Unsung Heroes and Heroines

I went to the Show Me Shorts Festival opening night this week and had the chance to reflect on recognition. A number of awards were handed out to very deserving recipients including some of our guild members: Alyx Duncan, James Cunningham, Chris Pryor – talents who stood out because of their work, which was put very visibly in front of people to see.

DEGNZ sponsored the Best Director Award and Best Editor Award because we wanted to acknowledge excellence in the arts we represent. Also, we want to raise our profile with emerging filmmakers, many of whom were in the room. A good number are at the beginning of their careers, or already on the path but not too far down it.

It got me thinking about those who do outstanding things in our industry, but far from the limelight.

I decided I needed to look back over the boards of the guild to see who had been involved. And I talked to one of the original founders of the guild, Keith Hunter, who together with some other altruistic individuals, left what was originally the Screen Producers and Directors Association to set up the precursor to the DEGNZ, the Screen Directors Guild of New Zealand.

The past boards of DEGNZ are a roll call of directors, and later directors and editors, who are leaders within the industry and excel at their craft. People like Pietra Brettkelly, Peter Bell, Dan Salmon, Leanne Pooley, Annie Goldson and Mark McNeill to name a few more recent practitioners.

Why do they do it? It’s voluntary. There’s little recognition. They are really working for their colleagues and not themselves.

Like most non-profit organisations that depend on volunteers, on the whole our board members have done it because they want to give back. There’s something bigger than themselves within their area of interest that they have a strong affinity to and they want to make a contribution.

It often seems like it is left to those who are already well established in their careers and have the wisdom, experience and or the capacity to do something for others who put their hands up. But that’s not always the case. And it’s certainly not what DEGNZ wants to limit itself to. Enthusiasm and passion, which you must have to survive in any creative sector, is highly prized and comes from all ages.

In the times ahead we will be looking to members—emerging filmmakers and established—to provide input into what we do and how we do it. There will be opportunities to participate in more active ways to help shape the guild as it adapts to the ever-changing environment we exist in. We will want fresh blood and ideas. And information. One such opportunity for you to contribute will be the survey we will conduct shortly to gauge where everything is at for members right now.

While we look to the future, we also want to look to the past and acknowledge those individuals who have made significant contributions over many years of dedicated service to the guild.

Keith Hunter was the first to receive life membership to DEGNZ a few years ago, recognising the work he did over many years in getting the guild set up and functioning effectively. Keith is a writer, director and producer who worked across drama, documentaries, arts programmes and current affairs. You can read an extensive bio on him here.

John Reid was the second to receive life membership more recently in recognition of his work for the guild.  John’s bio here outlines his vast experience in commercials, TV and feature film.

At the Annual General Meeting in October of this year, DEGNZ conferred its third life membership. It was given to George Andrews. Like Keith and John, George has had a distinguished career in the screen industry, particularly as a writer, director and producer of documentaries, as a review of his bio here will reveal. And also like the others, George has put in countless hours on behalf of the guild’s members in our efforts on advocacy, lobbying and other work.

There are many others who have served on the board of DEGNZ over the years. Over time, we will do our bit to shed light on them to acknowledge their efforts in keeping the guild solvent, relevant and serving the creative, cultural and financial well being of all directors and editors in the New Zealand screen industry.

For now, I’d just like to say thanks to all the unsung heroes and heroines who have served the guild. They know who they are. And hopefully, you will get to know some of them too if you don’t already.

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

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Tell Us Your Story

I’ve been in a seminar this week with film and television producers from New Zealand, Australia and Denmark, lawyers and finance people from New Zealand, Australia and Sweden, and a major sales agent from the UK. At this point in time, the future is not looking rosy for filmmakers.

It’s tough out there in television drama, too, as many of them attest.

Financing is difficult, budgets are ever tighter, it’s hard to bank fees and make margins, and with business models in upheaval as people struggle to survive in the upended paradigm of exhibition, distribution and production, keeping a smile on the dial is difficult. But people are. Even in the midst of the maelstrom, there are ways through for the astute and the lucky.

