Wherefore Art Thou Public Service Content Provider?

10 November 2016

New Zealand On Air’s recent announcement of changes to its funding strategy and to a lesser extent the mooted desire of TVNZ to take over Freeview have brought discussion of public service broadcasting once again to the fore.

Public service broadcasting has had a chequered history since 1989 with both the Labour and National Parties ensuring Television New Zealand’s ability to operate as a commercial public broadcaster.

The doing away of the charter in 2008 by National let loose the commercial beasts at TVNZ forever and public service content has diminished significantly as a result.

NZ On Air was set up to ensure a broad range of NZ content on screen. While they have fought their fight, they do not control the broadcast platforms that operate at the behest of advertisers. Consequently, it is difficult to get a broad range of public service content screened because broadcasters shoot for the lowest common denominator and are unwilling to take creative risks in case they affect advertising revenue.

Now NZ on Air is proposing a new funding strategy that essentially expands the content gatekeeping from the commercially-driven broadcasters to include the commercially-driven online platforms, the likes of NZME and Fairfax Media.

Some look to Radio New Zealand as the great online hope. But like NZ on Air, Radio NZ hasn’t had an increase in funding for the last eight years. Yes, they have developed the Wireless, revamped their website and are now generating screen content with the filming and broadcasting/streaming of Checkpoint. They’re also engaging in providing independently produced digital content with a platform as they did with Christchurch Dilemmas. It’s likely that they’ll start commissioning more independently produced content. But they can’t compete with the media giants of the world in the online space without a lot more funding.

Could Radio NZ be the home for public service TV? Unlikely. Funding issues aside, the shelf life of linear TV is up for debate and the infrastructure costs are high. Without deep pockets, nobody wants to take on the voracious content beast that is a linear TV channel, which has to chew up and spit out content non-stop. Viceland, a new TV channel from digital hipster Vice Media and partners A & E in the U.S. and Rogers Media in Canada illustrates what’s needed for a linear channel start-up: distinctive content, lots of it, and piles of money to make it or buy it and play it out.

It’s clear that a lot of people still watch linear TV as NZ On Air’s recent Audience Report showed. It also identified the significant increase in online services, particularly SVOD, such as Lightbox and Netflix. This trend is reflected internationally as well.

David Abraham, Chief Executive of Channel 4 in the UK, claimed that the future of TV lies “not with either linear or on-demand, but a creative and visual integration of the two worlds, blending the strengths of both into a single brand.”

NZ On Air’s refocusing of its funding strategy is necessary in light of the impact of the digital world. But it doesn’t address the real issue that lies at the heart of screen content delivery in New Zealand—When TVNZ 7 was shut down by the National government, we lost what potentially could have been our non-commercial, public service content TV broadcaster. And now with the growth of digital content providers looking to satisfy the need of content consumers after whatever they want, whenever they want it on multiple screens, we don’t have a non-commercial, public service online platform to guard against the total commercialization of content in that space.

With our current business-driven government, what we need is a bright spark or two to put a convincing case forward that meets the need of public service content on TV and online and the government’s desire for a return on investment that’s attractive–not necessarily a monetary one.

Until we get a public service content provider fit for the digital age, we are going to continue to wince and grimace our way through the majority of what’s on offer just like we’ve done with the US election coverage.

 

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

/by

An Inspiration

26 October 2016

It’s been a helluva busy year, and I’ve been offshore more than once, the latest in October when former head of the Council of Trade Unions Helen Kelly died of lung cancer.

I never met Helen Kelly. I only knew her from the media as she fought her fights as a fierce champion of workers’ rights.

In the screen industry, she is probably best known for her intense opposition to Warners Bros’ ultimately successful efforts to get NZ employment law changed to have movie workers classified as self-employed contractors.

Perhaps more pertinently for all of us, Helen Kelly’s fight for improved health and safety conditions for NZ forestry workers undoubtedly helped contribute to the H & S changes that came into effect on 1 April of this year, which will make screen industry workers safer on set.

I wanted to acknowledge Helen Kelly because although the passage of the Employment Contracts Act in 1991 effectively rendered unions irrelevant and put most workers into a situation of selling their labour in a private transaction under an individual contract, she continued to passionately pursue an agenda to make it easier for unions to represent workers and negotiate collective employment contracts.

Helen Kelly’s fight is in essence every guild in New Zealand’s fight.

All of our members negotiate individual contracts for their employment, and most often are at a distinct disadvantage when doing so. They have no job security. And are under increasing pressure to do more for less.

