Tag Archive for: NZ writers guild

DEGANZ Members Flourish with Seed Grants

Congrats to the DEGANZ members selected for the first 2023 round of the New Zealand Writers Guild’s (NZWG) Seed Grants! Pulkit Arora (DEGANZ) and Joseph J. U. Taylor (DEGANZ) are two of the six Seed Grant recipients. Fellow members Hweiling Ow (Incubator 2021) and Rouzie Hassanova are the two Seed Advanced Grant recipients.

NZWG offers these grants to writers for the opportunity to be innovative and write a feature they believe in. While the Seed Grant is for emerging and unproduced writers, Seed Advanced acknowledges experienced writers by offering a larger grant and more flexibility around development costs.

Applications are judged through a blind-read process against the three criteria of idea, craft, and voice. This process ensures that the projects selected tell a compelling story and have an audience. It also determines if the writers have a clear and original voice and can turn their idea into a strong screenplay. This round’s judges panel featured Karol Griffiths, Briar Grace-Smith, Victor Rodger, and Nicole Dade.

Check out the projects that DEGANZ members will be working on with the grants:

SEED GRANT

Pulkit Arora

Soft

Away from his home in India for the first time, a teenage boy spends a month learning to be a man from his domineering elder brother in New Zealand. But will his tenderness survive the transition to manhood?

Joseph J. U. Taylor

The Rider

A teenage woman flees her backwater village to become a daredevil rider on ‘The Wall of Death,’ but with international stardom within reach, tragedy strikes, forcing her home to the prospect of never riding again.

SEED ADVANCED GRANT

Hweiling Ow

Pohpoh Wants to Die

When a grandmother turbo charges her bucket list after her husband’s funeral, her highly strung daughter desperately tries to rein her in from the world of drugs, casual sex, and social media stardom.

Rouzie Hassanova

Tulpar

11 year old Sefa Hasan is struggling to find her feet in Aotearoa New Zealand, but in order to fit in, she needs to embrace her true self.

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Members Announced as Recipients of Competitive Seed Grants

The NZWG announced the recipients of the second round of Seed and Seed Advanced for 2021 late last year, with many of our members’ faces among them!

Well done to Rajneel Singh, David Hay and DEGANZ Incubator alumni Nahyeon Lee and Stella Reid, who are all recipients of Seed grants. One of the most competitive writer-only grants for draft feature film scripts in NZ, this round of Seed received 148 applications.

Congrats also goes to member Jesse Griffin who is one of only two recipients of the Seed Advanced grants.

Nahyeon Lee – Vile Abjection

Rajneel Singh & Annamarie Connors – Leave Me Cold

David Hay – Shadowboxer

Stella Reid – The Band of the True Prophet

Jesse Griffin – Childish

Congratulations to all our members again!

See the full list here

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Know Your Rights Workshops – Additional Dates

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Know Your Rights nationwide tour of workshops have added two new dates to the tour!

HAMILTON – Saturday 3 July 2021
Book here

AUCKLAND in conjunction with Ngā Aho Whakaari – Saturday 7 August 2021
Book here

The Know Your Rights Workshop is a ‘must-do’ for any actor, director, editor or writer who seeks a successful career in the New Zealand screen industry, arming you with the knowledge, information and resources you need to negotiate and collaborate successfully and work sustainably.

The next three workshops will be held in Auckland on Friday 25 June, Wellington Friday 30 July and Rotorua Saturday 31 July, with spaces still available! Book your free ticket & lunch here.

Joining the three Executive Directors of the guilds to present on topics will be legal firm Hudson Gavin Martin (experts in media and IP law) and production accountant Natalie Doherty.

Each workshop will be run from 9.30AM to 4.30PM, with lunch provided, in a series of joint and breakout sessions, and will also cover off on topics including:

  • Intellectual Property
  • Copyright
  • The difference between employer and contractor
  • Breakout sessions with specific rights, contracting and career information for Writers, Directors and Editors, and Performers
  • At the Auckland Workshop on August 7, an additional breakout option is available for Māori screen practitioners with Ngā Aho Whakaari Executive Director Hineani Melbourne.
  • Tips and advice on company structures, how to handle taxes, GST, per diems and expenses and more

Tour Dates 2021:

Auckland – Friday 12 March | COMPLETED
Dunedin – Friday 26 March | COMPLETED
Christchurch – Friday 30 April | COMPLETED
Wellington – Friday 21 May | COMPLETED
Nelson – Friday 22 May | COMPLETED
Auckland – Friday 25 June
Hamilton – Saturday 3 July
Wellington – Friday 30 July
Rotorua – Saturday 31 July
Auckland – Saturday 7 August

NB: Venues confirmed closer to the dates

Book HERE for any of the upcoming workshops.

 

These workshops are brought to you with the financial support of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.  

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Know Your Rights Workshops

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The three screen unions being the Directors & Editors Guild of NZ, Equity New Zealand and the New Zealand Writers Guild are pleased to announce the launch of a series of ‘Know Your Rights’ workshops at nine locations around New Zealand.

The workshops are for members and non-members of the guilds and intended to:

  • demystify contracts,
  • improve business management skills for contractors,
  • provide insight into the Screen Industry Worker Bill,
  • and allow each of the guilds to speak directly to specifics related to the careers of actors, writers, directors and editors.

Joining the three executive directors of the guilds to present on topics will be legal firm Hudson Gavin Martin (experts in media and IP law) and production accountant Natalie Doherty. Each workshop will be run from 9AM to 5PM in a series of joint and breakout sessions, and will also cover off on topics including:

  • Intellectual Property
  • Copyright
  • The difference between employer and contractor
  • Tips and advice on company structures, how to handle taxes, GST, per diems and expenses and more

Nine workshops are planned with two each in Auckland and Wellington, and one each in Dunedin, Christchurch, Queenstown, Wellington, Nelson, and Rotorua. The date for the first workshop is 12 March in Auckland.

The ‘Know Your Rights’ Workshop is a ‘must-do’ for any actor, director, editor or writer who seeks a successful career in the New Zealand screen industry, arming you with the knowledge, information and resources you need to negotiate and collaborate successfully and work sustainably.

 

Know Your Rights Workshop – Auckland

Price: Free – Tickets/spaces limited. Preference given to members. Book your seat now on Eventbrite.
Date: Workshop 1 – 12th March 2021
Time: 9.30am – 4.30pm (9am arrival for a 9:30am start)
Venue: Click Studios – 145 Carrington Rd, Mt Albert, Auckland

 

Tour Dates 2021:

Auckland – Friday 12 March | Friday 25 June
Dunedin – Friday 26 March
Christchurch – Friday 30 April
Queenstown – Saturday 1 May
Wellington – Friday 21 May | Friday 30 July
Nelson – Friday 22 May
Rotorua – Saturday 31 July

Book your seat on Eventbrite

NB: Venues confirmed closer to the dates

 

These workshops are brought to you with the financial support of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment.  

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