taika is a Sundance darling and it helps that he is about to helm Thor, he deservedly wins both accolades and box office success with his films. Wilderpeople as those who have seen it assure me, is his broadest audience film to date, is both funny and touching, has an international market and Sam Neill. No wonder it got picked up, particularly when past Sundance deals indicate films that get very good prices are usually audience-friendly comedies (Hint 1).

The success of Tickled shows that there is a place for thematically unique and well-crafted documentary features at Sundance no matter where they are from (Hint 2).

The purchasers of the two Kiwi films are traditional distributors looking to the typical theatrical route and then ancillaries.

Of the 31 films at Sundance to date that found buyers, 9 were feature documentaries. If you dig into the 31 films a little further, however, you see that most of the dramas have either the director or the cast going for them in commercial terms, whether its Casey Afleck in Manchester by the Sea, Ellen Page in Tellulah, Paul Rudd in The Fundamentals of Caring, Chad Hartigan’s Morris from America, Todd Solonz’s Weiner-dog, or the highly experienced and recognized casts from TV in such films as Equity, The Hollars, and Sleight (Hint 3). Only two films—Sand Storm and Braham Naman (Comedy-see Hint 2) –are from non-US emerging talents, finding a place in the World Cinema section, while Under the Shadow, a U.K. film, scored a slot in Midnight, where Turbo Kid and What We Do In The Shadows previously found homes (Hint 4).

Thinking about Sundance in these terms, the road for New Zealand dramatic features still seems difficult unless you are a breakout talent and/or you can get top international profile cast in your film, while the growing interest in feature documentaries would seem to offer Kiwis opportunities.

What really shook up the 2016 Sundance though was the dominating presence of two streaming entities, Netflix and Amazon, quite distinctly different from each other.

Amazon, with the influence of producer Ted Hope undoubtedly at play, has a strategy of pursuing theatrical first with a quick follow up with streaming to their subscriber audience.

Netflix experimented with a day-and-date into theatres and online simultaneously with Cary Fukunaga’s Beast of No Nation. Cynics say this was just an Oscar play. Whether or not they take the same approach with the three Sundance films they took All Rights for—Under The Shadow, Audrie & Daisy and Brahman Naman—or go straight to SVOD with no theatrical, is unclear.

Both company’s approaches earn the ire of theatrical exhibitors who lose potential product to Netflix when they take All Rights, and who are not enamoured of the short exclusive window (or day-and-date no window) that is part of the Amazon strategy. Distributors are on the sidelines fretting.

A lot has been written in the Trades and elsewhere about the impact of the streamers at Sundance. A recent article by staff writer Julia Greenberg in Wired outlines I feel the positives about why New Zealand filmmakers can feel optimism about what’s happening with film internationally, and a couple of negatives.

Greenberg points out that with the cost of filmmaking dropping, there are more independent filmmakers and thus more films, increasing competition for theatrical release among themselves all the while having to compete against the studios. What Netflix, Amazon and other streamers have done to counter this is provide an audience on effectively a digital arthouse circuit that doesn’t depend on bums on seats for success. With tens of millions of viewers already subscribed, such services are less inclined toward finding blockbusters and more interested in offering a wide variety of content to make sure they have enough of everything to attract anyone.

And they have as strong an interest in documentaries—particularly Netflix—as in drama.

Greenberg adds that Netflix through content like Orange is the New Black, Beast of No Nation and the Iranian (UK) horror film Under the Shadow shows it’s interested in diverse casts, non-traditional storylines and has an appetite for films that play well around the world.

This has got to be good for Kiwi filmmakers.

Even better, for those films they are interested in, the aggressive streamers are driving up the sales prices, either securing the films or forcing distributors to pay more.

On the downside, though, is the fact that streamers don’t reveal their audience data, effectively shutting you out from knowing how well or not your film performed. This makes it harder to fund your next film when investors don’t know how well your first one did; the sales price to the streamer the only indicator and not a reliable one for futures sales prices.

In a further signal that things might be looking up for us, The Film Collaborative points out that mid-budget films have risen from the dead with the likes of Brooklyn (US$10mil), Spotlight (US$20mil), Room (US$5mil), and The Big Short (US$28mil) up for Oscars. With the film commish supposedly wanting to play in this space, that’s another positive.

