Aidee Walker Directs Kid Sister Now on TVNZ OnDemand

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Kid Sister has landed on TVNZ OnDemand! There are 5 episodes to binge now, directed by DEGANZ member Aidee Walker. The sitcom was created and written by New York-based Jewish Kiwi Simone Nathan, who also stars as the lead. Kid Sister follows Lulu, a loveable train wreck, as she goes on a crazy ride whilst trying to balance her love of her Jewish family and culture with finding her own path.

Congratulations to Aidee and the team behind the show. Positive reviews have started to roll in with The Spinoff’s Sam Brooke writing, “It’s a reminder that New Zealand doesn’t make enough of these kinds of personality-driven TV projects, shows that revolve around a singular highly watchable character.”

The experience for Aidee on Kid Sister was very different to the normal television model in New Zealand. She would describe it as director-led, thanks to the encouragement of producer Emily Anderton. Aidee spent nine months working on the show, including doing all the post production and sign offs with her producer.

Aidee’s directing credits for television include Mystic for CBBC and TVNZ, and local shows The Brokenwood Mysteries and Westside. She participated in DEGANZ’s inaugural Women Filmmakers Incubator in 2016.

Kid Sister was edited by Alex Boyd. Tammy Williams was the cinematographer and the show was executive produced by Harriet Crampton at Greenstone TV and Simone Nathan.

Watch Kid Sister here

Last updated on 1 June 2022

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Screenlink: Champagne Taste on a Beer Budget – June 13

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We all want to make amazing work that looks exceptional. But what can you do when your budget doesn’t look so great?

Come and connect with us in Wellington on June 13 as we discuss this familiar challenge.

DEGANZ and NZCS presents a panel with:

Cinematographer Richard Bluck NZCS (Under the Mountain)
Cinematographer Jess Charlton (Loimata, The Sweetest Tears)
Writer/Director Sam Kelly (Savage)
Moderated by Director/Actor Katherine McRae (Water Baby)

With an abundance of experience between them across short-form and long-form projects, our panellists will offer invaluable insight. In Aotearoa, even minuscule budgets haven’t stopped us from producing extraordinary stories!

There will be time for questions from the audience as well.

WHEN: Mon 13 June, 7pm – 8:30pm
WHERE: Southern Cross Bar, 39 Abel Smith Street, Te Aro, Wellington

Cash bar with nibbles provided

DEGANZ / NZCS member – Free
Non-member – $10
Please register below

Our Payment and Cancellation Policy

Parking: Pay and display 2-hr max parking available on Abel Smith Street and Cuba Street. Car park building located nearby on Marion Street.

Orange Traffic Light Notes

For the safety of yourself and others:

  • Face masks are required to be worn indoors by all attendees.
  • Please do not attend if you are sick with COVID-19, cold or flu symptoms or have been asked to self-isolate.
  • We may shift the event to Zoom at the same date and time if COVID-19 cases are a concern and will notify all registrants.

Registration Form

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This event is presented by the Director and Editors Guild of Aotearoa New Zealand and the New Zealand Cinematographers Society as part of the Screenlink series.

Last updated on 25 May 2022

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Rehearsal & Performance for Pan-Asian Directors & Actors

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DEGANZ and the Pan-Asian Screen Collective welcome screen directors and actors of Pan-Asian heritage for this Rehearsal & Performance workshop, led by actor/director Jennifer Ward-Lealand.

Pan-Asian participants will get to practise their craft in a fun, supportive environment; expand their knowledge of rehearsal processes; and discover language for rewarding collaborations.

Jennifer (Te Atamira) Ward-Lealand, CNZM, has worked extensively in theatre, film, television, musical and radio for 40 years. She is also an accredited Intimacy Coordinator (Intimacy on Set, UK) for stage and screen. Jennifer is a co-founder of The Actors’ Program and President of Equity New Zealand (since 2007). She is a patron of Q Theatre, Theatre New Zealand and the Te Manu Tīroriori Trust, and a trust board member of the Actors Benevolent Fund.

Her film work includes Desperate Remedies, Vermilion and Dead. TV and web series include Friday Night Bites, Xena: Warrior Princess and intimacy coordinator for Creamerie. She has directed a number of theatre productions and in 2021, directed her first short film, Disrupt, which has been accepted into three international festivals thus far. She is now in post-production as a co-director for the te reo children’s series, Poniponi.

Workshop Details

When: Saturday 18 June, 9:30am – 4pm

Where: St Luke’s Church and Community Centre, 130 Remuera Road, Remuera, Auckland

Cost: DEGANZ / PASC / Equity NZ members – Free
Includes lunch and tea/coffee

Our Cancellation Policy

Open to directors and actors of Pan-Asian descent who are members of either DEGANZ, PASC and/or Equity New Zealand.

Spots are limited as participants will break out into groups to rehearse scenes. We will be taking in five directors and ten actors. These include three standby and observer spots for one director and two actors.

If your name is selected, DEGANZ will contact you directly to confirm your participation.

Preparation

DEGANZ will provide scenes for the class at least one week in advance. Both directors and actors will be expected to do some script prep beforehand.

