Online Content – Take 2

It’s rare that I raise the same issue two weeks in a row. But the contracts that online platforms are seeking to put in place—or are with those who either don’t know what they’re signing or don’t care—are so unfair that that the guilds are extremely concerned.

There are four key issues at stake:

1. Compensation
2. Intellectual property rights
3. Editorial Control
4. Sustainable work

Content creators are being asked to deliver high-quality scripted content that will bring eyeballs to screens and deliver revenue, directly or indirectly. The compensation being offered to do this is pitiful for the work required. With appropriate levels of compensation not being the ‘give’ that the platforms are offering for the ‘get’, you would expect that they would be fair and reasonable when it came to terms and conditions for the content. But they are not.

The most draconian of the contracts that the guilds have seen are asking for all rights for ever and a day from those coming in with developed ideas.

Then there are the incidences where creators are being employed for poor levels of pay to generate and develop content ideas that they have no rights in.

And when passionate content creators are asked to produce their own ideas under contracts for little money without the editorial freedom that stimulated many of them into getting into online content in the first place, they feel exploited. And it’s hard not to agree with their viewpoint.

A classic cry from the platforms is that they are offering content creators a space on the internet that can put their content in front of a lot of eyeballs with marketing backup. Another is that in this new world of content creation you can’t expect to get paid well for the work you do in the manner that you may have been in the past. And another is the ‘talent development opportunity’ and ‘talent exposure’ that they are giving you. Yet in this new world of content creation they are employing old world contracting norms that don’t allow content creators to fairly benefit from their endeavours, and to build sustainable careers.

I repeat what I said at our Screenlink evening on Lo-budget Content Making this week—Do NOT sign a contract with an online platform without showing it to a guild or entertainment lawyer. You are doing yourself, your colleagues and your industry a disservice if you do.

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

Last updated on 21 February 2018

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Call for Applications: Documentary Directing Masterclass & Project Consultations with Emmy-Winner Lucy Walker

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The Directors & Editors Guild of NZ invites directors to apply for a Feature Documentary Directing Masterclass and Project Consultation with British director Lucy Walker to be held in Auckland.

Director Lucy WalkerLucy Walker is an Emmy-winning British film director who has twice been nominated for an Academy Award and is renowned for creating riveting, character-driven nonfiction that delivers emotionally and narratively. The Hollywood Reporter has called her “the new Errol Morris” and Variety has praised her unique ability to connect with audiences.

Lucy’s filmography includes feature documentaries The Crash Reel (2013), Waste Land (2010), Countdown to Zero (2010), Blindsight (2006), Devil’s Playground (2002) and several short films, notably The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom (2011) and The Lion’s Mouth Opens (2014). Her films have also been nominated for seven Emmys, an Independent Spirit Award, a DGA Award and a Gotham Award and have won over one hundred other film awards.

On Saturday 22 July, Lucy will lead a half-day Masterclass for up to ten directors in the morning. This will be followed by individual 1-hour Project Consultations with up to four selected directors who have feature documentary projects in active development. Project Consultation sessions are open to directors but not collaborators.

Directors can apply for both the Masterclass and Project Consultation, or just the Masterclass if they do not have a current project.

 

Cost: DEGNZ members free, DEGNZ members free; Non-members – Masterclass $50, Project Consultation $100.
When: Saturday 22 July. Masterclass – 8.30am to 12pm. Project Consultations will be held from 12.45 to 5.30pm.
Where: TBC, Auckland

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

TO APPLY please send your application in ONE PDF or DOC to tui@deganz.co.nz with ‘Lucy Walker Masterclass’ in the subject line.

In your application, please provide:

  • CV
  • links to samples of your work
  • a maximum one-page letter stating why you want to attend this workshop
  • please also include your mobile number.

To apply for a Project Consultation:

  • Please also provide a full synopsis or treatment outlining your feature documentary project and its current status. Projects need to be in active development.

Application Deadline: 9am, Wednesday 12 July.

 

This event is brought to you with the support of the New Zealand Film Commission.

Last updated on 26 February 2018

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Register Now! The Rehearsal Room with Robyn Malcolm

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RR with Robyn Malcolm

The Rehearsal Room brings together professionals – actors and directors – in a safe, supportive environment to practise working with each other on scenes under the guidance of an experienced moderator.

Register on our Eventbrite page to have your name in the draw to participate. For each event, 4 directors and 8 actors will be selected. If you are selected, we’ll email or phone you to confirm your participation.

Moderator – Robyn Malcolm

Robyn Malcolm is one of New Zealand television’s best-loved actors. An accomplished stage performer before moving into screen roles, she is best known for her iconic role as Outrageous Fortune matriarch Cheryl West. Other television credits include leading roles on Serial Killers and Agent Anna, and a supporting part on Jane Campion’s acclaimed mini-series Top of the Lake. Robyn has appeared in films (The Hopes and Dreams of Gazza Snell), documentaries (Our Lost War) and is increasingly involved in projects across the ditch, including three seasons of ABC comedy Upper Middle Bogan.

Who is The Rehearsal Room for?

Professional actors and directors. It is open to Actors Equity and DEGNZ members of all levels of experience, from novices to virtuosos.

