SINZ and Other Confessions

5 March 2015

Faced with a blank page and no hot topic I’m left to update you on some of the recent traffic across my desk.

Screen Industry New Zealand (SINZ) got together last week for the first time in over a year. SINZ is an informal gathering of guilds (Writers, Directors & Editors, Producers, Actors) and associations (WIFT and Nga Aho Whakaari) to share information and highlight those issues that affect us all, and individually. SINZ does not have the mandate to speak or act collectively. Rather, it’s a conduit for communication so that we can all stay up with the state of play. Discussion centred on digital rights, the ongoing changes at the NZFC and gender equality. While we all have a different take on issues, we can also see where thinking meshes. From a DEGNZ perspective, expect to see us working more collaboratively with other organisations to help achieve tactical and strategic objectives.

If you follow the DEGNZ Facebook page, you may have noticed a post announcing that the Australian Directors Guild (ADG) was officially recognized as a union last week. This is a major achievement by the ADG after years of struggle, and deserves our heartfelt congratulations. The ADG can now legally represent all their directors in negotiations with producers. The power of the Directors Guild of America and the Directors Guild of Canada lies in their ability to negotiate collectively on behalf of their members, setting work terms and conditions as well as providing other services and benefits. New Zealand has for many years now been a union-unfriendly environment, as evidenced most recently in our industry by The Hobbit and Outrageous Fortune disputes. Rest assured that even without collective bargaining power, how to assure the creative, cultural and financial wellbeing of our members is at the forefront of the minds of the DEGNZ board and staff.

Last week saw the launch of the Vista Foundation, an organisation set up by cinema and film software solutions company Vista Group. The foundation is joining together with the NZFC to launch a marketing and distribution training programme for selected filmmakers led by long time producer John Barnett. This is just one of many initiatives Vista hopes to get behind. It’s a matched funding arrangement that sees private and government cash come together around film. NZFC CEO Dave Gibson is enthusiastic about getting private money into the industry, so that filmmakers become less reliant on the NZFC as the funding source. Not everyone has the pulling power of Jermaine Clement and Taika Waititi to raise US$400,000 plus in a marketing and distribution crowdfunding campaign however, so filmmakers will welcome the up to NZ$75,000 carrot the NZFC is offering top dog out of the programme.

Next week the Minster of Broadcasting Amy Adams is hosting a 25th anniversary celebration of New Zealand On Air (NZOA) content. While Dr Ruth Harley in her John O’Shea Memorial Address at the SPADA conference in late November last year lamented the serious mistakes she made when leading the organisation, we still have much to thank NZOA for. Without a public broadcaster in sight these days, NZOA still helps deliver a broad range of content on screen that wouldn’t get made without it. Let us hope there are more anniversaries to celebrate with them.

Finally… what a difference a little over a year and five percent makes. I was speaking to a producer yesterday who has struggled to crew a feature film about to shoot. Everybody’s busy—crew anyway. The NZ Screen Production Grant is doing the business, particularly with international productions. More importantly, international TV series shooting here are on the up. This means drama directors and editors have the opportunity to gain long term employment working on projects with big budgets and lots of toys, especially if the shows move beyond a first series. But what about NZ feature film and the employment opportunities there for directors and editors?

The NZFC’s development and production budgets aren’t seeing any significant increases. Development (including training) has remained relatively static at around $2million per year for the last five years, while production financing seems to have been going down year on year, from just under NZ$16 million in the 2009 – 10 period to just over NZ$10 million last financial year (changes in reporting methodology may account for some of this difference.)

Yes, last year we had a much higher number of NZ films hit theatres than usual, thanks primarily though to the lo-budget flow through from Escalator and other schemes. Budgets for film are being driven down globally for features.

One NZFC response has been to target low-budget films in the $250 – 500k range with an emphasis official or not on genre product. Another is to keep first time director budgets to under $1. 5 million or so. These initiatives could well help to keep the number of films up to the level of last year. The inevitable outcome here however as occurred with Escalator is that pay rates are forced down to fit the budgets—More jobs, but less pay.

