Tag Archive for: ASDACS

What Can We Take From The Strikes?

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By the time you read this the Writer’s Guild of America’s (WGA) strike will be over. The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists’ (AFTRA)—not yet.

So what can we take from the strikes? I saw one placard from the picket lines I thought was very pertinent: A Career Not A Gig.

In simple terms—the concerns of Artificial Intelligence (AI) aside—the writers wanted to be paid fairly, to ensure that their opportunities for work were safeguarded, and that there was a development path for new and junior writers into sustainable careers.

Fair pay relates to both the amount they are paid for the work they do as well as residuals, which are payments for the reuse of the work after the initial play. While broadcast and other reuse such as on cable, etc. generates residuals, streaming does not. And with streaming dominating the world and other reuse declining, writers weren’t getting the income they used to get from residuals. And they weren’t getting any from streaming.

In America, writers, directors, actors and some other key creatives get residuals, all of which are negotiated by the guilds there, to help contribute towards sustainable careers for their members.

Do we have residuals in New Zealand? Sort of.

Screenrights collects revenue for reuse from Government, Education and Retransmission in Australia, but in New Zealand only from Education. The Australian Screen Directors Authorship Collection Society (ASDACS) collects any revenues owing from Screenrights and distributes them to NZ directors.

International organisations who collect revenues from a variety of rights on behalf of directors also pass this on to ASDACS for distribution to its members.

A share of the back-end, typically being net profit, is kind of a residual, but is dependent on sufficient revenue coming back from the income of the production and there being something left after all of the other obligations and costs have been deducted. Directors must negotiate a net profit share in their contracts to get it.

A share of the producer’s corridor that flows to the producer from NZFC for non-New Zealand Screen Production Rebate films, and a share of Producer’s Equity from New Zealand Screen Production Rebate films and TV shows can also be negotiated by the director in their contract with the producer.

Screenrights, ASDACS, producer’s corridor and NZSPR producer equity are all mechanisms by which directors can help build sustainable careers for themselves. And the opportunity to do this should be taken advantage of.

With the Screen Industry Workers Act, we hope to remove the need for directors to negotiate individually for their shares of these revenues through collective bargaining, just like the DGA does for directors, the WGA does for writers, and SAG/AFTRA does for actors in regard to residuals.

The news coming out of the negotiations is that the WGA got a lot of what they were after, including residuals from streamers. We expect that SAG/AFTRA will now quickly conclude their negotiations as well.

For New Zealand guilds, we are working towards having our negotiations in the first half of 2024. For us at least, residuals are definitely on the agenda for collective bargaining.

 

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

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An Update on SIWA

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Over the last two and a half months, we have been having educational evenings on the Screen Industry Workers Act (SIWA) across four sub-sectors:

  1. Advertising & Marketing Content
  2. Factual & Entertainment
  3. Scripted
  4. Film – Narrative & Documentary

Directors, editors, and assistant editors have been coming together to learn what the Act is about, how it affects them, what rights they have, don’t have, and could have, and what they can contribute to, allowing us to define the ‘claims’ (i.e. the minimum pay rates, terms, and conditions), which we will negotiate for in collective bargaining. Working groups are forming with four to six members in each, one for directors and one for editors, in each of the sub-sectors except for Film, which will have separate working groups for Narrative and Documentary. Each working group is led by a highly experienced practitioner in that sub-sector.

Up to the end of September, the working groups will be formulating thoughts, taking input, asking for feedback, and shaping potential claims, with the aim to put a draft set of claims in front of as many directors, editors, and assistant editors as possible within each of the sub-sectors. The feedback we receive on these draft claims we hope will allow us to settle on the final claims we will take into bargaining. We will also hold additional hui to update you on progress as we go.

We would like you to start interacting with the working group leaders/members in the sub-sectors that are relevant to you. We need to get as much input and feedback as possible to ensure that we are truly representing your interests and desires when it comes to helping determine the minimum pay rates, terms, and conditions that will govern your work once collective agreements are in place. Please contact me directly at the Guild to find out who is in the sub-sector that you wish to communicate with.

I would like to extend my thanks to the Australian Screen Directors Authorship Collecting Society for their financial support as we go through this entire process. ASDACS is a vital organisation that works with us to improve directors’ rights and remuneration and to administer the collection and disbursement of royalties due to directors for the screening of their work.

 

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

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Help with Contacting New Zealand Directors!

Our friends at the Australian Screen Directors Authorship Collecting Society (ASDACS) are trying to get in touch with NZ directors on this list to distribute royalties related to their work. If you have any leads on how one of these directors can be reached, please send an email to admin@deganz.co.nz and we will pass the information on to ASDACS.

Joining ASDACS helps them reach and distribute royalties to you! If you’re a Full DEGNZ member, ASDACS is free to join and won’t charge you a commission.

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What’s Up In 2020?

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We’ve got the elections this year and that means everything is up in the air.

