The Director-Editor Relationship – Wellington

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We invite members to join WIFT and DEGNZ on the evening of July 29 for the Director-Editor Relationship in Wellington, back by popular demand.

We thoroughly enjoyed hearing from the Auckland panellists – directors Pietra Brettkelly and Roseanne Liang, editors Cushla Dillon and Jochen FitzHerbert, moderated by director Leanne Pooley – at the beginning of this month. With another superb line-up, you’ll want to reserve your seat early!

The Director-Editor relationship

The Content: How does a director find the right editor? At which point in the process do you bring the editor in? Understanding the parameters of each role and making sure your contract reflects that. Who has creative say? How important are the editor’s fresh pair of eyes? How do the directors and editors navigate the test screening process? What happens if you change editor over the course of the project?  How does the editor help manage the relationship with the commissioner / client? Who leads when? Maintaining a healthy, collaborative relationship that has longevity over more than one project.

So many questions! Come along and get yours answered by this extremely experienced panel:

Panellists:

Dame Gaylene Preston, DNZM, has been a writer/director/producer since 1978, and made the classics of New Zealand cinema Mr Wrong, Ruby and Rata, War Stories Our Mothers Never Told Us and Home By Christmas. Her dramatic TV series include Bread & Roses and Hope and Wire, plus many documentaries, her latest being the feature, My Year With Helen. Her work has screened in most high profile international film festivals including Sundance, Toronto, London, and Sydney. Dame Gaylene is the New Zealand Arts Foundation’s inaugural Filmmaker Laureate (2001).

Pietra Brettkelly, recipient of the 2020 South Pacific Pictures Award for Achievement In Film for her acclaimed documentary feature Yellow Is Forbidden. Pietra is a three-time Oscar-selected documentary filmmaker, a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and an Arts Laureate of New Zealand.

Alex Boyd (they/them) editor of the acclaimed recent feature film Cousins, they have also edited all four seasons of Wellington Paranormal. They enjoy working across genres, and have edited documentary, drama, sci-fi, comedy, and animation.

Annie Collins is best known for her extensive resume of documentaries, having edited such landmark productions as Patu!, The Neglected Miracle and Gardening with Soul. The talented editor has also won awards for her work on Scarfies, Two Little Boys and Out of the Blue, with Coming Home in the Dark having premiered to critical acclaim at Sundance and due to be released here in August.

Lala Rolls 
Fijian-European Lala Rolls’ projects often involve explorations of Māori and Polynesian culture. She directs as much as she edits, often doing both on the same project. Rolls has been a multiple finalist at New Zealand awards ceremonies for her work on acclaimed drama series The Insider’s Guide to Happiness and the Rita Angus documentary Lovely Rita. She edited The Man in the Hat (about art dealer Peter McLeavey), and 2018’s Celia, about the late equality advocate Celia Lashlie, and directed, produced and edited the 2020 feature film Tupaia’s Endeavour.

WIFTNZ and DEGNZ members free, non-members $15 cash – includes a drink and nibbles.

Date: Thu 29 July 2021
Location: Taia Studios, 4 Bay Road, Kilbirnie, Wellington
Time: 6pm drinks for a 6.30pm sharp start

RSVP essential to office@wiftnz.org.nz

Last updated on 14 June 2021

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Documenting the Woes

Thanks to the Doc Edge Festival, I was able to attend their opening night film The 7 Years of Lukas Graham, a story about Danish pop sensation Lukas Graham’s lead singer Lukas Forchhammer’s wrestle with fame. It got me thinking about the woeful state of documentary in New Zealand, something the guild identified at the 2019 NZ On Air Factual Summit in 2019 and sought to generate conversation about. COVID unfortunately disrupted our plans, but it’s back on our agenda.

One-off documentary internationally is in a strong place, although former Amazon Studios film head Ted Hope cautioned at the Danish doc fest, CPH:DOX, recently that the big players prefer documentary with mass appeal. Hope did go on to say however that with the proliferation of niche platforms catering to specialised audiences, there are greater opportunities for more distinct fare.

From Variety’s article:

One of the key things to recognize is the streamers’ need for a “targeted audience at a low price point,” [HOPE] stressed. “That’s basically the equation for efficiency. The most valuable type of audience member for a streamer is the new audience member. How do you attract new people to the platform? People that are not only passionate about something but have actually displayed their passion in a predictable way, are ripe precisely for that acquisition.”
Hope emphasized how different the business goals of streamers are from the world of exhibition. “It’s not profit and loss so much as customer acquisition. Drilling down to what that means I think reveals a lot.”

