DEGANZ Watch List: New Series and Day One Shorts

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This DEGANZ Watch List features new factual series and the online release of the 2026 Day One Shorts, following their premiere at Show Me Shorts.

Season two of Licence to Drive, by DEGANZ member Robyn Paterson, arrives on 4 November. The series puts Kiwis with disabilities in the driver’s seat as they navigate the milestones, nerves and hijinks of learning to drive. Watch the trailer below for a first look at the new season.

Also new to the factual space is Te Ara Poutama, a web series directed by DEGANZ Vice President Rāhera Herewini-Mulligan. Edited by both Rāhera and her wife and fellow member, Janice Herewini-Mulligan, the series follows rising Māori talent in the music industry.

The 2026 Day One Shorts also spotlight emerging filmmakers, with both documentary and drama represented. In Silver Lining, Harriett Maire (DEGANZ) distils 25 years of living with a chronic illness into a 15-minute documentary, edited by fellow member Josh Yong. Meanwhile, DEGANZ member Connor Amor-Bendall explores the messy dynamics of friendship and exes in the short drama Mutually Assured Destruction, edited by Sam Small (DEGANZ).

Check out the trailer and explore the latest releases below!

Licence to Drive S2

Factual Series 

Executive Producer and Director: Robyn Paterson

Licence to Drive returns for a second season, featuring a new group of Kiwi drivers with disabilities taking on the challenge of getting behind the wheel, alongside some returning favourites who are taking the next step in their driving journeys. Across the season, drivers work with instructors, families and support networks to build their skills and confidence, while discovering what it takes to make driving work for them. Some chase the freedom that comes with a licence for the first time; others return to see how far they can go.

Coming soon to Sky from 4 November.

 

Mutually Assured Destruction

Short Film

Writer/Director: Connor Amor-Bendall

Editor: Sam Small

A casual drink between four exes quickly sours into queer chaos when a long-buried secret surfaces, putting whatever hope they have of friendship on the line.

 

Silver Lining

Short Documentary

Writer/Director/Producer: Harriett Maire

Editor: Josh Yong

Approaching 25 years with a chronic illness, Harriett Maire explores how it feels to live with type 1 diabetes.

 

Te Ara Poutama

Factual Web Series

Director: Rāhera Herewini-Mulligan

Editors: Rāhera Herewini-Mulligan & Janice Herewini-Mulligan

A new series by Waiata Anthems showcasing some of the amazing emerging Māori talent in the music industry. Supported by the best of the best–established tuakana artists who want to see them flourish–the series follows different artists’ stories and songs.

 

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DEGANZ Watch List: Murder, Mystery, Makeovers & More

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There’s plenty to watch this month, with DEGANZ members bringing their talents to crime drama, comedy, factual and documentary.

First up is the thrilling return of crime drama A Remarkable Place to Die, with DEGANZ members Peter Burger, Victoria Boult and Emmet Skilton directing Season 2.

Also in the drama space is new dramedy series Good Bones, edited by Kerri Roggio.

DEGANZ members are also making their mark in factual and documentary, with web series Reo Auaha, co-directed by Julie Zhu, and feature documentary Sleep, directed by Dan Salmon and produced by Mark McNeill.

Check out what our members have been working on and add these titles to your watchlist!

 

A Remarkable Place to Die S2

Crime Drama Series

Directors: Peter Burger, Victoria Boult, Emmet Skilton 

While Anais risks everything with her unofficial investigation into Maja’s murder, the whānau are drawn into the discovery of a woman who vanished 15 years ago.

Available to stream on TVNZ+.

 

Good Bones

Dramedy Series

Editor: Kerri Roggio

Challenged to step up by his pregnant wife, Sal buys a rundown estate. Problematically, the previous owner died under mysterious circumstances. Now, Sal must solve a cold case and renovate – all before the baby arrives.

Available to stream on Three Now.

