Director’s Toolkit for Emerging Pasifika Directors

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Dive into the process, craft and career of a director.

PISA and DEGANZ welcome new and emerging Pacific Islands directors to apply for this two-day practical guide, taught by director Chris Dudman.

Chris will explore the directing process from his own personal experience on a variety of directing assignments, which includes commercials, long-form documentary, short film and TV drama. He will discuss with participants the way he prepares (analyses scripts, casts, rehearses actors, storyboards), the way he directs actors and camera, and the way he works with editors and composers during post-production.

Taking a warts and all approach, he will use highlights and low-points as examples, showing how he adapts this process to the various forms of work he’s directing. In doing so, he’ll touch on:

  • the differences between being a gun for hire and working on projects he’s instigated
  • collaboration and compromise
  • the director/producer relationship
  • making decisions under pressure
  • avoiding pitfalls
  • the role of chance and luck…

His intention is to create a dialogue in the workshop – about process and what is really involved in directing as a career. And, most importantly, why it has been worth it.

Workshop Details

When:
Saturday 14 May 2022, 9:30am – 5pm
Sunday 15 May 2022, 9:30am – 4pm

Where: Hawke Sea Scouts, 55 West End Road, Herne Bay, Auckland

Cost: Free – Includes tea/coffee and lunch

Our Cancellation Policy

COVID-19 Safety: 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.
  • Face masks must be worn.
  • Please observe 1 metre physical distancing.
  • We may organise Rapid Antigen Testing on the first day.

About Chris Dudman

Chris’ career has involved writing and directing short films, commercials, feature and series documentary and series TV drama. He directed short film successes The Graffiti of Mr Tupaia and Choice Night, and later co-wrote and directed Harry, the gritty crime drama series starring Oscar Kightley and Sam Neill. He wrote and directed The Day that Changed My Life, the multi-award winning documentary about Christchurch’s devastating earthquake, and directed two stand-alone episodes of James Patterson’s true crime anthology series Murder is Forever for U.S. company Stephen David Entertainment. Chris was also a founding partner of and director at Auckland TV commercials production company Robber’s Dog Films.

Chris Dudman

To Apply

Applications Close: Tue 3 May, 10AM

This workshop is open to directors of Pacific Islands descent who are members of either PISA or DEGANZ.

Please complete the application form below and email your CV to tema@deganz.co.nz. Your CV should clearly list your credits and include relevant details, such as year of release, format, festival selection, commissioners and/or platforms where your work has been publicly screened.

Places are limited – PISA will select based on applications and email you to confirm.

Application Form

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Made possible with the financial support of the New Zealand Film Commission

NZFC

This workshop is part of a Directors and Editors Guild of Aotearoa New Zealand initiative aimed at supporting the development of emerging Pan-Asian, Pasifika and Māori directors

Presented in association with Pacific Islands Screen Artists

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Cancelled: Online – Rehearsal & Performance with Actor Alison Bruce

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DEGANZ

Online Session

The online sessions of Rehearsal & Performance give screen directors and actors the chance to meet, practise and gain confidence rehearsing by video call in a safe and supportive space. We will focus particularly on how to sustain connection and engagement online.

Similar to the in-person sessions, all participants will spend time in Breakouts of one director and two actors. Groups will rehearse the same scene and perform them later for the class.

About Alison Bruce

Alison has worked in the theatre and screen industry for nearly 40 years. She’s primarily an actor, but is also a tutor and a maker. She has worked with Massive Theatre making work on Zoom during the lockdowns and, last year, co-directed a production of Julie Hill’s Stories Told to Me By Girls on Zoom. Her screen credits include Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, One Lane Bridge and The Gulf.

Preparation

Selected directors and actors will be expected to do some script prep beforehand. We recommend actors are off-book. DEGANZ will provide the scene at least one week in advance.

Workshop Details:

When: Sunday 10 April, 9am – 12pm

Where: Zoom Meetings

Cost:
DEGANZ / Equity NZ / Ngā Aho Whakaari members – Free
Non-member – $49 (billed upon selection)

Our Payment and Cancellation Policy

Register your interest

Registrations close Friday 1 April, 10AM

Spots are limited to four directors and eight actors. If your name is selected, DEGANZ will contact you directly to confirm your participation.

Suitable for film school graduates (or equivalent) to mid-career directors.