Orange Traffic Light Notes

For the safety of yourself and others:

  • Do not attend if you are sick with COVID-19, cold or flu symptoms or have been asked to self-isolate.
  • You must wear a surgical or medical-grade mask or higher when indoors. You do not need to wear a mask when acting, eating or drinking, or if exempt from wearing a mask. DEGANZ will supply you with a mask if you need one.
  • Please observe 1 metre physical distancing during scene work.
  • We may organise Rapid Antigen Testing at the start of the day. We will assess this closer to the date.

Register Your Interest

Registrations close Tuesday 7 June, 11AM.

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The Rehearsal & Performance Series is hosted by Directors and Editors Guild of Aotearoa New Zealand with the support of Equity New Zealand and funding from the New Zealand Film Commission

This workshop is part of a DEGANZ initiative aimed at supporting the development of new and emerging Pan-Asian, Pasifika and Māori directors

Presented in association with Pan-Asian Screen Collective

Logos NZFC, PASC and Equity NZ

Last updated on 26 May 2022

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SIWB – You Can’t Ignore it Any Longer

The biggest change ever to happen to the New Zealand screen industry is fast approaching. No, it’s not the merger of TVNZ and Radio NZ. It’s the Screen Industry Workers Bill (SIWB).

Before the end of the year, the SIWB is almost certain to become legislation.

Representative bodies for all workers in the screen industry, and DEGANZ is one of them, will engage with the Screen Production and Development Association (SPADA) and perhaps others once the Bill becomes an Act, to negotiate collective agreements that will set minimum terms and conditions under which contract screen workers will carry out their work.

Writers, Actors, Directors, DOPs, Production Designers, Editors, Visual Effects Artists, Sound Engineers, Composers, Grips, Gaffers, Makeup Artists, Wardrobe Designers—the list goes on to cover every contractor involved in making Film, TV, Games and Advertising, with a few exceptions.

Everybody in those roles being negotiated for will get a say in deciding the terms and conditions for their roles, if they want, through a democratic voting process that will cover members of guilds and non-members alike.

These agreements will be for both domestic productions, and international productions shooting here.

The agreements will be baseline agreements, meaning terms and conditions cannot be any less than what is negotiated. However, those terms and conditions can be improved upon through Enterprise (individual productions) and Individual Contracts. Where there are no Enterprise or Individual Contracts, the collective agreements will apply.

Most people in the New Zealand screen industry have never experienced collective agreements in their roles. The change the SIWB will bring about is perhaps the biggest to happen now and into the future for screen.

Misinformation and disinformation about the Bill could well play a part from here on in. So it behoves everybody in the screen industry to get the facts about the SIWB, because it is going to affect every one of you directly.

From here on in, guilds, associations and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) will be running education programmes to not only inform screen workers but also the general public about what is happening.

A simple explainer is available here.

The detail of the Bill will shortly be finalised and will go back to the House for its Second Reading. Then amendments will be made through Supplementary Order Papers with the changes recommended by Minister Michael Wood before finally being passed into law with Third Reading.

Once the Bill is passed, there will be some work to ensure that everyone working in the screen industry has a contract in writing that sets out some mandatory conditions to deal with sexual harassment, bullying and discrimination and a clause dealing with fair termination. After that it will take some time before DEGANZ sits down with SPADA to negotiate the collective contract setting out the minimums for pay and working conditions for our occupational groups, but we need to start getting ready now.

I encourage all DEGANZ members to make the utmost effort to understand the SIWB because it will be vitally important to your futures.

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

Last updated on 25 May 2022

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Members’ Films Head to Sydney Film Festival

The 69th Sydney Film Festival (June 8-19) will be back in cinemas across 12 days and nights, promising to showcase the greatest, strangest and most exciting works cinema has to offer, with a number of DEGANZ members featuring.

Anthology film We Are Still Here will open SFF as well as have its World Premiere. The film is an unparalleled First Nations celebration, interweaving eight stories by 10 directors from Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific. That includes DEGANZ members Tim Worrall, Chantelle Burgoyne and board member Renae Maihi.

Conceived as a cinematic response to the 250th anniversary of James Cook’s arrival in this region, We Are Still Here is a poetic and powerful statement of resistance and survival. The other directors involved are Beck Cole, Danielle MacLean, Dena Curtis, Richard Curtis, Miki Magasiva, Mario Gaoa and Tracey Rigney. We Are Still Here is a joint indigenous initiative between Screen Australia’s First Nations Department and the NZ Film Commission.

Nude Tuesday is set to have its World Premiere at the festival as well, featured in the Special Presentations programme. Directed by our member Armagan Ballantyne and written by fellow DEGANZ member Jackie van Beek, the unique comedy, filled with eccentric characters and a made up language, follows a conservative middle-aged couple who try to rescue their failing marriage by attending  a new-age relationship retreat.

Directed and co-written by DEGANZ member Michelle Savill, Millie Lies Low, will have its Australian Premiere at SFF. Praised at the Berlin International Film festival and SXSW, Michelle’s dark comedy is a thoughtful exploration of anxiety and imposter syndrome.

Another Kiwi film having its Australian Premiere is biopic Whina. Directed by James Napier Robertson and Paula Whetu Jones, Whina follows the tumultuous personal journey and unshakeable inner strength that led Whinā to become one of Aotearoa’s most formidable leaders.

Congratulations to our members and safe travels to those heading across the ditch to attend!

Learn more at the Sydney Film Festival website.

Last updated on 19 May 2022

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