Feature Film Scripts Supported Through Table Reads 2021

,

Each year we are delighted to support writers and directors with their feature film scripts through Table Reads, a joint initiative brought to you by DEGANZ and the New Zealand Writers Guild. Following a successful virtual run in 2020, we held this year’s Table Reads online, allowing members and actors from across the country to participate from the comfort of their own homes.

We saw four exceptional virtual table reads held between May and November. We would like to give a special shout out to this year’s selection:

Persistence – writer/director Rebecca Tansley.
Actors: Kirsty Hamilton, Ella Hope-Higginson, Kirsty Bruce, Caleb Wells, Maté Lagae, and Chantal Claret.

Before the Darkness – writer/director Alex Galvin.
Actors: Tim Carlsen, Helen Murphy-Reid, Tai Berdinner-Blades, Frith Horan, and Mark Clare.

Escape – writer Daryl Belbin, director Anton Steel.
Actors: Grant Beban, Stephen Lyell, Tim Carlson, James Crompton, Jodie Hillock, and Stephen Papps.

Tamada – writer/director Tim Tsiklauri.
Actors: Hilary Norris, Hamish Boyle, Jamie Irvine, Maté Lagae, and Jo Clark.

Well done to everyone involved and all the best with your projects!

/by

Duckworth Amongst List of Recipients of the 2021 EQ Grant

Auckland UNESCO City of Music has announced the recipients of the EQ Grant for 2021. Congratulations to DEGANZ member Anna Duckworth for being amongst this year’s list of recipients.

Over 120 submissions were appraised by two selection panels composed of experienced women from the screen and music sectors. Three project grants of $10,000 were available, in addition to access to mentors, crew, and  technical equipment.

EQ’s kaupapa is to build a community of female screen and music professionals by pairing directors with musicians.

Meet the 2021 recipients:

  • Musician Grace Moller and Director Faye McNeil
  • Musician Lou’ana and Director Anna Duckworth
  • Musician Reshma Martin and Director Jolin Lee

Well done to this year’s recipients. We look forward to seeing these projects come to fruition.

/by

Traffic Light System Update

,

24th November 2021

As per the governments announcements on Monday afternoon, please note the following:

New Zealand to Enter the New Traffic Light System on 3rd December

The whole country will be moving into the new system at 11.59 on 2nd December (effectively from Friday 3rd December):

  • Auckland will enter at the RED level
  • Other regions will start in the ORANGE or RED level depending on regional vaccination levels
  • No regions will go directly to GREEN

Auckland Hair Dressers and Barbers to Trial the New System

Hair dressers and barbers in Auckland will be allowed to open from Thursday 25th November to trial the new vaccination passport system. This is a trial of the system for this industry only, so unfortunately it does not mean that we can do hair & make up on set yet.

PS! Once we enter the new traffic light system on 3rd December, it is expected that all productions that use vaccination passports will be able to do Close Proximity work (although with appropriate PPE and hygiene measures in place).

Revised Screen Industry Protocols for the Traffic Light System

ScreenSafe are working hard to revise the Screen Industry protocols in line with the new Traffic Light System. Since we are still waiting for further government guidance about the new system, including the new legislation in regards to workplace vaccinations, the final protocols may not be ready by the 3rd of December. However we aim to issue enough guidance so that productions will still be able to operate safely from the 3rd of December.

Your Vaccination Passport

If you are double vaccinated you are now able to get your vaccination passport. You must have this in order to attend a vaccination passport shoot.

For more information, please go to this link: https://mycovidrecord.health.nz/

NZ Pass Verifier App

This is the official Ministry of Health phone app to verify if someone is fully vaccinated (or has a medical exemption). It is now available to download on any Apple or Android phone.

You can find more information HERE.

Sincerely,
The ScreenSafe COVID-19 Group

Link to full release here in PDF.

/by

Screen Industry Guidance – Likely Implementation of the Traffic Light System

,
Red traffic light against clouds in the sky

17 November 2021

As announced today, it is expected that on the 29th of November, Cabinet will move both Auckland AND the rest of the country into the RED Traffic Light System “shortly thereafter”.

ScreenSafe are currently rewriting the Screen Industry COVID-19 Protocols in line with the new COVID-19 Protection Framework (aka the Traffic Light System). While that work is underway and while we await more detailed information from the government, MoH and WorkSafe, ScreenSafe has prepared the below initial guidance so our industry can start the mental shift to a new system.

Disclaimer: The below guidance is not official and final advice for implementation, but are assumptions based on the information provided by the government so far. Should additional information be provided, we will issue further guidance.

Read guidance here.

Sincerely,

The ScreenSafe COVID-19 Group

/by

Savill Speaks to RNZ about Directing Millie Lies Low

,

Member director Michelle Savill (DEGANZ Incubator 2018) spoke about her film Millie Lies Low in a recent interview with RNZ. The film is playing at the New Zealand International Film Festival, and opened for a special preview season for the festival in Wellington.

Millie Lies Low tells the story of anxiety-ridden architecture grad Millie who misses her flight to a prestigious internship in New York. Faced with no money for another ticket and too ashamed to admit her blunder, Millie fakes being in New York through social media prowess while lying low in her hometown.

Michelle shared how her own experiences inspired the making of this film; “The idea came about when the last short film I made, Ellen is Leaving, was screening at a festival in France. I missed my flight, and my first thought was ‘I’m going to have to hide for three weeks and pretend I’m in France’.”

Michelle also drew from her own struggles with mental health to portray anxiety and panic attacks in the film; “I struggle with anxiety a lot, and depression off and on, so I’m always working from ‘write what you know’… so I guess that’s the fountain of creativity that I’m drawing from.”

Tickets to Millie Lies Low are available on the NZIFF website, and you can listen to the full interview on RNZ.

/by