Registration Form

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Made possible with the financial support of the New Zealand Film Commission

NZFC

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Director’s Toolkit with Paul Murphy – Wellington

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Gain insights into the craft of directing in this two-day workshop with experienced director Paul Murphy.

Paul will share his approach to directing narrative drama, drawing on his well-established background in the New Zealand screen industry. He will provide participants with insight into grass roots filmmaking, covering development, pre-production, shooting and post.

The Directors Toolkit aims to establish a professional approach to directing and underline the keys to good work.

Workshop Details:

When:
Saturday 2 April, 9:30am – 5pm
Sunday 3 April, 9:30am – 4pm

Where: Taia Studios, 4 Bay Road, Kilbirnie, Wellington 6022

Cost:
Member – Free
Non-member – $79 (billed upon selection)

Includes tea/coffee and lunch.

Our Payment and Cancellation Policy

About Paul Murphy

Paul grew up amongst the creative chaos of Blerta. His father, Geoff Murphy, and uncle Bruno Lawrence became key role models that guided his future in film. What began with helping out turned into working professionally on films like Goodbye Pork Pie, Carry Me Back and UTU. In the late 80’s he was a key grip for television and feature film, including Lord of the Rings and King Kong.

In 2000, he wrote and directed the short film SOX. He went on to direct on The Tribe and Sensing Murder. His first feature film, NZ Box Office hit Second-Hand Wedding, competed at the Shanghai International Film Festival. It picked up Best Female in a Leading Role and Best Female in a Supporting Role at the 2008 Qantas NZ Film and Television awards.

Paul followed it up with rom-com Love Birds, starring Rhys Darby and Sally Hawkins. It won Best Director of a Foreign Film Audience award at the prestigious Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Festival in China. In 2020, Paul’s third film Lowdown Dirty Criminals was released in cinemas, a crime caper comedy with James Rolleston and Rebecca Gibney.

Having been around actors, artists and musicians his whole life, Paul prides himself on his ability to connect, communicate and create a safe environment for them to produce their best work.

To Apply

Applications Close: Thu 24 March, 1PM

Please complete the application form below and email your CV to tema@deganz.co.nz. Your CV should clearly list your credits and include relevant details, such as year of release, format, festival selection, commissioners and/or platforms where your work has publicly screened.

Places are limited – the Guild will select based on applications. We will email you to confirm.

Red Traffic Light Notes

For the safety of yourself and others:

  • A valid My Vaccine Pass is an entry requirement.
  • Face masks must be worn at the workshop.
  • Seating will allow for 1 metre physical distancing.
  • Please do not attend if you are sick with COVID-19, cold or flu symptoms or have been asked to self-isolate.

Rapid Antigen Testing: We will ask you to take a RAT when you arrive on the first day as an added health and safety measure. Please arrive 20-30 minutes before the start of the workshop to check-in and take your test in the waiting room. Once you return a negative test result, you will be allowed to attend the workshop. If you return a positive test result, you will need to go home to self-isolate and we will organise a refund of your ticket (for non-members).

Application Form

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Made possible with the financial support of the New Zealand Film Commission

NZFC

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Online Rehearsal Dynamics with Miranda Harcourt

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The workshop tutor, a woman, at home against a bookshelf.

How do you rehearse in the midst of an outbreak?

In this workshop, Miranda Harcourt brings front-line advice and on-set insights to you from the major projects she works on every day around the globe. As an acting coach, Miranda has recently led online rehearsals for three BBC projects and for Garth Davis’ film Foe, starring Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal and Aaron Pierre.

This workshop is perfect for screen directors who want to learn exercises, tools and tips for running successful rehearsals via video call.

Four of the directors in the class will get to direct pairs of actors in Zoom breakouts and receive helpful input and feedback from Miranda. We will provide the scenes ahead of time.

Workshop Details:

When: Saturday 26 March 2022, 9am – 1pm

Where: Zoom Meetings

Cost:
Member – Free
Non-member – $49 (billed upon selection)

Our Payment and Cancellation Policy

About Miranda Harcourt, ONZM

Miranda’s approach is based on years of writing and performing verbatim theatre in prisons in NZ, Australia and the UK, as well as her work as an on-set acting coach with renowned actors and directors on films all over the world.