Material

Directors will be asked to provide a two-character scene (2 pages) or, if you prefer, a scene will be provided for you. Directors and actors will receive scripts in advance.

Structure of the event

Directors and actors will spend time rehearsing their scenes, with emphasis on connection and content.

After morning tea, participants will block their scenes, before presenting them for shooting, followed by viewing and discussion. The shooting is a wide shot only, intended as a means to review performance, not for directors to direct camera.

 

When: Saturday 5 August 2017, 9:30am – 1:30pm

Where: Kingsland, Auckland

Register at: Eventbrite

Director registrations close: 19 July

Actor registrations close: 31 July

Cost: Free – Open to DEGNZ & Equity NZ members ONLY.

The Rehearsal Room is hosted by Directors & Editors Guild of NZ and the Equity Foundation, with financial support from the New Zealand Film Commission.

Last updated on 26 February 2018

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Trials & Tribulations, Successes & Failures in Lo-Budget Content Making

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The Directors & Editors Guild of NZ, Nga Aho Whakaari and Women in Film & Television invite you to hear from two very active filmmakers in the lo-budget content realm at Screenlink. Make sure you keep the night of Wednesday 21 June free and come join us at the Longroom in Ponsonby from 6 – 8pm.

Last updated on 21 February 2018

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Web Series – Opportunities or Rorts?

Ever since Auckland Daze transitioned from online to TV, web series have been seen as an opportunity for young scripted programme makers to get the break they so desperately want and have been effectively shut out of in broadcast in New Zealand.

Of course there are those who see YouTube and other online platforms as a revenue generating opportunity and produce content in the hope that they can turn their web programme making into paid work.

And then there are the truly passionate who just want to make stuff and put it out there for people to see without a lot of expectation, hoping that their good work will get noticed and lead to something better.

On the other hand there are some, like Shoshana McCallum, who created a full spec TV pilot as she did with Animals to pitch to a network, which got shutdown and now it’s online so it at least gets seen.

Then there were Gerard Johnstone and Luke Sharpe who revamped Terry Teo for TV 2 and ended up having it pushed to OnDemand without it seeing the broadcast light of day until TVNZ responded to criticism by promising to schedule it and defending their non-broadcast play citing a viewer rating concern.

Some time ago, particularly after the success of KHF Media’s Reservoir Hill, New Zealand On Air realized there was no turning the digital clock back and so they gradually expanded digital content funding streams to deal with what would inevitably become a growing area of application activity.

The initial largess NZ On Air showed Reservoir Hill with 8 x 8 min. eps at just over $300,000 or $4,700/min. has essentially dropped to $100,000 for web series for around the same number of eps and mins., at essentially $1,500/min.*, although some series are going as low as $500/min., and some as high as $2,500/min. And now you have to make a pilot to go with the application.

Here are some comparable numbers for broadcast comedy shows; the genre most popular with web series: Agent Anna 2 (TV One) at $8,200/min., Auckland Daze (TV One), which moved from online to broadcast at $2,800/min., Paranormal Event Response Unit (TV2) at $4,700/min., and Find Me A Maori Bride 2 (MTS) at $2,800/min.

*(Per minute rates are based on the half hour or hour, not the actual commercial duration.)

It’s my guess that anybody working on a scripted show for less than $4000/min. that varies it’s locations and cast, employs art direction, make up, props, costumes, etc. and pursues a quality production approach is not getting paid properly.

So how are people being compensated fairly?

Are cast and crew getting back end points in the production of a web series on which they work for low or no pay so that they can share in any revenue upside that might come from developments like an additional sale, a move from online to broadcast as in the case of Auckland Daze, or an offshore remake as happened with Reservoir Hill in Sweden?

When producers retain the intellectual property of a show and get cast and crew to work for free or below market rates, they have an obligation to share the success with the team that helped get them there when something goes good. And cast and crew have an obligation to demand it, even when it’s from friends as it most often is.

And what about when media giants want to pay little more than the basic wage for the creation and production of online content, take all the rights to ideas that creators come up with, rely on the creative execution of directors, editors and others to craft good programming, then monetise it to generate revenues for themselves? Something’s not right here, surely.

Film has essentially been the home of the above-the-line creative delusional—web series it seems is now the digital equivalent—There’s no lack of people laying their heads on the digital block with pilots for TVNZ’s and NZ On Air’s New Blood Competition in the hope that something greater will come of it.

If you are not being compensated at market rates for the work you do on a web series or online project, ensure that you negotiate the opportunity through points or another mechanism such as shared IP ownership to benefit later if additional revenues ever flow. Or ensure that you agree to a deferred fee arrangement for the difference and maybe a backend kicker that gets paid to you when the producer/rights holder starts to see money come in, either with the content you helped create or another series, version or manifestation of it.

And get your contract or agreement on paper, even if it’s a deal memo and not a long-form contract, before you start working on a project, not after you’ve started, particularly with mates—it’s merely being professional about the whole thing.

There are many positive outcomes that can flow when you contribute your time and expertise for nix or next to nada, and there are just as many rorts. Make sure you are on the right side of the equation. You deserve it. Otherwise you won’t build a sustainable career.

 

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

Last updated on 21 February 2018

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