 

Reo Auaha

Factual Web Series

Directors: Julie Zhu & Whatanui Flavell

This series follows some of the most talented Māori artists around the motu who are using their art to colour their world. Eight artists, eight different art forms, all using their craft as a powerful expression of the hopes, messages, and visions of a generation.

Available to watch on YouTube.

 

Sleep

Documentary

Director: Dan Salmon

Producer: Mark McNeill

Al Brown explores why thousands of Kiwis struggle, like him, to sleep. He is on an adventure to uncover the science, myths and simple solutions that could transform the way we all live.

Available to stream on TVNZ+.

 

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DEGANZ Watch List: A Little Crime, Drama, and Documentary

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This week, we’ve got seven DEGANZ members on our watchlist, with new drama series, ad campaigns, and docuseries to watch.

First up is the hit crime drama A Remarkable Place to Die Season 2 trailer, with DEGANZ members Peter Burger, Victoria Boult, and Emmett Skilton having directed this season. Fellow member David de Lautour’s new drama series, Ms. X, is out now with new episodes releasing every Monday.

Liv McClymont (DEGANZ) recently directed a new ad campaign celebrating the Warehouse’s long-lost Kiwi mascot, marking its return after a 20-year absence.

Meanwhile, directors Kim Webby and Mike Jonathan have teamed up for the new documentary series Whales, Rats & Kauri, with seven episodes now available to stream.

Check them out below!

A Remarkable Place to Die

Season 2 Trailer

Series Directors: Peter Burger, Victoria Boult, and Emme Skilton

Season 2 of this crime thriller series is coming soon! Detective Anais Mallory (Chelsie Preston Crayford) returns to her hometown of Queenstown and faces startling homicides. She cracks cases while confronting personal ghosts from her past.

 

Ms. X

Dramedy Series

Director: David de Lautour

A suburban mum and her high school friend plot to frighten her unfaithful husband straight, but their scheme spirals into murder, trapping her between law enforcement, drug lords, and ruthless PTA mums.

Available to stream on ThreeNow, with new episodes dropping every Monday.

 

The Kiwi Chronicles

Advertising Campaign

Director: Liv McClymont

The Warehouse’s long-lost Kiwi mascot has returned in this ad campaign designed to unfold more like a drama series rather than a commercial. The five-part series available on YouTube, TikTok and TVNZ+, follows Kiwi as they wake up from a coma and navigate modern Aotearoa before eventually finding their way back to The Warehouse.

 

Whales, Rats & Kauri

Docuseries

Directors: Mike Jonathan and Kim Webby

A young man learns the sacred rites of Māori whale harvests. But learning from Dad is as tough as the gruelling harvests for bone and oil that revive a traditional way of life.

Available to watch on RNZ.

 

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DEGANZ Watch List: From Buck to Betrayal

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From bold local storytelling and thought-provoking documentaries to standout commercials and binge-worthy television, this edition of the DEGANZ Watch List celebrates the latest work from our members across a range of formats.

Director Jamie Lawrence (DEGANZ) is behind Kiwibank’s newest and cutest mascot, Buck the sheep, while fellow member Liv McClymont directed the drama sequences for the NZ Herald’s six-part web series Under the Influence.

On the editing side, DEGANZ board member Martin Brinkler ACE edited Stories About My Body, a feature-length pro shot of Morgana O’Reilly’s hit comedy theatre show, blending live performance with newly filmed scenes. Meanwhile, assistant editor Megan Robinson (DEGANZ) worked on the latest season of the hit reality series The Traitors NZ.

Buck the System

Commercial

Director: Jamie Lawrence

Kiwibank’s newest campaign introduces a plucky sheep named Buck. While most sheep are happy following the flock, Buck chooses her own path and rejects the status quo.