Bringing it all back to earth, what does it mean for the working director and editor?

Well there are opportunities and obstacles.

We are fortunate that the incentives are working overtime. Variety confirmed this week the rumour that Ash vs. Evil Dead has been renewed for another season. Power Rangers and Shannara are likely to be back. And there are other international drama productions confirmed and in the offing. These will bring jobs and not just for techos.

NZ On Air still has funds, although they are being fragmented by what’s happening with digital.

We are happy to announce the next DEGNZ TV Drama Director Attachment that comes wit NZ On Air support will be on Filthy Productions’ Dirty Laundry. A call is now underway.

On the other side of the coin, NZFC is under pressure to cut costs while maintaining production output. But with the tightening of the market internationally and the proliferation of product, Kiwi producers are likely going to find it more of a challenge to finance films.

Amidst all of this, the guild remains concerned about the well being of directors and editors.

It’s crucially important for us to assess pay rates, working conditions and the general environment for those working as directors and editors in the New Zealand screen industry. Detailed information informs our dealings with funding bodies and the government as we advocate on your behalf.

We will be launching shortly a comprehensive survey of our membership to better understand what it’s like for you in your work and career right now. We need to get a clearer fix on what is going on within the screen industry for directors and editors. So tell us your story. It will be anonymous.

We have some critical discussions and negotiations coming up at DEGNZ and we need statistics and facts to back up our arguments. They will also help us in shaping pay rate recommendations and contracts. Please take the time to respond to the survey. It will help us all.

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

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More Like the Luvvies!

Thanks to DEGNZ member Leanne Pooley for this guest editorial.

I recently attended a play in Auckland and while looking at the audience it struck me how many of them were members of the theatrical community. Like dancers and the musical fraternity they were there because a) it was a great show and b) theatre people support each other’s work. It occurred to me at the time that the film industry could learn from this.

At the recent Big Screen Symposium I was at a session with Dave Gibson during which he mentioned the box office success of the recently released BORN TO DANCE. I looked around the room and I wondered how many of those present had been to see the film? Sadly I suspect had Dave asked for a show of hands, the response would have been disappointing.
I am not a hip-hop fan, but I have seen BORN TO DANCE (I was blown away by the dancing despite my unhip nature). I’m a scaredy cat but I took my teenagers to HOUSEBOUND. I’m nervous about violence but I watched THE DEAD LANDS on the big screen. I don’t love rugby but I loved THE GROUND WE WON. My point is I try to see New Zealand films…in the cinema. This is in part because I think it’s a good idea to see what’s what from a professional point of view, but also because I believe strongly that as a community we need to support each other, just like theatre people do.
I cannot tell you how soul destroying it is when friends and colleagues come up to you months after your film has finished its cinematic run and say “I’ve been meaning to go to your movie!” By then it’s too late, and while most people say this from a place of love the truth of the matter is, if they really meant to see it, they would have.
This is even more relevant now given the difficult movie marketplace. The viewing window is short. You can’t wait six weeks and assume a film is still going to be there. You need to go as soon as possible, preferably opening weekend, because that really helps the producers keep the movie alive.
I know it’s not always convenient but we only release around half a dozen films a year; I believe strongly that as a community we need to make a bigger effort to go along, pay for a ticket and be there for each other. They’re our filmmakers, our actors, our designers, our cinematographers, our technical people…they’re our films! If we don’t support each other how can we ask the taxpayer to support us?

Leanne Pooley
Director: 25 April

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What’s New?

Whassup?

It’s interesting putting pen to paper to write this, close to a year to the day from when I started in my role as Executive Director at the Directors & Editors Guild of NZ.  I took over from Fiona Copland who quickly stepped into an interim position following the unfortunate passing of the highly regarded long time ED Anna Cahill.