New Zealand documentary however is meant to target New Zealand audiences first, although with NZFC its international appeal is also taken into account when funding decisions are made.

In taking a look at the TV market for one-off documentary in New Zealand it’s pretty easy to see… there really isn’t one. NZ broadcasters on the whole aren’t interested in one-off documentary as they often tell us, although Māori Television does occasionally commission them.

Feature-length documentary suffers pretty much the same fate with the channels. While short form doco. has found its place with platforms and does attract NZ On Air funding, there’s nothing longer format for these documentary makers to go onto in TV, so they have to turn their heads to theatrical documentary features if they want to move to longer form.

Reviewing the latest figures/films available for NZFC-funded documentary feature for the  NZSPG/SPIF* and non-NZSPG/SPIF documentary films back to 2015 provides some interesting insights.

Please note: The funding totals are for NZFC administered funds only and do not take into account ‘market money’—Distributor/Sales Agent MGs, private investment, broadcast/platform fees or other non-NZFC investment. The box office totals are for NZ only and do not take into account Australia or Rest of World revenues.

In these latest stats:

  • NZSPG/SPIF films with higher budgets and commensurate marketing spend and screen numbers tend not to reach NZ theatrical audiences well, Chasing Great aside.
  • Non-NZSPG/SPIF films in general deliver a better Return on Investment (NZ B.O./TTL NZFC FUNDING) for every NZFC-administered dollar than NZSPG films in the NZ theatrical market.
  • Although the ROI of NZSPG/SPIF films is generally not great, the top two NZ documentaries by box office are NZSPG films, and four are in the top 10.

*NZSPG – NZ Screen Production Grant   SPIF – Screen Production Incentive Fund

 

NZFC FUNDED DOCUMENTARY FEATURES RELEASED 2015 – 2021

YRTITLE (In alphabetical order)NZFC EQUITYNZSPG/

NZSPIF

TTL NZFC FUNDINGNZ B.O.ROI
21Dawn Raid$1,715,000.00$1,317,490.00$3,032,490.00$332,074.00$0.11
21James and Isey*$365,345.00N/A$365,345.00$522,101.00$1.43
20Six60 Till The Lights Go Out$580,000.00N/A$580,000.00$535,402.00$0.92
20The Girl On The Bridge$690,000.00N/A$690,000.00$21,855.00$0.03
20We Need to Talk About A.I.**–$1,044,783.00$1,044,783.00No NZ Release–
19Capital in the Twenty  First Century$804,224.00$2,010,560.00$2,814,784.00$85,458.00$0.03
19Herbs: Songs of Freedom$824,897.00N/A$824,897.00$97,015.00$0.12
19For My Father’s Kingdom$385,543.00N/A$385,543.00$63,762.00$0.17
19The Chills: The Triumph and Tragedy of Martin Phillips$600,000.00N/A$600,000.00$73,157.00$0.12
18Merata Mita: How Mum Decolonised The Screen$129,999.00N/A$129,999.00$39,039.00$0.30
18Maui’s Hook$100,000.00N/A$100,000.00$23,376.00$0.23
18She Shears$220,302.00N/A$220,302.00$133,474.00$0.61
18Born Racer$1,087,136.00$2,717,839.00$3,804,975.00$155,588.00$0.04
18The Heart Dances – The Journey of The Piano: The Ballet$437,500.00N/A$437,500.00$33,502.00$0.08
18Wayne$574,980.00$1,437,449.00$2,012,429.00$22,164.00$0.01
17McLaren$1,426,397.00$3,565,992.00$4,992,389.00$768,248.00$0.15
18Yellow Is Forbidden$338,631.00N/A$338,631.00$46,716.00$0.14
17My Year With Helen$446,000.00N.A.$446,000.00$281,949.00$0.63
17Kim Dotcom: Caught In the Web**$1,010,628.00N/A$1,010,628.00N/A–
17Pecking Order$200,000.00N/A$200,000.00$538,378.00$2.69
 

16

Chasing Great$1,026,678.00$2,566,697.00$3,593,375.00$1,828,941.00$0.51
16The Free Man (AKA Welcome to the Thrill)$1,024,086.00$2,560,216.00$3,584,302.00$18,817.00$0.01
16Poi E: The Story Of A Song$921,984.00N/A$921,984.00$1,199,830.00$1.30
1525-Apr$1,783,348.00$4,458,369.00$6,241,717.00$19,390.00$0.0031
*Still in theatres
 **No mainstream theatrical release