As a guild one of our roles is to seek to ensure a fair and respectful workplace environment for our members. We can only look at the Directors Guild of America’s situation with envy.

The DGA as a union negotiates collectively on behalf of its members, setting pay rates for DGA productions. They protect the creative rights of directors and ensure residuals for ongoing compensation for directorial authorship. Healthcare and pension plans are just some of the other benefits of DGA membership.

Like the NZ unions, the DEGNZ’s efforts for worker’s rights are made difficult by our deregulated labour market. And because of this we can look to Helen Kelly’s approach to making unions relevant for guidance in how to move DEGNZ forward: make it a social movement with a set of values and activities that people will want to be associated with.

All of us at DEGNZ—board members and workers—seek the best working environment possible for career directors and editors in New Zealand.

At board level we are engaged now in discussions that have will have a significant impact on future working conditions for our members. And at the Annual General Meeting this weekend, NZ on Air CEO Jane Wrightson will speak to one such topic—the restructuring of NZ On Air’s funding strategy. As we approach this and the many other current and future issues that we will have to deal with, we can look to Helen Kelly’s no-nonsense approach for inspiration.

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

/by

Shakin’ It Up

29 September 2016

Last week I was at the No Borders Coproduction market in New York, which is part of IFP Film Week. Across 6 days I mixed with mainly American writers, directors and producers who were trying to get their narrative features or documentaries financed. The way the Americans go about it sits in stark contrast to what most New Zealand filmmakers are faced with.

US filmmakers are entirely dependent on attracting investors to their films—industry investors who put up time, equipment, facilities; cash investors who want a premium on their equity and can make use of Section 181—legislation to make a tax deduction on their investment; or non-profit foundations that want to support filmmaking, often social issue documentary. The idea of earning fees for a US first time feature filmmaker is mostly a dream.

I met three filmmakers from Texas who make a good case in point. They all work in or around the film industry. They and many of their mates support each other in their filmmaking endeavours. One was the director of the film they were at Film Week with, so the other two who were also directors had taken on the roles of producers to help their friend. They estimated that their film was going to cost them north of US$200k to shoot. They were putting up US$60k themselves in cash, and had brokered deals in kind to cover the rest. They were at Film Week to find finishing funds and distribution. The writer/director’s aim for his feature was of course to make a great film, with the hope that his talent shone through sufficiently to attract more money and distribution for his next feature—if not he’s back riding the same bicycle if he wants to make another. In fact, his talent had been noticed with the two shorts he had already made at what we in NZ would consider B & C level film festivals. This was getting him some traction in the market. I don’t know how well the Texans did at Film Week finding funding sources, but they were six weeks out from first day of principal photography when I meet them.

I arrived back from No Borders on Sunday morning in time to attend the second day of the Big Screen Symposium. I had missed the presentation by NZ on Air CEO Jane Wrightson on the draft strategy for dishing out around NZ$127 million in government funding for local content, but was in time to hear Dave Gibson outline the NZFC’s new thoughts around how they spend the more than NZ$20 million of government funding they receive each year for New Zealand feature film development and production. I know that the Americans can get tax breaks, have a much bigger market, and that we have cultural imperatives, but it’s still stark, right?

I have yet to go carefully through the information that has been put out by NZ on Air and NZFC with these announcements, but a few things stand out:

NZ on Air is openly talking about TV producers having to bring investors to the party for anything with a budget over $500k. Those investors will primarily be the broadcasters. But the language signals a change in attitude from government funding to public/private sector partnership. And now the vertically integrated local digital studios such as NZME—with funding, infrastructure, marketing clout and channels, and distribution channels to a large number of eyeballs—can openly compete for funding with bedroom-based production companies. Competition indeed. No wonder the MBIE mantra “Innovation” now sits front and centre in the NZ on Air lexicon.

On the NZFC front, CEO Dave Gibson finally openly declared that dark (read arthouse) drama is going to struggle in the current regime. That of course wasn’t news. Nor the fact that NZFC is looking for lighter, warmhearted fare. What was news was that a new strategy is coming for Māori. With a management change and a few years under the bridge from the failure that was Te Paepae Ataata, NZFC is once again looking at how to bring Māori into the fold, and finally getting Māori telling the Māori stories that have proved so successful in film. Here’s hoping.

The other news of note from NZFC was the announcment of GPS 2026 (another MBIE-like label), a forward looking initiative to imagine what the industry should look like and be doing a decade from now. This is a positive and DEGNZ will take up Dave Gibson’s invitation for the guilds to be involved. Ten years ago, the biggest player in the film industry today, Netflix, didn’t exist and nobody even imagined they were coming, but perhaps a bit of proactive crystal ball gazing on our parts might be prescient.