Simon Bridges says he’ll likely reverse the TVNZ-RNZ merger if National gets back into power.

The Film Industry Working Group’s recommendations around collective bargaining for the screen industry could go out the window.

NZ On Air could get an increase in funding… Or not.

There is some certainty in the media space, though. My predictions:

TVNZ will continue to lose money as long as it stays the way it is, no matter how good a job Kevin Kendrick does (and by all accounts he’s doing a good one).

TV3 will face the same uncertain future it has since it started in 1989, even with a new owner.

The NZ Screen Sector Strategy 2030 will… do something good, bad or indifferent (industry bets seem to be on either of the latter two at the moment).

NZ On Air will have a new CEO shortly—whether it’s a great opportunity for someone new to make a mark or a hospital pass will come clear by the end of 2020.

And the rest of the world, including Australia, will keep capitalising on the demand for internationally-focused TV drama produced locally.

At DEGNZ, it’s very much steady as she goes.

We have a strong board in place who are highly proactive around key issues for us and the industry.

Our focuses strategically will be copyright, collective bargaining legislation, post-production workflow and training, and keeping an eye on the vocational education work being done by various entities, which will get a lot of attention in 2020. There are, of course, always unexpected developments that need a response and we’ll stay alert to these as the need arises.

As a union now affiliated to the Council of Trade Unions, we will have an opportunity to sharpen our skills and knowledge with them in preparation for negotiations should the collective bargaining legislation go through.

We’ll continue to provide membership services including our professional development programme, thanks to the financial support of NZFC, the Vista Foundation, the Australian Screen Directors Authorship Collecting Society, accounting firm VCFO, and with the support of Resene, Event Cinemas, Rialto Cinemas, Dominion Law and Handy Training Online.

We’ll maintain our partnerships on various activities with the NZ Writers Guild, Equity NZ, SCGNZ, NZAPG, SPADA, WIFT, Ngā Aho Whakaari, NZCS and look to forge a relationship with the newly-formed PASC.

DEGNZ is committed as we always say to ‘the creative, cultural and financial well-being of New Zealand directors and editors’.

With the shake-ups in our domestic screen industry scene including more SVODs coming online, and on the international stage with Brexit, the U.S. elections, and the novel coronavirus, we hope that you will join with us as we head into what is undoubtedly going to be a tumultuous 2020.

 

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

 

 

 

 

 

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Directing Masterclass with Sophie Hyde

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Animals

DEGNZ is excited to present a Directing Masterclass with Australian director/producer Sophie Hyde on Saturday 27 July in Auckland.

In this interactive Masterclass, Sophie will share on how she came to be making film and television and how her projects are able to develop and thrive within the film collective she works within. Participants will look at case studies on the making of feature films 52 Tuesdays and Animals, and series F*!#ing Adelaide and The Hunting. 

Sophie will discuss what the big challenges have been, about tackling doubts and keeping self-motivated and rigorous during development and through production. The Masterclass will get directors to think about what’s important to them and how this will help them navigate their own projects.

We invite directors to apply now.

About Sophie Hyde

Sophie’s debut fiction film 52 Tuesdays (director/producer/co-writer) won the directing award in World Cinema Dramatic at Sundance and the Crystal Bear at the Berlinale. Her second film Animals, based on Emma Jane Unsworth’s acclaimed novel, premiered at Sundance 2019. Her first episodic series F*!#ing Adelaide, created for ABC iView screened at Berlin Film Festival and Series Mania in 2018. She produced and co-directed acclaimed documentary Life in Movement, winner of the Australian Documentary Prize in 2011 and the Cinedans Jury and Audience prizes.

She also works as a Producer and believes strongly in nurturing new voices. She was recently mentor and executive producer on A Field Guide to Being A 12-year-old-girl, which won the short film Crystal Bear at Berlin last year. She produced Matt Bate’s feature documentaries Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure and Sam Klemke’s Time Machine, and Maya Newell’s In My Blood It Runs. She has just finished production as creator/director/producer of The Hunting, a 4×1 hour series for SBS.

Animals screens at the New Zealand International Film Festival 2019. Sophie will be attending Q+A screenings in Auckland.

Masterclass Details

Price: DEGNZ members/NAW Full members – Free, Non-members $95. Lunch and refreshments provided.

When: Sat 27 July, 9am – 5pm

Where: Saint Columba Centre, 40 Vermont St, Ponsonby, Auckland

After the masterclass, DEGNZ Full members attending from outside the Auckland region can apply for a travel allowance of up to $250.

How to Apply

Application Deadline: 9AM, Friday 19 July 2019

STEP 1: Complete the application form below.

STEP 2: Send your filmography OR CV with filmography in PDF to tema@deganz.co.nz.

Late or incomplete applications will not be accepted.

 

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This workshop is brought to you with the generous support of the Australian Screen Directors Authorship Collecting Society and the New Zealand Film Commission.

ASDACS logo       NZFC

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