 

TOP 10 NZ DOCOS TO 2021

YRRANKTITLETTL NZFC FUNDINGNZ B.O.
161Chasing Great (NZSPG)$3,593,735.00$1,828,941.00
092Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls(SPIF)($1,900,000.00*)$1,820,000.00
163Poi E: The Story of Our Song$921,984.00$1,199,830.00
134Beyond the Edge (SPIF)$3,799,385.00$884,743.00
115Billy T – Te Movie$1,000,000.00$794,816.00
176McLaren (NZSPG)$4,992,389.00$768,248.00
177Pecking Order$200,000.00$538,378.00
218Six60 – Till the Lights Go Out$580,000.00$535,402.00
219James & Isey$365,345.00$529,270.00
1310Gardening with Soul$15,000.00$489,931.00

*SPIF figure not available for this film so NZFC Equity Investment only.

 

Of course, the first question in examining the success or not of any film is “Did it reach its target audience?” And the next question could be: “How much was spent in doing so?” Target audiences can vary from niche small audiences to mainstream large audiences but budget level is generally meant to be reflective of expected audience reach. Looking at funding investment and ROI only, NZFC hasn’t done well with its documentary funding decisions over the last six years—One more thing on the list the new NZFC CEO could turn his head to when he arrives.

And for TV, lobbying NZ On Air to fund one-off documentary would obviously help—something ourselves and others are intent on doing.

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

Last updated on 9 June 2021

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High Tide Don’t Hide World Premiere at Doc Edge

Directed by members of the Rebel Film Collective: Niva Kay (DEGNZ), Emily McDowell, Nia Phipps and Phil Stebbing, High Tide Don’t Hide follows Kiwi teens as they join the global School Strike for Climate and soon discover that activism, authority and awareness make for a steep learning curve.

Currently participating in our 2021 Emerging Women Filmmakers Incubator, Niva has always been passionate about storytelling, environmental and social justice. She was responsible for the production, directing and shooting of key scenes and characters in Auckland and Thames.

At the recent Doc Edge Awards, Thomas Gleeson won the Best New Zealand Editing Award for his work on the film.

High Tide Don’t Hide will premiere in Auckland on June 11 and in Wellington June 25. Both screenings will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers. It will also be available to rent online between June 26 to July 11 as part of the festival.

Last updated on 4 June 2021

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Coming Home in the Dark Arrives Home

A teacher is forced to confront a secret from his past when a pair of ruthless drifters take his family on a nightmare road-trip in Coming Home in the Dark. Directed by James Ashcroft and edited by DEGNZ board member Annie Collins, the film is set to open in Aotearoa on August 12 after travelling the festival circuit.

This local thriller, starring Daniel Gillies (The Vampire Diaries), Erik Thomson (The Luminaries), Miriama McDowell (Head High) and Matthias Luafutu (Ghost in the Shell), garnered rave reviews after premiering at Sundance earlier in the year.

With one review from horror website Bloody Disgusting saying the film “succeeds in sheer intensity and extremism”.

Speaking with Sundance, James Ashcroft and writer Eli Kent described it as a “high energy nightmare road-trip”, based on an award winning short story by Owen Marshall.

Watch their Meet the Artist spotlight here:

 

Last updated on 4 June 2021

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Kiwi Drama Juniper Gets NZ Release Date

DEGNZ alumni Matthew Saville’s debut feature film Juniper, edited by Peter Roberts (DEGNZ), will be released in NZ cinemas on August 26. Starring Oscar-nominated actress Charlotte Rampling, the movie follows a self-destructive teenager who reluctantly looks after his alcoholic grandmother as punishment and soon finds himself embracing life again.

As part of the Guild’s Drama Editor Attachment Scheme the production provided an opportunity for an emerging editor to shadow Peter Roberts over the course of the edit. DEGNZ member Brendon Chan spoke with us about his experience shadowing Peter, from assembly through to the final cut, an experience that was “really beneficial” and one that eased his worries about working on feature films.

Saville, who wrote and directed Juniper, spoke with NZFC about how this story is inspired by his own experience with his grandmother and how he “can’t wait for audiences to see this intimate story brought to life”.

Watch the trailer here and save the date!

 

 

 

Last updated on 4 June 2021

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