At the Hawaii International Film Festival last year I suggested to the Oahu Film Commissioner that she apply a small tax to every incoming production to help stimulate the almost non-existent local dramatic feature film industry—an idea that would go down like a lead balloon here.

Maybe it’s time for NZFC budget increases to get our filmmakers busier, and hopefully pay them what they are worth.

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

 

Last updated on 12 March 2018

/by

Where Are The Women?

18 February 2015

Why are there so few female directors making dramatic feature films in New Zealand?

It’s a vexing question with no easy answers.

A couple of stats drawn from published NZFC data:

  • Of the 28 dramatic features (discounting Hollywood and overseas independents) released with NZFC investment from 2010 to April 2014, four (14%) were directed by women (Simone Horrocks, Roseanne Liang, Kirstin Marcon, Juliet Bergh), of which one was a micro-budget Escalator film.
  • And of the 99 shorts funded in the NZFC Fresh and Premiere Shorts initiatives from 2010 – 2015, 36 (36%) had female directors.

The gathering that attended the DEGNZ/WIFT panel discussion on gender imbalance in the NZ screen industry chaired by Kim Hill at Auckland’s Basement Theatre in August last year came up with one idea to address the issue: A motion was passed to approach the NZFC to ask for state funding, [to pursue] gender equality through positive discrimination that will be in place for a certain amount of time until it’s not needed, so that women’s work can have a special place where applications go.

The motion came about from the discussion that night that mooted a number of potentially influencing factors. Amongst them were:

  • It’s a market driven industry where the main cinema audience is males aged 18 – 35.
  • Feature film directing is bloody hard work and all consuming, putting a considerable number of women off the job.
  • Women’s stories tend towards more complex arthouse drama, without the whams, bams and kapows of boysie films, so they are less appealing to the mainstream audience.
  • The psychology of filmmaking has been influenced primarily by men, pushing female protagonists and women’s stories to the sidelines.

Another cause suggested was that the gatekeepers are a key reason why the number of female directors is low. So I took a look at the NZ film gatekeepers to see how the gender statistics stacked up.

In the last five NZFC annual reports, 44 board members including the chairs were listed, with 12 of those female (27%), one the chair for all five years.

Across the same period, we had one CEO, Graham Mason, thus 0% female.

In the same timeframe, Marilyn Milgrom departed as Head of Development to effectively be replaced by Graeme Mason, and then Lisa Chatfield, making two out of three Heads of Development female (66%). And of the seven development executives listed for those years, excluding the Heads, three were female (43%). The full development teams across that time with Graeme Mason included gave a 50/50 gender split. (Although there is a significant lead time for feature film, I did not look earlier when Ruth Harley was CEO and Caroline Grosse Head of Development.)

These gatekeeper stats don’t look too bad, except we could obviously do with more women on the NZFC board.

How about the screenwriting?

In the NZFC statistics on gender released in September last year we see that female writers made up 34% of applications going in for development funding, and 29% of those who received development funding.

Of the 28 features looked at earlier, 7 had female screenwriters credited (25%) while with the 99 shorts, I identified 33 females (33%) as the screenwriters.

Does this mean that if we funded more female writers for feature development, we would get more films greenlit that are written by women and thus more films directed by women? This is a possibility, particularly with the propensity for NZ feature films to be the output of writer/directors.

NZFC is aware of the gender inequality issue and considering how best to respond.

A number of the guilds are debating it as well and taking action as they see fit.

At DEGNZ in the last year, we lost three key female board members in Leanne Pooley, Kirstin Marcon and Briar March, each for personal reasons. We were fortunate to recruit to the board director Louise Leitch and editor Annie Collins who joined director Roseanne Liang, giving females three of the 10 seats (30%). Director Kezia Barnett has taken up an Advisory Board role with the guild strengthening the numbers. With our selection panels, we are seeking at least a 50/50 split in gender terms. However, there is much more to be done, both at DEGNZ and in the industry at large.

