I Spy a New NZ Detective Series: ‘A Remarkable Place to Die’

DEGANZ members Caroline Bell-Booth, Josh Frizzell, and Charlie Haskell are set to direct the new Queenstown-set detective series A Remarkable Place to Die. The name references the area’s renowned mountain range, The Remarkables.

With four 90-minute episodes, the show will follow Anais Mallory when she returns to her hometown only to find a series of startling homicides. The detective has to confront past ghosts while trying to solve the current mysteries that threaten her and her family.

Creator Philly de Lacey shared in a Variety article,

Queenstown’s stunning landscape paired with its tapestry of unconventional characters, provide the perfect backdrop for this gripping murder mystery. Viewers will be drawn into the world of Detective Anais Mallory as she uncovers intriguing secrets.

The show is a co-production between Screentime New Zealand and Real Film Berlin, in association with Banijay Rights. It will air in Germany, the US, and Aotearoa with ZDF, Acorn TV, and TVNZ.

We look forward to watching when it’s out!

Last updated on 24 April 2024

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‘The Lost Boys of Dilworth’ Edited by Patterson

This news piece contains references to sexual abuse. Please proceed with care.

DEGANZ member Emma Patterson edited TVNZ’s new docu-drama, The Lost Boys of Dilworth.

The hour-long special uncovers the extensive history of abuse within the Auckland all-boys school following the 2023 Dilworth Inquiry and the ongoing impacts on the victims’ lives. The inquiry revealed the experiences of 177 former students and indicated the total number of victims is likely over 230. Mark Staufer, a former student and victim of abuse as a boarder in the 1970s, led the project as the writer and narrator.

The documentary features interviews with re-enactments, shot from the child’s perspective. Co-director Peter Burger shared with Stuff that the dramatised scenes accentuate the true impact of the abuse on the children, which is further emphasised by Emma’s editing.

While covering such dark subject matter, the documentary ultimately hopes to help break the silence around sexual violence.

The Lost Boys of Dilwoth is available to watch on TVNZ+.

Last updated on 24 April 2024

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‘Testify’s Megachurch Mega Drama

TVNZ’s new drama series Testify, directed by DEGANZ members David Stubbs and Paula Whetu Jones, is out now. Paula was also one of the series’ writers alongside Gavin Strawhan.

The big-budget series is chock full of drama, diving deep into the destructive power dynamics of an Evangelical megachurch based in Auckland. David, a charismatic youth pastor, clashes with Scott, his father and church leader when pushing for more inclusivity within the religious community. He forms an unlikely alliance with a queer podcaster and together, they uncover a conspiracy of historic sexual abuse in the church.

The show also features fellow member Jessica Grace Smith as Emmeline, Scott’s obedient daughter and supposedly happily married with two kids.

All episodes of Testify are available on TVNZ+ now!

Last updated on 24 April 2024

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New NZFC Funding Announcement

The New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC) has offered equity investments to two feature films with DEGANZ members Rebecca Tansley and Rouzie Hassanova involved.

My Name is Pati is a feature documentary with Rebecca as the writer/director and producer. The film will receive up to $865,638. The project is about “The remarkable story of Samoan brothers who sang their way onto the world’s greatest opera stages.”

Fellow member Rouzie is one of three producers for Mārama, a feature drama also granted funding of up to $2,420,000 from NZFC. The film’s logline is “1859. When a young, Māori woman is summoned under mysterious circumstances from New Zealand to North Yorkshire, she uncovers the horrifying truth of her colonial heritage and must destroy the titled Englishman who has devastated her family.”

Read more here.

Last updated on 24 April 2024

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Come Together! Right Now!

View from the Top banner

The current fight to protect employee jobs going on at TVNZ by union E tū highlights the importance of unions in the New Zealand screen industry, and the importance of the Screen Industry Workers Act (SIWA) for screen contractors, who until SIWA came along in December 2023 had essentially no protections.

TVNZ is one of the few screen businesses to have a significant number of employees. Those employees have the protections of the Employment Relations Act. Screen contractors now have the protections of SIWA.

The employees at TVNZ who are journalists and media workers and members of E tū have a collective agreement.

We at DEGANZ together with the Writers Guild of New Zealand, Equity New Zealand and some other guilds, are currently seeking to put a collective agreement in place with the Screen Production and Development Association (SPADA).

With collective agreements in place, we will have negotiated minimum pay rates and terms and conditions for screen contractors that will provide some certainty for us all.

And with collective agreements, we will be able to fight much more effectively for our members when those negotiated agreements aren’t adhered to.

If you have been following the developments at TVNZ you are most likely aware that E tū is going to file a claim with the Employment Relations Authority against TVNZ. It’s the union’s view that the company did not follow its consultation requirements, as guaranteed for workers in their collective agreement.

The Employment Relations Authority is a Tribunal established under the Employment Relations Act. Members of the Authority help to resolve employment relationship problems.

Under SIWA, the Employment Relations Authority will also help to resolve contractor relationship problems, should a screen guild seek to file a claim against a producer or production company on behalf of one or more contractors who are members.

The employees at TVNZ have for decades helped create the news, current affairs shows, and other programmes much loved by New Zealand audiences. Following the news of yesterday, Sunday, and the Midday and Tonight Bulletins are gone, and Fair Go significantly reduced, with about 70 job losses.  Over at Warner Bros. Discovery, Newshub staff found out that just under 300 jobs will go there.

We all know that it’s not just news and current affairs programmes that will be affected.

SPADA in a press release yesterday that you can read here, estimates that up to $50 million is coming out of our sector and that there is uncertainty around big popular shows like Shortland Street, Celebrity Treasure Island, The Traitors NZ, Married at First Sight NZ, food shows, home shows, and more.

If ever there was a time for every screen worker in New Zealand to come together as members of their guilds and for us to negotiate collective agreements, it’s right now.

 

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

 

Last updated on 11 April 2024

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