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John Barnett CNZM, ONZM 1945 โ€“ 2025

Producer John Barnett was at the heart of the NZ film and TV industry pretty much from its formative years through to today. Heโ€™s made multiple films, documentaries and TV series, employing thousands of above and below the line people alongโ€ฆ
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Editor Jesse Dixon: How I Got Started in the Industry

I didnโ€™t always want to be an editor. I loved film and the moving image, but I was put off by the big crews and the โ€œart by committeeโ€ feel of it all. Like many artsy teens, I thought I was a revolutionary artist with something profoundโ€ฆ
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The Pursuit of Passion

Last night I participated in the first of three sessions of the NZFC-supported Animation Matchmaking Series, put together by ourselves, the Visual Effects Guild and the Writers Guild. One hundred and ten people turned out for the evening.โ€ฆ
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A Kลrero with Colourist Damian McDonnell

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DEGANZโ€™s Izzi Hoskyn sat down with award-winning Colourist Damian McDonnell to take a peek behind the curtain of the craft of colour grading. Damian has over twenty yearsโ€™ experience as a colourist and editor in both Hollywood and Aotearoa.โ€ฆ
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Round Two

The Copyright Act Review is back on, with a proposed Stage 1 set of proposals being finessed for feedback. Although we lobbied long and hard on behalf of directors in the previous review started in 2017, the whole review was ultimately putโ€ฆ
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Cannes… One Mountain Too High

The Cannes film festival is over for another year. And itโ€™s another year where no New Zealand film got into Official Competition, Critics Week, Directorโ€™s Fortnight, or the short film competition. The last NZ feature in Cannes was Cristineโ€ฆ
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Hereโ€™s Hoping

Donald Trumpโ€™s tariff threats on film is causing considerable angst globally and extreme nervousness in New Zealand, even though detail is still entirely lacking, apart from Jon Voightโ€™s plan, which seems to have triggered Trumpโ€™s reaction. Inโ€ฆ
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How a Professional Website Can Help Your Film Career

It can be useful for freelance filmmakers to have a professional online space for their work. DEGANZ's Events and Membership Coordinator, Izzi Hoskyn, sat down with Tema Pua of Tempixel Design to chat about how having a website can help freelanceโ€ฆ
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So Where Do We Stand?

As we come to the end of 2025, itโ€™s worth taking a look at where the NZ screen sector stands. Global market pressures have been buffeting the New Zealand screen sector for years, and our hair is a little more than tussled. Our industryโ€ฆ
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A Kลrero with Animation Studio Mukpuddy

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As a follow-up to this year's Animation Matchmaking series, DEGANZ's Izzi Hoskyn sat down with Ryan Cooper and Alex Leighton, two-thirds of the team leading Mukpuddy Ltd. Mukpuddy originated from humble beginnings in 2002, starting in a basementโ€ฆ
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People Have the Power

The Directors and Editors Guild of Aotearoa New Zealand is both a guild and a union. Weโ€™ve been a union since 2019. The NZ Writers Guild started out as a union in 1976 and Equity New Zealand came into existence as a union in 1944. We threeโ€ฆ
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Thereโ€™s Nothing To Be Scared Of

Today, Thursday 22 October, itโ€™s expected that more than up to 100,000 doctors, nurses, allied health workers, and primary and secondary school teachers will go out on strike. They are seeking better pay and working conditions, and betterโ€ฆ
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A Kลrero with Director of Photography Simon Raby NZCS

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For this iteration of DEGANZ's new blog series, A Kลrero With..., Izzi Hoskyn spoke with Director of Photography Simon Raby NZCS. Simon is a freelance Director/Cinematographer with 45 years of industry experience. He works largely in featureโ€ฆ
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Scraped From the Internet

Iโ€™ve been writing View from the Top almost every two weeks now for the last ten years. With AI such a topical issue, I thought I would task AI to write the blog for me this week to see what it came up with. I gave it one prompt, and hereโ€™sโ€ฆ
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ANZSE Career Spotlights

Read about the illustrious careers of ANZSE-accredited editors.

Editor Anastasia Doniants: How I Got Started in the Industry

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The Accidental Editor It was 2009 and Iโ€™m working at Unity Books in Auckland, my specialty โ€“ childrenโ€™s picture books and classics of literature. Itโ€™s been 2 years since I quit my career as an art director in advertising with no intentionโ€ฆ
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Director Jamie Lawrence: How I Got Started in the Industry

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Iโ€™m 18, with frosted tips, earnest to a fault, about to graduate from South Seas Film & TV School. I post out my CV to every production company I can find: nobody bites. (Though, I did send it with a bar of soap wrapped in 16mm film andโ€ฆ
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Editor Jochen FitzHerbert: How I Got Started in the Industry

, ,
I should preface by saying that I never planned to be working in the film and television industry. The honest truth is that when I finished school and decided to go to university, Film and Television papers seemed like a fun choice in amongstโ€ฆ
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Editor Brendon Chan: How I Got Started in the Industry

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I originally studied cinematography at film school and ended up getting work in the lighting department for about four years on TV commercials, TV drama and films. I'm a fairly quiet person and had romantic notions of being quiet, cowering behindโ€ฆ
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Editor Kerri Roggio: How I Got Started in the Industry

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My first job right out of film school was to take over an overnight unpaid assistant editing job on a low budget featureโ€ฆ and I had no idea what I was doing. Film school gave me friends in the same industry, and a good grasp on how to useโ€ฆ
Read more

How I Got into the Screen Industry

On Wednesday evening I participated in our online Editors and Assistant Editors Gathering. There were about 35 of us. It was an opportunity to discuss issues that affect editors and assistant editors, and to network. One of the questionsโ€ฆ
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A Kลrero With…

In this guest blog series, we speak to screen professionals to find out more about their job and what most people might not know, including those working in the industry. This blog offers an inside look into different parts of the industry and offers insights into how directors and editors can be successful in the collaborative process of their mahi.