Gender inequality in the screen industry will be a hot topic when Screen Industry New Zealand convenes later this month to look at the issues we face. And we are all interested in what strategies and initiatives the NZFC will devise and implement. Hopefully they will allow Jane Campion to unclench her jaw a little more when next asked to comment about it.

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

Last updated on 12 March 2018

/by

Waitangi Day Te Reo

5 February 2015

We are already into February and Waitangi Day is almost upon us. For those of you unfamiliar with Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi) or wanting to brush up on the detail, here’s a good primer on the NZ History website.

Waitangi Day and issues around the Treaty are lightning rods for debate and discussion from all sides. This is a good thing.

My mind today went to two documentaries made by DEGNZ members that previously brought Māori issues to the fore: Peter Berger’s docudrama Waitangi – What Really Happened? and past guild president Dan Salmon’s documentary 2050: What If… Māori Gain Sovereignty – Tino Rangitiratanga?

There are many of our members who have worked on projects that have laid the issues out for deliberation.. And so have others. Even Gareth Morgan’s getting on the bandwagon. This is all good; even the redneckery (a new word), because it requires us to review our thoughts and opinions about rights, fairness and justice for all New Zealanders.

Here’s my little fuel to the fire for the coming weekend.

I am of the opinion that te reo Māori should be a compulsory subject at pre-school, primary, intermediate and secondary levels.

The reason I advocate for compulsory te reo in schools is because I believe bilingualism opens our eyes wider to the world and its cultures, making us more accepting of cultural differences.

Bilingualism is a positive.

Te reo Māori is a non-English language that we can have the easiest of access to, not just through schools, but through our neighbours, communities, marae, and the airwaves thanks to Maori Television and the Iwi Radio Network, amongst others. And te reo is ours. Another unique asset.

Radio New Zealand (RNZ) and the televison networks make a bilingual effort every Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori (Māori Language Week). RNZ now carries it through the rest of the year. This is to be applauded.

I was heartened to read of the protests this week outside the Bilingual Unit at Richmond Road School, just down the street from the guild office (I can’t see it from up here, though). Budgets had been ‘adjusted,’ and some parents believed it was to the detriment of the bilingual education happening there.

At a more personal level, I have admired the efforts of actor Jennifer Ward Leland (Actors Equity President) to use the reo.

There’s room for everyone to increase the usage of te reo Māori, especially in the media and screen industries. The Dead Lands gave us a great example on the big screen.

So this weekend why don’t you give the reo a try if you’re not already using it. Speak te reo Māori this Waitangi Day, even if it’s just to call someone a hua.

You’ll be making a contribution to bilingualism and te reo Māori language advancement, idotic statement or not.

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

Last updated on 12 March 2018

/by

Welcome to 2015

22 January 2015

Kia ora!

And welcome to 2015 with the Directors & Editors Guild of NZ.

This year is shaping up to continue the extremely positive last six months of 2014 with a range of productions happening.

We have the MTV series Shannara at Auckland Film Studios, Amblin TV’s Lumen pilot for TNT is underway, as is Disney’s feature Pete’s Dragon, and according to the trades and gossip, Rob Tapert is coming back with Ash vs Evil Dead later in the year. And these are just some of the international projects on the go.

On the domestic film front, the NZFC greenlit 5 projects at the end of last year and CEO Dave Gibson said there are 5 more possibly to come in the first half of this year. Tammy Davis’s first feature Born to Dance is in post production, and Jackie van Beek’s first feature The Inland Road will get under way later this summer.

In TV land, SPP has the second series of The Brokenwood Msteries, and Rachel Laing and Gavin Strauhan’s Filthy Rich gets its first run, amongst others on the drama front.

The digital realm is here to stay, and we’ll be seeing further series of Tomorrowland’s High Road, DEGNZ board member Roseanne Liang’s Flat 3, and more.