So how does an emerging Kiwi filmmaker come up with a film of Sundance potential, a mid-sized budget and an internationally attractive cast?

The answer may be coming sooner than you think (Hint 5).

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

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Welcome to 2016!

Welcome to 2016!

Netflix is taking over the entertainment world, and will spend US$6 billion on original content this year. Even Sir PJ has gotten behind a Netflix series – Making A Murderer. The competition is making studio execs quake in their Louboutins.

This year’s Academy Awards Best Picture noms paint a rosy picture of the world: sexual enslavement, pedophilia, pain porn, greed, political persecution, post-apocalyptic hell, and cold war. Thank God for the aberrant Ridley Scott. The Oscars will be missing black actor and female director nominations, and Harvey Weinstein. Spike Lee is going to boycott them, David Oyelowo has lambasted them, but equal pay advocate Jennifer Lawrence will be over Joy-ed to be there.

China is big on everybody’s radar and Hollywood is big on China’s, with Legendary Pictures the first to be bought. Five years after the China – New Zealand Film Coproduction Treaty was signed we are inching closer to our first official coproduction. Wonder of wonders.

Ash vs Evil Dead has risen again. Ghost In The Shell is painting Wellington town Scarlett. The Hobbi… I mean Shannara is looking good for a further run. There may well be sharks in Henderson this year, and I don’t mean more car dealers and finance companies.

TV3 is in the proverbial, SKY according to some will die, Current Affairs TV has moved to Radio New Zealand weekday afternoons, and TVNZ’s presenter fashion creates more buzz than its programming.

We should see a crop of Kiwi films hit the screen this year, including Mahana (Lee Tamahori), Beyond the Known World (Pan Nalin), Hunt for the Wilderpeople (Taika Waititi), Inland Road (Jackie Van Beek), Human Traces (Nick Gorman), A Thousand Ropes (Tusi Tamasese), The Rehearsal (Alison Maclean), Chief Gary (The Downlow Concept), The End Game (Justin Pemberton) and Tickled (David Farrier/Dylan Reeve). Does this mean we’ll have enough films to have a film awards this year, at the bargain basement ticket price of… How much this time?!

Leanne Pooley’s 25 April gets a February US premiere in Santa Barbara.  Rebecca Tainsley’s Crossing Rachmaninoff gets FIPA-ed. Tammy Davis’s Born to Dance does the Berlin boogie. Wilderpeople and Tickled do some Sundancing. And Taika gets a chance to make up for the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards.

The Business Development Scheme kicked off in 2013 with Libertine Pictures, followed by the Gibson Group, Field Theory Media and General Film Corporation. Perhaps 2016 will show how enterprising an idea that was.

NZ On Air and NZFC are going to be doing their work with the same money, or less. Again. Buy more Lotto tickets, please.

At the NZ On Air Christmas party in December, Chair Miriam Dean spoke of challenging times ahead. Understandable with Broadcasting Minister Amy Adams purportedly a believer in broadcasting as a sunset industry. Life would be poorer without sunsets, I say.

CEO Dave Gibson at the film commish is positive. Graeme Mason’s decisions there have pretty much run their course. From now on the NZFC slate bears the Gibson imprint. We have five planets aligning in the skies above. We should start to see the same occurring on the ground from here on in if all is well. Otherwise, we’ll all be hopping from stepping stone to stepping stone without a riverbank in sight.

We have challenges and more at DEGNZ, too. Some good news first.

We will run two more mentorships this year on top of our regular, intensive professional development programme, and at least one additional TV Drama director attachment. We await with bated breath further good news.

On the downside–while illegal downloading Internet trolls fail to understand the importance for creators of protecting copyright, we at DEGNZ do. Unless Netflix and others pay princely sums for global rights when buying programming, territory sales are what keep many a filmmaker and production company alive. Would all those film and TV industry people out there streaming illegal content please stop. You’re just shooting yourselves in your feet.

More important right now for DEGNZ however is getting copyright for directors. This is perhaps our biggest challenge, will require major battles, and likely will take years with a slim chance of success the way things currently stack up. Hopefully our Aussie cohorts at the ADG crack the door open.

Funding remains a crucial issue. NZFC is tightening up, and there aren’t too many other places to go for cash. A doubling of our membership would help, so do encourage your friends to join. It would be nice to see a few more films paying their NZFC investment back. The trickle-down effect might then eventually come to the guilds.