With my first year basically up, the Big Screen Symposium nearly upon us again, and our Annual General Meeting about to run this Saturday, I thought I would reflect a little on what has gone before, the role of professional development in assisting to build careers and contribute to our international reputation as a skilled and professional Film & TV workforce, and on what’s happening generally.

All of the guilds had been through turmoil the year before I started following former New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) CEO Graeme Mason’s decision to pull professional development funding to all the guilds and to create a contestable pool. Thankfully, there was an about-turn and we were able to put up a good case for delivering professional development for directors and editors across a three-year period. Two of the three years have now passed. All the guilds will be sitting down shortly to hear current NZFC CEO Dave Gibson’s take on where to if anywhere from here.

I was recently listening to film critic Elvis Mitchell interview American actor Sam Elliot about his roles in Grandma, The Big Lebowski and Justified and amongst other topics his professional development…or lack of it. Sam related how he never went to acting school, learning what he knows on the job.

I have always been a big proponent of on-the-job learning. Give me someone with a great attitude, work ethic and talent and put them to work has been my view. It’s hard though to find anybody now who wants to get into film and TV who hasn’t forked over thousands of dollars to an educational institution for the privilege. I am not disparaging of industry education, though. Personally, and as the ED of the guild, I am involved in many of the professional development opportunities out there. I have garnered enormous benefit through industry courses, workshops, seminars and discussions. And in helping to deliver professional development to others, I see how beneficial it can be to increase knowledge, skill and craft. It is with some bemusement, however, that I observe the disparity of numbers particularly in film between those who say they want to be a filmmaker, and those taking the opportunities to improve their chances of becoming one through professional development. There are a core group of people who make the most of the offerings and use it to advance themselves and their projects. Of course, there are also plenty of people just doing it as Sam Elliot did – he is after all a working actor and reasonably successful at it. Professional development from my perspective, however, plays a crucial role in helping identify talent, support it, and move it up. Thus, it is critical I feel that there is a broad and significant professional development offering across all the screen creative sectors to find and grow the talented content creators of the future. Professional development is a core activity for us at DEGNZ and we are dedicated to continuing to provide it.

One element of professional development that we are particularly proud of right now is the DEGNZ TV Drama Director Attachment Initiative. It has so far seen Matthew Saville attached to Screentime’s Bombshell, and Aidee Walker to SPP’s Westside 2. It took us many months to get this financially small but highly significant initiative signed off by NZ On Air. It was the very first professional development initiative NZ On Air had undertaken, and it helped prompt the introduction of their Industry Development Fund. Our thanks go out firstly to the Australian Directors Guild (ADG) whose programme and experience we drew on. Also, to Jane Wrightson at NZ On Air who shepherded it through, and to NZ On Air and the production companies that support it with their own financing.

Meanwhile, digital disruption continues uninterrupted. It is interesting to note in this regard the quiet arrival of Tugg, the online theatrical audience sourcing and booking service for independent film. https://tugg.nz/.

As everyone knows, the Internet and digital distribution is responsible for the diminution of cinema, and the shift towards high-end, long arc TV drama. Offshore, auteur directors have moved with the flow into the realm of the showrunner, and there is an interesting dynamic occurring with the unrivalled power of the showrunner being pushed by the cinematic approach film auteur directors are bringing with them. In Filmmaker magazine producer Mike S Ryan said of Cary Fukunaga that “…it took a real director to recognize that the True Detective scripts were both banal and absurd and he needed to transcend them through his direction of actors, tone and camera. The second series had a director that took the scripts at face value and was not able to rise above their rote banality.” Whether you agree with Ryan or not, it is certainly true that TV drama is the place to be—and always has been—if you wanted better odds on a career directing dramatic narrative. But there’s now a bane and a boon in this. As auteur directors are brought in to direct whole series to make them more cinematic, episodic block TV directors are getting pushed out to make way. This development provides both challenges and opportunities for those writers and directors long immersed in TV drama land.