Internationally, Sony’s confirmation that its misfired feature The Interview has earned US$40 million online and On-demand is the mainstream film industry’s gamebreaker for digital distribution.

At DEGNZ, two major initiatives are in the wings for the first quarter. We will announce the successful recipient of the inaugural International Director’s Mentorship. This follows on from the International Editor’s Mentorship with Justine Wright (Locke, The Iron Lady, The Last King of Scotland), awarded to Cushla Dillon. And renowned Australian acting and directing coach Rob Marchand will run his 5-Day Character-based Improvisation Workshop in March–this thanks to financial assistance from NZFC, and support from Script to Screen. On top of this we will continue our busy professional development programme from last year with the Collaborator Series, Rehearsal Room, a Documentary Director’s International Mentorship, another International Editor’s Mentorship, Director’s Toolkit, a Directing Actors Workshop and more masterclasses. And don’t forget our networking drinks each month with different guilds and industry bodies.
Big picture, we still have some work to do:

  • Get memberships up–and you can help by encouraging your colleagues to join, enticing them with everything we have to offer.
  • Talk with government–new Broadcasting Minister Amy Adams and Culture and Heritage Minister Maggie Barry should now be settled in. We’ll be communicating with them and others who have a major influence on policy and legislation that affects us.
  • Maintain and improve dialogue with NZFC and NZOA–Dave Gibson has given clear indications that he wants to talk to industry through the guilds and DEGNZ will be making the most of this. Jane Wrightson has an open door policy that we welcome.
  • The stratospheric approach of Minister Steven Joyce with the NZ Screen Advisory Group needs to be brought closer to earth, as DEGNZ operates at the coal face of professional development for directors.

These are just some of the more important tasks that we will be taking on in the coming months.

There are and will be some new faces at DEGNZ to help with this work. TV Commercials director Kezia Bennett will take up an advisory role with the guild, bringing her advertising knowledge and connections to bear on our behalf. Leah Goffe Robinson started this month as our Marketing and Events Coordinator, and we are seeking two new interns to assist us. (Role outline on The Big Idea.)

Please remember that as a member, we are a resource for you to utilize. We take our commitment to ensuring your creative, cultural and financial wellbeing seriously. So get in touch if you need to. And have a fantastic 2015!

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

Last updated on 12 March 2018

/by

2014 With DEGNZ

19 December 2014

DEGNZ has had another fantastic year. Thanks to all of you for continuing to support us and the NZ film industry. Across 2014 we have rolled out our new brand and website, and seen the implementation of a fantastic new professional development programme.

This from director and member Miles Murphy about 2014 with DEGNZ:

“I just wanted to say how impressed I have been with the DEGNZ and your support for directors. In the last 12 months I have really stepped up my attempts to gain knowledge and experience to help my directing career and found the courses and opportunities the guild are offering to be very exciting. I will continue to do my own external work in this area but it’s such a great thing to know this resource is available. I really wish I joined earlier as I had no idea how helpful it would actually be. So thanks for that.”

We have also had a number of staff changes over 2014. Tui Ruwhiu has taken over from Fiona Copland as our Executive Director. Fiona did an amazing job at the guild and we thank her for all her hard work. We are sad to farewell our Marketing and Events Coordinator Lucy Stonex, who is leaving the guild to travel and work on her own projects in 2015. Leah Goffe Robertson, a young documentary filmmaker, will take over in 2015 and we welcome her to the guild. This year we were also fortunate to have the help of two fantastic interns–Esmee Myers and Elina Osborne. Their efforts over the course of our busy year have been invaluable.

At board level we said goodbye in 2014 to dedicated members Grant Campbell, Kirstin Macon, Briar March, Leanne Pooley and John Reid. And we welcomed onto the board Louise Leitch and Annie Collins.

Merry Christmas, best wishes and see you all again in 2015!

– The team at DEGNZ.

Last updated on 12 March 2018

/by