Personally, I’m a proponent of art for art’s sake while also an advocate for financial survival. Films do need to find an audience bigger than you, your family and friends.

On the upside, although the film market remains tough worldwide, screen content for streaming services is in $6 billion and more demand. And in a recent analyst note from Goldman Sachs, the banking firm estimates the Virtual Reality market for both hardware and software will generate $172 billion in 10 years – somebody has to make the content. And, yes, VR porn will be big, too.

Ch… ch… ch… changes. The more things change the more they remain the same.

So, my crystal ball gazing for 2016? It’s going to be a great year. Or not. Either way, we’re in for a hell of a ride. Hopefully smoother than NZ90 out of Tokyo.

On a more somber note I’d like to close with a quote from the great Alan Rickman who recently passed; the man often named as the best screen villain of all time. I think it captures why we are all in this crazy business:

“A film, a piece of music, a piece of theatre, or a book can make a difference. It can change the world.”

May your output be transformational this year.

Rest in peace David Bowie, Alan Rickman and Glenn Frey. Your efforts helped make our world better.

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

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It’s Been A Big Year

It’s been a big year.

In the second year of our professional development programme we have run Collaborators Series with the Writers Guild, the Screen Composers Guild, the Screen Production and Development Association, the Film & Video Technicians Guild, and Ngā Aho Whakaari—a special highlight with renowned Australian Aborigine director Wayne Blair.

Our Rehearsal Room this year saw directors working with actors, facilitated by actor and director Rene Naufahu, director Kathy McRae, actor and director Oliver Driver, actor and acting coach Miranda Harcourt, and actor and director Jackie Van Beek.

Additional workshops in prof. dev. were the One-day Directing Actors Workshop with actor and director Ian Hughes, and the 2-day Director’s Toolkit workshop with top NZ drama director Peter Burger.

Special one-off prof. dev. initiatives we were involved in were the director attachments for Rene Naufahu, Regan Hall, Louise Leitch, Joe Lonie and Roseanne Liang on Ash vs. Evil Dead, the Casting Hothouse with Equity Foundation, and the 5-day Character-based Improvisation Workshop with director Rob Marchand and Leslee Udwin discussion and roundtable, both in conjunction with Script to Screen.

We launched our TV Drama Director Attachment initiative this year. It has seen actor and director Aidee Walker attach to SPP’s Westside and actor and director Matt Saville on Screentime’s Bombshell: The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior. We are just about to announce who will spend eight weeks with Peter Burger as an attachment on Filthy Productions’ Dirty Laundry. With the ongoing growth in TV drama both domestically and internationally, we are particularly pleased at the guild with this initiative and indications so far are extremely positive all round.

One of our major coups of the year was getting Drive writer and director Paul Haggis along for our DEGNZ Selects event. Down here to shoot a branded short film, Paul kindly created time in his busy schedule to speak, and his knowledge and humour was extremely well received by all who attended.

In the middle of the year DEGNZ board member and editor Annie Collins ran our well received  two-day Editing Documentary Workshop. We unfortunately had to postpone our Drama Editing Workshop with Michael Horton and Jonathan Woodford Robinson, but this will come back in the first quarter of 2016.

On the mentorship front, Sundance Artistic Director Gyula Gazdag is working with director Tusi Tamasese. We will soon announce the documentary director who will be mentored by Canadian documentary filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal, and early in 2016 we hope to have our second editor mentor secured and will make a call for applications then.

While we have a year left on our current professional development programme, there will be changes coming. The New Zealand Film Commission, who kindly fund our professional development programme, is reviewing professional development across the board. 2017 will see a new approach that reflects the changing dynamics of the industry and the roles we play within it.

On the advocacy front, we are working with We Create (former Copyright Council) to ensure our voice is heard in government about copyright, at the same time inputting directly into the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Enterprise/Ministry of Culture and Heritage Screen Sector Study on Copyright and Design Regimes. We submitted to the Exploring Digital Convergence Green Paper and the review of the Official Information Act.

We are now working very closely with the Australian Directors Guild in support of their efforts to secure retransmission rights, copyright and residuals for directors. For DEGNZ and its former embodiment as the Screen Directors Guild of New Zealand, addressing these issues has always been highly important. We see the next couple of years ahead as offering real opportunity for us to get some movement on these in NZ.