NZ on Air and NZFC are shaking it up; a necessity to be honest. Digital disruption is usually attributed as the cause for everything in the screen industry these days. And it’s true. Out with the old and in with the new, whether you like it or not. The glass half empty leftie conspiracy theorists would say the neo-liberalists are using digital disruption to impoverish the established screen middleclass and put as many of the young working class as close to the breadline as possible. The glass half full screen industry practitioners would likely enthuse as Cliff Curtis did in his closing at the Big Screen Symposium about what a wonderful world it is now for the young in film and TV to make their mark.

As I sit in my malfunctioning chair at the Guild, however, it looks to me like there is more opportunity than ever in this new era to make even lower wages as a director or editor. I guess that Americans would say we should be thankful to have government funding to help us do that.

DEGNZ will be making a submission to the proposed draft strategy for TV funding. If you have any thoughts you would like to share, please feel free to do so to me and to NZ on Air.

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

 

/by

What’s Happening?

Looking out my window I can see pohutukawa blossoms on my tree. Spring really is here. An interesting time to take the temperature on the industry, I thought. So I decided to ring around the other guilds and pose a simple question: What’s happening? Here are the responses I got as well as my own:

WRITERS GUILD
Alice Shearman, Executive Director (ED) of the New Zealand Writers Guild (NZWG), tells me the good news is that membership is up 20%. They are conducting an internal review of their processes for members, and refocusing on their core services around contracts, lobbying, rates and guidelines. They are also reviewing the Seed Grant Funding to ensure its fit for purpose. They’ve got the Screen Writer Awards New Zealand (SWANZ) on 22 September, will be sharing a booth at the Big Screen Symposium with DEGNZ, are launching in the not too distant future a Find A Writer function on their website so that you can easily locate writers for work, and will open the next Call for Applications for the Seed Grant Fund on 23 September. The Government’s Creative Sector Review also earns NZWG attention.

ACTORS EQUITY
Over at Actors Equity NZ, Industrial Organiser/Officer Melissa Ansell-Bridges has said they’ve a number of activities on the go, including:

  • A series of Green Rooms on Self-taping and Showreels in Wellington and Auckland to prepare actors for this growing aspect of auditioning.
  • Finalised survey on Theatre conditions in New Zealand, assessing results currently
  • Beginning preparations for our Graduate Day, an opportunity to welcome new actors into the industry and prepare them with important information.
  • Had a number of great workshops this year through the Equity Foundation including 2 days with Melissa Bruder, Brita McVeigh, Sara Wiseman, Jennifer Ward-Lealand and Stuart Turner.
  • Preparations underway for an Actors Benevolent Fund fundraiser quiz night.

Melissa also tells me that they’ve also announced that Elizabeth McRae is the recipient of the Equity New Zealand Lifetime Achievement.

NZ TECHOS
International productions remain a significant workload for the New Zealand Film and Video Technicians’ Guild, according to Executive Officer, Karla Rogers. There are always immigration issues and with the new Health and Safety regulations in force from 1 April, ensuring H & S compliance, particularly on lower budget shoots coming into the country, is high on the list. Health and Safety Officers are like gold at the moment and will be for the foreseeable future. The volume of production both domestic and international is relatively high, and crew shortages are a real concern, even with the commercials market a little on the quiet side.

SPADA
It’s a busy time too with the Screen Production and Development Association, as ED Sandy Gildea reports. SPADA is leading a joint stand with NZFC at the main TV market MIPCOM in October, providing a branded umbrella for Kiwi producers to work under. They will also be putting into effect an MOU signed with the UK’s producer body PACT that will see some new initiatives at MIPCOM. Their International Training Programme (ITP) with Angus Finney has its third and final module from 21 – 23 November, immediately followed by the annual SPADA conference on the 24th & 25th. The calls for the South Pacific Pictures Big Pitch and nominations for the SPADA Industry Awards are out now. SPADA have also secured a travel bursary from Grow Wellington, now called WREDA, that will support one producer from the 2015 and 2016 years of the ITP to attend the Production Finance Market in the UK… and it’s Wellington’s David Stubbs who gets it. Like NZWG, SPADA is also actively involved in the Government’s Creative Sector Review.