While we are a little ways off from creating and producing the high-end drama so many of us are streaming now, coproductions in TV are aiding NZ’s small screen drama opportunities.  SPP and Channel 7’s 800 Words is getting good reviews out of Australia, while Goalpost Pictures and Pukeko Pictures are putting the finishing touches to the Wayne Blair and Leah Purcell directed Cleverman, which has sold to SundanceTV. The WIFT Coproduction Summit coming up in November is geared towards furthering Australia – NZ coproduction as well as throwing Denmark in to the mix. I am betting it won’t be long before we see a New Zealand-originated TV drama series going straight to the major international markets, bypassing NZ On Air funding and likely to be bought by local broadcasters as an international show.

On the film side, a quick look at the MPDA’s weekend box office report has Tammy Davis’s film Born to Dance at $253,000 in its first weekend. This is encouraging, but doesn’t reflect the tough environment New Zealand film finds itself in, with tens of thousands of films competing globally for attention, fewer getting theatrical release and those that do finding themselves turfed out of the cinema in quick fashion to make way for the onslaught of the latest Hollywood tentpole. Digital distribution is still not the panacea everyone hopes for to save film. Still, Kiwi films are finding Kiwi audiences as The Dark Horse and What We Do In The Shadows can attest. Here’s hoping future releases find similar success.

Born to Dance offers another insight into digital disruption and that is the distributor-as-producer scenario that sees independent distributor Vendetta Films involved. Sales agents and distributors are struggling to survive in the upended distribution landscape. At the same time, producers are exploring in the new paradigm how to reduce the number of middlemen so they can get closer to the money. Talking with a bunch of Aussies a short while ago, a major issue for producers there is that every distributor they go to for distribution wants to get in on a piece of the production action. At the Big Screen Symposium, Producer Jon Landau and publicity success story Anna Dean are the likeliest to offer insight into the continued shakeup brought about by digital.

Bigger picture, at the guild we have been preparing at a strategic level to input into Broadcasting Minister Amy Adam’s Green Paper on Digital Convergence, which has gotten everyone scrambling. The minister’s a proponent of the new digital landscape and we need to ensure that the government is aware of our thoughts and concerns, particularly as review of the Copyright Act is mooted.

It was encouraging the other night to see how effectively We Create (former Copyright Council) who we belong to is repositioning the importance of copyright as a significant contributor to the New Zealand economy at the presentation of the PWC Employment and National GDP impacts of music, publishing and film and television in New Zealand. The news: the creative industries add $3.848 billion to the New Zealand economy, with Film & TV making up a $2,829 million impact on GDP and providing a total of 31,416 Full Time Equivalent jobs. Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Paul Goldsmith who spoke seems to recognise the value that content creators bring, both culturally and economically. Let us hope he can help us convince others in national government.

At local level, I have taken up a seat on the Film Auckland board at what is a very crucial time. The introduction of the NZ Screen Production Grant and the Five Percent Uplift transformed the morose international production sector almost overnight. It’s buoyant again with Ash vs. Evil Dead, Shannara, and Ghost in the Shell amongst the international films and TV series accessing the incentives. Auckland however lacks in studio infrastructure. Film Auckland has been driving the move to see part of the Hobsonville Airbase become a film studio campus. As long as the incentives remain attractive, Auckland will suffer by not having purpose built studios that can cater to more than one international production at a time. Turn this around and there will be more employment for directors, editors and everyone else, and that $2,829 million impact on GDP I wrote of earlier will grow faster.

As some of you are aware, I am also a member of the Ngā Aho Whakaari (NAW) Māori in Film & Television board. I have written previously here about the disparity in budgets and incomes around Māori Television programming and Te Māngai Pāho funding. Just over a month ago, NAW released preliminary survey findings that confirmed poor working conditions and wages in the Māori production sector. It caused an uproar. With final results due shortly, expect aftershocks. Pay rates for directors and editors in all areas of the screen industry are a key focus here at the guild.