A lot has been achieved in 2015. I would firstly like to thank the membership. Your support through belonging to the guild is crucial to ensuring we continue to represent your interests well. If you believe we are doing a good job, please encourage your colleagues to join.

I also wish to extend my thanks to a special group of producers and executives: Rob Tapert and Chloe Smith, Philly de Lacey, Kelly Martin, and Steven Zanoski. These people see the need for experienced directors in the industry and came behind our attachment initiatives with cash.

Thanks for financial support must also go to the New Zealand Film Commission without whom we couldn’t deliver the breadth and depth of services we offer, and to NZ On Air who in their first ever professional development funding backed the director attachment initiative we took to them.

I must also acknowledge our sponsors/partners Pieter Holl & Associates, Seresin Wines, Andy Day, the Academy, Rialto, Event, Reading, and Hoyts Cinemas, the NZ International Film Festival and Documentary Edge, and our newest partner Resene. They kindly offers deals and discounts that allow guild members to get more for less.

Finally, a big thank you to the DEGNZ board. They are all volunteers with the industry at heart and directors and editors at the forefront.

This will be the last newsletter for the year, and it will be back in the second half of January.

May all of you have a great break and much success in 2016.

Meri Kirihimete

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

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Prof. Dev. –Delivering the Goods at DEGNZ

In the last couple of weeks I have been able to see and or get feedback on DEGNZ professional development initiatives that are in my view really delivering the goods, and increasing exposure and opportunity for directors wanting careers in narrative drama.

The first was our regular Rehearsal Room (RR) run in conjunction with Equity Foundation, facilitated by DEGNZ member and actor/writer/director Jackie Van Beek. I have attended every RR in my time at the guild and this last one proves to me once again what a simple but powerful prof. dev. initiative it is—Four directors with a scene and two actors each, and an experienced moderator to help guide the day, all in a no-pressure environment. The idea of being able to play is a real truism here.

The second was our 2-day Director’s Toolkit workshop with DEGNZ member and director Peter Burger.

Eighteen directors had the opportunity to learn tips, tricks, and methodology and gain insights from one of New Zealand’s most experienced drama directors. Revelatory was Peter’s knowledge about that dark drama art—communicating with actors. The second day was devoted entirely to working with actors with Josh McKenzie, fresh off new drama series Filthy Rich which Peter directed on, and Olivia Tennet, who had worked with Peter on When We Go To War, along to further understanding on communication, and blocking scenes.

For anyone particularly interested in fast turn-around TV Drama directing, this Director’s Toolkit was a major plus. And it ties nicely into our next NZ On Air funded TV Drama Director Attachment, as the successful director will shadow Peter on Filthy Production’s next new drama series, Dirty Laundry.

I have recently had the opportunity to catch up with directors Aidee Walker, the attachment on SPP’s Westside, and Matthew Saville who is on Screentime’s telefeature Bombshell: The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior. So far, their experiences are exceeding expectations and that is good news for this particular initiative.

And this week, I have attended a couple of sessions of Equity New Zealand’s Casting Hot House. Equity kindly offered observer status to DEGNZ members and another 18 directors took up the opportunity. I believe producer Matthew Metcalfe’s recent comments at the Big Screen Symposium about using casting directors to access talent prompted this very positive response from members.

Top casting directors from the US, Australia and New Zealand are putting 80 Kiwi actors through their paces, providing insight, guidance and potential exposure to acting opportunities in US Network TV, digital streaming drama and feature films.

For the directors observing, the Casting Hot House has allowed them to see casting professionals at the top of their careers shaping actor performance, all the while watching the best of New Zealand’s experienced and emerging acting talent in action. The networking alone offered through attendance at the Casting Hot House is well worth the price of admission—just membership of the guild.

We have reached the end of the second year of DEGNZ’s NZFC funded professional development programme, with one year to go. There are plenty more opportunities to come in 2016 and I urge you all to make the most of the offering.

Professional development across all the guilds is going to change, as we are now sitting down with NZFC to discuss what future needs there are in professional development and how best to meet them.

You can help us identify what has been successful, what has not and what you would like in the professional development section of the DEGNZ membership survey we will be conducting soon. Please do take the time to respond to the in-depth survey as it will help us understand where the industry is at, where you are at and what is needed as we move forward.

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

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