Miranda has coached Oscar, Golden Globe, Emmy and BAFTA-award nominated and winning performances in films and TV shows from Bright Star (2012) to Lion (2015) to Being the Ricardos (2021). She was the dedicated coach for Sunny Pawar (young Saroo) in Lion and was coach and Director: Background Action on Garth Davis’ Mary Magdalene, starring Rooney Mara and Joachim Phoenix. Her first feature film The Changeover, co-directed with Stuart McKenzie, was released to acclaim in NZ, the UK and the US. Miranda’s daughter, Thomasin Mckenzie is the winner of the NBR award for Breakout Talent 2018.

For seven years Miranda was the Head of the Acting Department at Te Kura Toi Whakaari o Aotearoa: New Zealand Drama School. She been awarded the ONZM (for services to theatre and the community) and the Centennial Suffrage Medal. Other awards include the NEXT Arts Woman of the Year, the 2018 Women of Influence Arts Woman of the Year and the 2018 Women in Film and TV Award for Achievement in Film. She has also won many awards and nominations for acting and directing including the Media Peace Prize.

Her training was as an actor at Toi Whakaari — New Zealand Drama School and as a Drama-therapist at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.

Eligibility:

Participant  — You must have at least ONE directing credit on a narrative drama short film that has been publicly screened at a festival or on a curated platform (e.g. on demand, Vimeo Staff Picks, Short of the Week).

Breakout Participant — 4 places available

  • You must have at least ONE directing credit on a scripted audiovisual work – either feature film, telefeature or series commissioned for broadcast.

OR

  • At least THREE directing credits on narrative drama short films OR scripted web series that have been publicly screened at a festival or on a curated platform (e.g. on demand, Vimeo Staff Picks, Short of the Week).
 

To Apply

Applications Close: Mon 14 March, 10AM

Please complete the application form below and email your CV to tema@deganz.co.nz. Your CV should clearly list your directing credits and include details such as festival selection, commissioners and/or platforms where your work has publicly screened.

Places are limited – the Guild will select based on applications. We will email you to confirm.

Application Form

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Made possible with the financial support of the New Zealand Film Commission

NZFC

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Here We Go Again

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I do hope everyone had a restful and restorative Christmas and New Year’s break, because here we go again.

Like 2021, a false sense of security across the summer has been ended this year, quicker than last, with COVID bashing down the doors once more.Thankfully, production has been rolling in Auckland since the move to Orange and a number of shows are in production or have completed. We are all wiser about how to operate in a COVID environment, but the new strain means new adjustments for all.

The Government gave up on the elimination strategy last year and we are now faced with having to live with COVID in our personal and work lives.

At the Guild, we have conducted our risk assessment for the office and our events, which were severely impacted in 2021. A number of our workshops require close proximity between actors, whether it be Rehearsal & Performance, Directing In the Intimate Zone, or Rehearsal Dynamics. Others we are able to conduct in an online environment—not ideal but possible—like the Directors Masterclass, Director’s Toolkit, Emerging Women Filmmakers Incubator, and the Table Reads that we do with NZWG.

We have reviewed all of these and our other one-off events and will be rolling out our Omicron-adjusted workshop and event programme from February. Keep an eye out for a new series of workshops that will look in detail at our template film agreements for directors (under development) and editors (already available), so that you can better understand and negotiate your contracts.

In the meantime, we all need to prepare for home isolation with the Omicron variant of COVID. If you haven’t already done this, you’ll find the Government’s information page on how to prepare your household for COVID here and the updated guidelines for life at Red here.

For those contemplating production, ScreenSafe continues to provide a comprehensive set of guidelines and advice for productions here. Continue to check regularly as this will update with Omicron and Rapid Antigen Testing.

We could well see for NZ productions the introduction of strict Zones on set with Omicron. If you want to understand what shape this could take, see the DGA, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE and Teamsters document on COVID protocols on set, including how their Zone system works.

As always, the guilds are always contactable and ready to assist in these trying times. If you are having an issue, need some advice or assistance, or require some help, as members you can reach out to me or the ED of the organisation that represents you. So don’t hesitate.

Although we continue to be challenged by the pandemic we can still count our blessings that Aotearoa New Zealand hasn’t yet been as severely impacted as many other countries. It’s still summer. And with the acceptance that COVID is here to stay, we have more freedoms than in past systems used to control the spread.

Stay safe, stay well, and enjoy yourself wherever and whenever you can—it’s good for your wellbeing.

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

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