 

Stories About My Body

Theatre Pro Shot / Feature Film

Editor: Martin Brinkler ACE

In a tiny theatre in Aotearoa, New Zealand, four teenage stagehands work tirelessly to help Morgana tell the stories that shaped her – from her own teenagehood in 1998, to working foot-fetish parties in New York City, to falling in love and later birthing her babies in a Melbourne living room. By turns vulnerable and riotously funny, she moves from lamenting her chins to marvelling at her cellular functions, using her body as the living template for every tale she tells. Created and performed by Morgana O’Reilly (The White Lotus) and co-directed with her husband and real-life birth partner, 2025 BAFTA nominee Peter Salmon (After The Party), Stories About My Body blends nudity, heart-swelling honesty and real birth footage into a stand-up comedy special like no other – intimate, fearless and unexpectedly profound.

Stories About My Body is celebrating its NZ theatrical premiere with select special screenings before releasing to wider cinemas from 30 July. Find a screening new you here.

 

The Traitors NZ (Season 3)

Reality Series

Assistant Editor: Megan Robinson

Hosted by Madeleine Sami, the hit psychological strategy game returns with more twists and betrayals. Follow the cast of 21 Kiwi players as they compete with their eyes on the rising prize money.

Available to stream on Three Now.

 

Under the Influence

Factual Web Series

Drama Director: Liv McClymont

A compelling new six-part web series investigating the harm social media is doing to young people in Aotearoa and what parents and teens can do to fight back.

Available to watch on NZ Herald and YouTube.

 

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DEGANZ Watch List: Cops, Culture and a Rugby Icon

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This week, we’ve got a new crime drama series, the trailer for the highly anticipated feature doco Lomu, a new music video from a local artist, and a new factual tele-special!

DEGANZ member Max Currie leads the lineup with Bust Up, a fresh take on the buddy-cop crime genre, while Vea Mafile’o (DEGANZ) and co-director Gavin Fitzgerald’s Lomu offers an intimate portrait of one of the most iconic figures in rugby history ahead of its NZIFF premiere.

Director and editor Gwen Lin (DEGANZ) brings a distinctive visual style to local musician Lehali’s music video for her new electronic dance pop song ‘@kateshepp_1893.’ Meanwhile, fellow member Fa’alava’au Jeremiah Tauamiti’s tele special 400 Weddings and a Funeral, edited by Debbie Matthews (DEGANZ), celebrates the humour, heart and cultural significance of Pasifika ceremonies in Aotearoa.

Check them out below:

Bust Up

Crime Drama Series

Directors: Max Curries and Awanui Simich-Pene

A bold six-part one-hour crime drama, Bust Up puts a fresh spin on the buddy-cop genre: the two cops at the centre of the story are ex-lovers. Starring Morgana O’Reilly (The White Lotus, Housebound) and Roimata Fox (A Remarkable Place To Die, The Wrecking Crew), the series follows former romantic partners Deb Brighton and Mihi Renata, who are unexpectedly reunited after a decade apart and forced to work side‑by‑side as police officers in the small fictional town of Waitote, the garden gnome capital of Aotearoa. Together, the pair must navigate a series of crimes as bizarre as they are dangerous, and as the stakes escalate, so does the emotional tension, pushing Deb and Mihi to confront the unresolved feelings they’ve spent years trying to bury.

Available to stream on Neon.

 

Lomu

Feature Documentary Trailer

Directors: Vea Mafile’o and Gavin Fitzgerald

Ahead of its Aotearoa premiere in NZIFF as the festival’s centrepiece film, the trailer for feature documentary Lomu has been released. The film is a powerful and compelling portrait of the man behind the legend, Jonah Lomu, the most adored son of the Pacific, a legendary All Black, who transcended the game with his immense power and unstoppable determination.

 

@kateshepp_1893

Music Video

Director, DOP, and Editor: Gwen Lin

The official music video for ‘@kateshepp_1893’ by local artist Lehali. Shot on location in the Hamilton Gardens.

 

400 Weddings and a Funeral

Factual Series

Director: Fa’alava’au Jeremiah Tauamiti

Editor: Debbie Matthews

Join hosts Bella Kalolo and Haanz Fa’avae-Jackson on a cultural deep dive into Pasifika weddings and funerals in Aotearoa! It’s packed with laughs, traditions, and insights from iconic Pasifika personalities.

Available to watch on TVNZ+.

 

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