On the home front, DEGNZ is in a good place right now. Our board is stable, dedicated and hardworking. We are fiscally sound. We have a solid membership but we’d like it to grow and ask you to encourage your colleagues to join if they don’t already belong. We believe there is real value in what we offer and what we do.

At the Big Screen Symposium you will find DEGNZ at the booth we are sharing with the Writers Guild, so swing by for a chat, to connect, have a meeting or just hang out until the next session.

With Christmas fast approaching we have some final workshops for the year to complete. Rehearsal Room in Wellington is three weeks away. Following that in the capital city is the Drama Editing Workshop with Michael Horton and Jonathan Woodford Robinson. The deadline for final applications is next Monday. We have just confirmed that Peter Burger will run a two-day Directors Toolkit Workshop in Auckland in late November. A call will go out for it shortly. And finally in November, Equity New Zealand is holding its biannual Casting Hothouse, with international and local casting directors coming in to demystify the process. Directors are welcome to attend to observe. Contact us if you would like to do so. Then it will be party time at the Guilds Xmas Party.

As I look to the year ahead I do so with excitement. We’ve got some big issues to tackle at the guild on all fronts and that makes it interesting. And there are existing and hopefully new initiatives to roll out.

2016, here we come.

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

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Trans-Tasman Friendship

I took some time off work a couple of weeks ago to go to a script development lab in Margaret River with a writer I am working with. There were six Australian writer or writer/directors and their producers there with their projects.

The Australian funding system for screen production is somewhat similar to ours, and the encounter highlighted that we share many of the same difficulties and issues in getting productions up while trying to make a living. For me, it was the first real opportunity to bond with Australian filmmakers, and I did.

The shared experience also extends to the Australian Directors Guild (ADG) and its efforts, and ours, in seeking to secure the financial wellbeing of its members.

A week earlier I paid a visit to Kingston Anderson, the head of the ADG in Sydney, to discuss matters of mutual interest, primarily the struggle to get directors rights recognized when it comes to authorship. The Copyright Act in both countries vests authorship primarily in producers, although Australian directors do have Moral Rights and can access retransmission royalties, which New Zealand directors do not and cannot.*

Just this week, DEGNZ came out in support of the ADG over the Express Dispute Resolution Process that was introduced by Screenrights, a body set up by the Australian government to distribute royalties collected primarily for audio-visual content use in the education sector and government.

If you read our press release, you would have seen that we supported the ADG position:

Under the EDRP, Screenrights makes two critical assumptions that clearly undermine directors’ entitlements to royalties:

  1. Against Australian directors ‐ Screenrights refuses to presume that Australian directors are entitled to retransmission royalties unless their share of entitlement is specifically set out in the contract. Meaning that many Australian directors may miss out on their fair share of royalty payments.
  2. Against foreign directors ‐ Screenrights refuses to recognise laws in other countries such as Europe and South America where directors have well‐established and clear legal entitlements to royalty payments. For example, if a Spanish film is aired in Australia on FOXTEL, the Spanish director’s royalties may now be paid incorrectly to the producer rather than the director.

Screenrights disputes these interpretations. However, the surfacing of this latest development serves to highlight what has been a bug bear for both guilds for some years—the Copyright Act in both countries legislates against our efforts to see directors fairly remunerated for their creative authorship. The Act is a real barrier to securing financial wellbeing for directors by accessing future revenues from their work—Producers are currently seen as the copyright owners and can therefore exploit the primary economic rights. And in reality the revenue generated by retransmission rights that Australian directors can access is minor.

I won’t bore you with any more dry explanation. Suffice it to say we are and will be working more closely with our Australian friends at the ADG on behalf of New Zealand directors. And I hope to be working more with Australian filmmakers. They’re all just like us, really—Not a bad lot.

*(The Australian Screen Directors Authorship Collecting Society (ASDACS) collects and distributes royalties on behalf of Australian and New Zealand directors, and every New Zealand director should be a member. It’s free and you may be entitled to royalties if they have been collected in countries where the director is recognised as author.)

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

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