Editor Anastasia Doniants: How I Got Started in the Industry

,
The Accidental Editor It was 2009 and Iโ€™m working at Unity Books in Auckland, my specialty โ€“ childrenโ€™s picture books and classics of literature. Itโ€™s been 2 years since I quit my career as an art director in advertising with no intentionโ€ฆ
Read more

Director Jamie Lawrence: How I Got Started in the Industry

, ,
Iโ€™m 18, with frosted tips, earnest to a fault, about to graduate from South Seas Film & TV School. I post out my CV to every production company I can find: nobody bites. (Though, I did send it with a bar of soap wrapped in 16mm film andโ€ฆ
Read more

Editor Jochen FitzHerbert: How I Got Started in the Industry

, ,
I should preface by saying that I never planned to be working in the film and television industry. The honest truth is that when I finished school and decided to go to university, Film and Television papers seemed like a fun choice in amongstโ€ฆ
Read more

Editor Brendon Chan: How I Got Started in the Industry

,
I originally studied cinematography at film school and ended up getting work in the lighting department for about four years on TV commercials, TV drama and films. I'm a fairly quiet person and had romantic notions of being quiet, cowering behindโ€ฆ
Read more

Editor Kerri Roggio: How I Got Started in the Industry

,
My first job right out of film school was to take over an overnight unpaid assistant editing job on a low budget featureโ€ฆ and I had no idea what I was doing. Film school gave me friends in the same industry, and a good grasp on how to useโ€ฆ
Read more

How I Got into the Screen Industry

On Wednesday evening I participated in our online Editors and Assistant Editors Gathering. There were about 35 of us. It was an opportunity to discuss issues that affect editors and assistant editors, and to network. One of the questionsโ€ฆ
Read more

How I Got Started in the Industry

In this guest blog series, our members reflect on how they made their way into assistant editing, editing, and directingโ€”with no two stories the same. They offer advice for those starting out.

Editor Anastasia Doniants: How I Got Started in the Industry

,
The Accidental Editor It was 2009 and Iโ€™m working at Unity Books in Auckland, my specialty โ€“ childrenโ€™s picture books and classics of literature. Itโ€™s been 2 years since I quit my career as an art director in advertising with no intentionโ€ฆ
Read more

Director Jamie Lawrence: How I Got Started in the Industry

, ,
Iโ€™m 18, with frosted tips, earnest to a fault, about to graduate from South Seas Film & TV School. I post out my CV to every production company I can find: nobody bites. (Though, I did send it with a bar of soap wrapped in 16mm film andโ€ฆ
Read more

Editor Jochen FitzHerbert: How I Got Started in the Industry

, ,
I should preface by saying that I never planned to be working in the film and television industry. The honest truth is that when I finished school and decided to go to university, Film and Television papers seemed like a fun choice in amongstโ€ฆ
Read more

Editor Brendon Chan: How I Got Started in the Industry

,
I originally studied cinematography at film school and ended up getting work in the lighting department for about four years on TV commercials, TV drama and films. I'm a fairly quiet person and had romantic notions of being quiet, cowering behindโ€ฆ
Read more

Editor Kerri Roggio: How I Got Started in the Industry

,
My first job right out of film school was to take over an overnight unpaid assistant editing job on a low budget featureโ€ฆ and I had no idea what I was doing. Film school gave me friends in the same industry, and a good grasp on how to useโ€ฆ
Read more

Editor Anastasia Doniants: How I Got Started in the Industry

,
The Accidental Editor It was 2009 and Iโ€™m working at Unity Books in Auckland, my specialty โ€“ childrenโ€™s picture books and classics of literature. Itโ€™s been 2 years since I quit my career as an art director in advertising with no intentionโ€ฆ
Read more

Director Jamie Lawrence: How I Got Started in the Industry

, ,
Iโ€™m 18, with frosted tips, earnest to a fault, about to graduate from South Seas Film & TV School. I post out my CV to every production company I can find: nobody bites. (Though, I did send it with a bar of soap wrapped in 16mm film andโ€ฆ
Read more

Editor Jochen FitzHerbert: How I Got Started in the Industry

, ,
I should preface by saying that I never planned to be working in the film and television industry. The honest truth is that when I finished school and decided to go to university, Film and Television papers seemed like a fun choice in amongstโ€ฆ
Read more

Editor Brendon Chan: How I Got Started in the Industry

,
I originally studied cinematography at film school and ended up getting work in the lighting department for about four years on TV commercials, TV drama and films. I'm a fairly quiet person and had romantic notions of being quiet, cowering behindโ€ฆ
Read more

Editor Kerri Roggio: How I Got Started in the Industry

,
My first job right out of film school was to take over an overnight unpaid assistant editing job on a low budget featureโ€ฆ and I had no idea what I was doing. Film school gave me friends in the same industry, and a good grasp on how to useโ€ฆ
Read more