Call for Applications: Director’s Workshop & Project Consultations with Rachel Perkins

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The Directors & Editors Guild of NZ invites directors to apply for a first-time feature Director’s Workshop and Project Consultation with Australian director Rachel Perkins to be held in Auckland.

Rachel Perkins

Rachel Perkins is well established in the Australian filmmaking industry as a film and television director, producer and writer. Through these various roles she has managed to provide a much-needed voice for indigenous stories, something Rachel is very passionate about. In 1992, she founded the documentary and narrative production company Blackfella Films. The company’s achievements include the award-winning landmark documentary series First Australians.

Rachel has directed four feature films, which have screened at over 75 film festivals worldwide: Jasper Jones (2017), Bran Nue Dae (2009), One Night the Moon (2001) and Radiance (1998). She currently serves on the Board of the Charles Perkins Trust, the Council of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), and the Australian Heritage Council (Department of the Environment and Energy).

On Saturday 17 March, Rachel will give a morning half-day Director’s Workshop on the trails, tribulations and preparation for your first feature for up to 30 participants.

The afternoon will be reserved for 1-hour Project Consultations with up to four selected writer/directors or writer and director teams with a narrative drama or feature documentary project in active development.

Directors can apply for both the Workshop and Project Consultation, or just the Workshop if you do not have a project currently in active development.

 

When: Saturday 17 March. Workshop – 8.30am to 12pm. Project Consultations will be held from 12.45 to 5.30pm.

Where: Auckland
Travel assistance may be available for some DEGNZ members coming from out of Auckland.

Cost: 
DEGNZ members – Free
Non-members – Workshop $50 / Project Consultation $100 (Workshop attendance free)
Payable upon successful application.

Selected projects may bring along the writer(s) to the consultation session at no extra cost.

 

TO APPLY please send your application in ONE PDF or DOC to tema@deganz.co.nz with ‘Rachel Perkins Workshop’ in the subject line.

In your application, please provide:

  • your CV/bio, filmography and mobile number.

To apply for a Project Consultation, please also provide:

  • a short letter detailing the reasons why you would like a consultation on your project
  • a CV/bio and filmography for the writer(s) if applying as a writer and director team
  • your project in active development:

Narrative Drama – logline, short synopsis, 1-pager, feature-length script (first draft or later).

OR

Feature Documentary – logline, short synopsis, detailed treatment.

 

Application Deadline: 9am, Wednesday 28 February.

 

This event is brought to you with the support of the New Zealand Film Commission and the Australian Screen Directors Authorship Collecting Society (ASDACS).

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Auckland – Rehearsal & Performance with Actor Tandi Wright

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Rehearsal & Performance logo

Rehearsal & Performance (the new and improved Rehearsal Room) is up and running for 2018 in Auckland. DEGNZ welcomes directors and actors to register their interest for a chance to be involved.

Actor Tandi Wright will guide this half-day workshop where she will help directors and actors create great performances on screen through improving collaborative efforts. Tandi will be there to provide advice and guidance so that everyone can get the most out of the workshop.

In a safe and non-pressured environment, groups of three (one director, two actors) will have the opportunity to explore a scene with the support of Tandi.

Participants will receive the scene in advance and are expected to do some preparation before the workshop. Directors will also be provided with a document to help them in their prep. 

We look forward to this opportunity to help both directors and actors improve their practical skills and create industry relationships.

 

Tandi Wright is an actor of more than 20 years experience and has worked consistently across all the genres – film, television, stage and radio. She has worked in the US, Australia and NZ, and has been nominated for numerous theatre and screen awards in NZ. Theatre highlights include The Events and When The Rain Stops Falling. Screen highlights include The Returned, The Rehearsal, Jack the Giant Slayer and Out of the Blue. Tandi is one of the Vice-Presidents of Equity New Zealand.

 

What: Rehearsal & Performance with Actor Tandi Wright
When: Saturday 10 March, 9am – 2pm; lunch provided.
Where: Kingsland
Cost: Free; workshop is ONLY open to members of DEGNZ and Equity NZ.

REGISTER at Eventbrite by Monday 21 February, 12 noon. Spots are limited to four directors and eight actors. If selected, DEGNZ will contact you directly to confirm your participation.

 

Rehearsal & Performance is hosted by Directors & Editors Guild of NZ and the Equity Foundation, and made possible with the support of the New Zealand Film Commission.

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Christchurch – Rehearsal & Performance with Director/Actor Kathy McRae

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Rehearsal & Performance, DEGNZ’s revamped Rehearsal Room workshop series, kicks off 2018 in Christchurch! DEGNZ welcomes both directors and actors to register their interest for a chance to be involved.

In this hands-on half-day workshop, director/actor Kathy McRae will share ways in which directors and actors can work better collaboratively to achieve great on screen performances.

Rehearsal & Performance brings together participants in groups of three (one director, two actors) to explore and rehearse a scene in a safe and non-pressured environment with advice and guidance from Kathy throughout the workshop.

Participants will receive the scene in advance and are expected to do some preparation before the workshop. Directors will also be provided with a document to help them in their prep.

 

Kathy McRaeKathy McRae has 20 years of directing experience under her belt. Initially trained as an actor at Toi Whakaari, Kathy began directing theatre in 1997. She directed for South Pacific Pictures for seven years working on Shortland Street, Go Girls and Nothing Trivial. She recently made a return to acting, portraying convicted murderer Helen Milner in telefeature Catching the Black Widow, and directed A Doll’s House at Circa Theatre, Emily Perkin’s modern adaptation of Ibsen’s original play.