DEGNZ
Here at DEGNZ we continue to address the lack of copyright for directors, and engage with government over the Creative Sector Review as well. We maintain our very close communication with the Australian Directors Guild as they negotiate with the Screen Producers Association of Australia over terms and conditions for TV drama directors. DEGNZ board member and long time director Grant Campbell has now seen in two board meetings as a new board member of the Australian Screen Directors Authorship Collecting Society, and on the DEGNZ board we have recently said thanks and farewell to Richard Riddiford and Costa Botes, both of whom contributed significantly to the governance of the guild. We continue to operate an extensive professional development programme for directors and editors, and we will be announcing a call shortly for a documentary editing mentorship. Next week we will be holding our inaugural Women Filmmakers Incubator with an exciting lineup of experts, coming on the back of three of the guild’s women directors receiving a Gaylene Preston Directors’ Award. And as Alice of NZWG mentioned, we will be sharing a booth at the Big Screen Symposium, so please come and say hello to our board members and staff, or just hang out during sessions. On the DEGNZ staff front, Samantha Caughey, our former Events and Marketing Coordinator, whom many of you will have dealt with, has taken up a bigger workload at the University of Auckland. Replacing her is the highly capable Tema Pua, an intern at DEGNZ during 2016. With Christmas now in sight we have begun planning for the annual Combined Guilds Xmas Party, dates and venues to come.

Hope you’re all enjoying the sunshine after that interminable rain, in Auckland at least.

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

/by

Post Insights

This weekend DEGNZ is running a two-day workshop with award-winning film editor David Coulson. David has a working relationship with director Niki Caro that has seen him edit her last five films, including her latest The Zookeepers Wife, starring Jessica Chastain and Daniel Brühl.

While looking for background information on David I came across an article from a Script to Screen session that was hosted by DEGNZ member and director Leanne Pooley with David and another DEGNZ member, editor Cushla Dillon.

A few comments that David and Cushla made jumped out at me:

David (on letting the writer into the edit suite):
“The writer and I are fundamentally connected, the two processes are inter-related, but when I am working in the suite, that ends. It would be like inviting a thoroughbred horse into a slaughterhouse because what is going on in there can be mercenary and seemingly destructive.  I take scenes the scriptwriter saw at the end and put them at the beginning. I’ve chopped scenes in half and put them in different places. It’s the last stop before this thing rolls out the door for the rest of its life so you have to be open to some of these seemingly destructive possibilities because new things that might not have been envisaged can come from that.”

Cushla (on rhythm):
“My response is purely to the material,” said Cushla. “The script is just a plan or a draft. I read a lot of scripts and when you read a great one, words just roll off the page and you don’t stop and think about how it will all come together. The writer has written a great script – and here’s a tip for writers! Read good, well written scripts, look at how the writer inserts the details without dictating to me how I will cut a scene. I look at how the images respond to each other, taking time to consider and meditate on all the images and the work of the craftspeople involved in the shooting.”

David (on the responsibility of the director to honour the script):
“We always honour the process,” said David. “Someone has written something, then someone has filmed it and then we need to put it all together. To do that, we have to stand back. The script exists only on paper and it doesn’t have the cadences and rhythms of actors speaking or the extraordinary shots that make up a film. The script is the navigation point and we all attempt to faithfully re-create it.”

Cushla and David (on the boundaries when working with a writer/director):
“The editor’s role is that of negotiator,” said Cushla. “I see myself as the audience’s representative. I’m there to interpret the material I see so that it honours the script and the intent of the director but I’m also there to negotiate with the writer/director. If I think they’re not using the best technique to communicate or are a bit misguided, I’ll tell them. For new writer/directors, there is so much to learn and it is an intimate relationship based upon trust. Leave your ego at the door because we’re all here to honour the film and the story it tells. If things don’t work out it doesn’t mean you are a bad filmmaker but let’s use the skills we have to make the best film we can.”

David responded that it is different when the writer/director is there. “It’s hard to generalise because everyone is different but it can be tricky. Some writer/directors I’ve worked with are obsessively protective of what they’ve written and some are the opposite. We can come to a fork in the road: re-interpret a film and make it a good one, a different one, or do the best we can with an idea that really isn’t the best. Every decision that is made in the room has to be dealt with as dispassionately and yet as emotionally as possible, and that is a weird thing. I use humour in the editing suite, especially if the process is gruelling.”

I felt that these are extremely valuable insights for any team heading into a feature film, particular a debut feature. And they highlight a few of the many reasons why you should get the best editor you can onto your project. Thanks to Script-to-Screen for the permission to reprint these takeouts here.

 

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

/by