 

What: Rehearsal & Performance with Director/Actor Kathy McRae
When: Saturday 3 March, 9am – 2pm; lunch provided.
Where: Merivale, Christchurch
Cost: Free; workshop is ONLY open to members of DEGNZ and Equity NZ.

REGISTER at Eventbrite by Friday 9 February, 12 noon. Spots are limited to four directors and eight actors. If selected, DEGNZ will contact you directly to confirm your participation.

 

Rehearsal & Performance is hosted by Directors & Editors Guild of NZ and the Equity Foundation, and made possible with the support of the New Zealand Film Commission.

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Call for Applications: DEGNZ Women Filmmakers Incubator 2018

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The Directors & Editors Guild of NZ is pleased to announce that applications are now open for the second round of its Women Filmmakers Incubator.

Background

The overall vision of the DEGNZ Women Filmmakers Incubator is to empower the participating directors with the confidence, knowledge and connections that they can use to go on and direct a feature film, drama or scripted series.

The Incubator is intended primarily for emerging debut directors of feature film (drama or documentary), but will also consider those wishing to establish careers in TV drama and scripted content.

Applicants must apply with a project, but the Incubator is primarily focused on filmmaker development, not project development.

The objectives of the Incubator are:

  • Improve writers and or directors’ understanding of the business of film and television drama.
  • Increase the number of women directing features and TV drama.
  • Connect producers, broadcasters and funders with female directors with a view to getting more female-centric stories into and through development..
  • Create networking opportunities for women directors to further their projects and careers.
  • Inspire and encourage women directors to passionately pursue feature film and drama directing careers through interaction with successful women who serve as role models .

The Incubator comprises five one-day workshops across an approximate 12-month period with the first scheduled to take place in March 2018.

The workshops are individually themed to provide specific knowledge, networks, skills, and inspiration that enables participants to advance themselves and their careers.

 

Eligibility

All applicants will be expected to have a good level of directing experience with scripted content such as acclaimed web series, shorts with festival success, TV commercials, or broadcast content.

Applicants must:

  • Have an active project (feature film, documentary feature, telefeature, TV or web drama or scripted series) in development that has NEVER been presented to a broadcaster or funder. It is preferable that the project is at least at first draft script, but if not available there must be a detailed treatment for the project.
  • Have experience as a director of scripted content (drama, comedy) or documentary in the form of the project they are submitting, i.e.if you are applying with a narrative drama project, you must have experience directing narrative drama or if it’s comedy, experience directing comedy, etc.
  • For feature film, be a debut director.
  • Be able to participate in all workshops.

A selection panel comprising DEGNZ board members and senior industry practitioners will shortlist candidates. Shortlisted candidates must be available for a one-on-one interview either in person or via Skype to be held around the end of January 2018.

If shortlisted, you will be expected to supply prior to the interview a detailed treatment (different to your 1-page synopsis) of your project a minimum of two and a maximum of ten pages long.

The decisions will be final and no correspondence will be entered into. The Incubator participants will be selected from the shortlist following the interview — getting an interview does not imply that you have been selected for the Incubator.

Every Incubator participant must be a Full DEGNZ member for the full duration of the Incubator course.

The workshops will be held in Auckland. A travel allowance will be available for those successful applicants coming from other regions.

 

Application Requirements

  1. Completed DEGNZ Women Filmmakers Incubator Application Cover Sheet. Available here on the DEGNZ website, under RESOURCES.
  2. A one-page synopsis of the project with the ending revealed.
  3. A maximum two-page letter stating what your career goals are and why you want to participate in this Incubator.
  4. A one-page bio (not a CV).
  5. A filmography and links to completed work that supports the project you are including with this application.

How to Apply

Compile your documents into one single PDF in the order matching requirements 1 – 5.

Give the single PDF the following naming convention:

(YourName)_DEGNZWomenFilmmakersIncubator_2018

and send it to admin@deganz.co.nz with DEGNZWFI2018 in the subject line.

 

The deadline for submissions is 9AM, Monday 8 January 2018.

 

This initiative is made possible with the generous support of the New Zealand Film Commission and the Vista Foundation.


 Vista Foundation logo_RGB 300dpi

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Playing at Rehearsal & Performance

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Directors and actors got the chance to play at Rehearsal & Performance in the weekend.

Taking part were DEGNZ directors Aidee Walker, Louise Tu’u, Ghazaleh Golbakhsh and Ellen Jones-Poole. They were joined by a great group of actors from Equity NZ – Simone Walker, Ariki Erby, Serena Cotton, Nicol Munro, Narelle Ahrens, Jarred Blakiston, Anthea Hill and Alice Pearce.

Participants received insights from director Michael Duignan (The Blue Rose, Go Girls, Filthy Rich). One main take away that Michael emphasised was avoiding results-driven directing and instead playing with different scene objectives for each actor. The more specific and concrete the objective, the better.

The focus of the day was to give directors and actors time in groups to explore a scene and work together.

Saturday’s workshop marked the first in our new Rehearsal & Performance series, the revamped edition of The Rehearsal Room. We’ve improved the format and are excited about the changes, which were positively received by the directors and actors involved, some of whom had taken part in past Rehearsal Rooms.

What hasn’t changed is our kaupapa. We still want to assist directors and actors to work better together by regularly providing a safe and supportive space for them to meet, collaborate and play. We believe this relationship is crucial to achieving the best results on set and on screen.

So… the Rehearsal & Performance series will return to Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in 2018 after the holidays!

 

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