We are pleased to be able to support individual filmmakers as well as work alongside industry organisations to provide valuable training opportunities.
As part of our review of support for professional development earlier in the year, we decided to refocus our priorities around producers, directors and writers and international engagement. In line with these priorities we have decided to review our partnerships with a number of offshore project markets and professional development providers to ensure we are helping match individuals with the most valuable opportunities for them.
Here are some of the details of recent professional development support:
Producer International Travel Assistance (PITA)
Steven O’Meagher received a travel grant to travel to New York to attend the International Emmy Awards for his Best Documentary nominated telefeature The Golden Hour. We'd like to congratulate Steven, Polly Fryer, Justin Pemberton and The Golden Hour team on this nomination. Steven also had meetings with a number of potential partners and sales agents in New York and Los Angeles to discuss his slate.
Pietra Brettkelly received a travel grant to attend the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam Forum (IDFA), which is the documentary industry’s largest market and pitching forum. Flickering Time Bomb (pictured) is one of only 20 projects selected for the Central Pitch.
Paula Boock and Donna Malane received a travel grant to build on their feature film slate while attending MIPCOM.
David Gould received a travel grant to attend the American Film Market (AFM) including the Producers Forum, which is a new programme exclusively for experienced producers from around the world, to learn and network at the AFM.
Note: We receive a large number of PITA applications each year. Full reporting from each trip must be completed before any further travel applications will be considered. We will be particularly tough on applications where a producer has already received PITA twice within the past two years, without significant project progress having been made.
Trainee Producer Internship Scheme
Desray Armstrong has been awarded a producer internship with New Zealand producer, Rachel Gardner, on Slow West. Part of the internship also involved travelling to Scotland to shadow the process with the UK producers.
Professional Development Awards
Roger Grant (post-production producer) was awarded a Professional Development Award to attend the EP2C post-production workshop in Brussels, Belgium in October. The workshop focused on the specific requirements of the post-production stage when working on an international film co-production.
Mike Wallis and Inge Rademeyer (producer and writer/director team) were awarded a Professional Development Award between them to attend Robert McKee Genre Seminars in Los Angeles in September, and to take meetings and build relationships with executives, entertainment lawyers, producers, managers, agents and production/sales companies based on the success of their independent feature Good for Nothing.
Nicola PeeperKoorn (producer) was awarded a Professional Development Award to attend the Austin Film Festival in October and the American Film Market (AFM) in November with her film Crackheads. Both of these events provided excellent opportunities for Nicola to develop her career through panels, conferences, networking events, meetings with sales agencies, distributors and financiers. Crackheads was one of only eight films worldwide to compete in the Narrative Features section of Austin. Director Tim Tsikaluri was also invited to a panel discussion at the Austin Film Festival called “Keeping the Vision Big with a Limited Budget”.
Justin Pemberton (writer/director) was also awarded a Professional Development Award to attend the International Emmy World Television Festival and Awards with The Golden Hour.
CEO Delegations
Leo Koziol (festival director for Wairoa Māori Film Festival) was awarded a CEO delegation to attend the Māori Spotlight at imagineNATIVE Film Festival in October to further build indigenous filmmaking relationships to benefit the Wairoa Māori Film Festival.
Renee Mark (Transmedia practitioner) was awarded a CEO delegation to attend Screen Producers of Australia Conference (SPAA) 2013 in November.
Tearepa Kahi (writer/director) was awarded a CEO delegation to attend the Hawaii International Film Festival with Mt Zion.
Michelle Savill (writer/director) was awarded a CEO delegation in recognition of the continued success of her short films including Ellen is Leaving, and to allow her to leverage her current opportunities both creatively and in terms of building her career.
Joint Initiatives
The Producers Role in Development : A Masterclass with Claire Dobbin (WIFT)
The Producer's Role in Development was an intensive workshop for experienced feature film producers, writers and script developers. We contributed to the masterclass in partnership with WIFT NZ.
Alison Maclean Workshop
Alison Maclean (Crush, Jesus' Son) conducted a workshop in Christchurch in October. The workshop was hosted by WIFT, SDGNZ and CPIT.
Visiting Filmmaker Screening and Q&A: Mitsuyo Miyazaki
StarNow, in association with the NZFC, hosted a special screening of the multi award-winning and Oscar accredited short film Tsuyako. The film has screened at more than 70 film festivals worldwide, winning 42 awards including Best Film at the 2013 HollyShorts Film Festival. The November screening included a Q&A with director Mitsuyo Miyazaki, producer Jacob Halajian and local filmmaker Michelle Savill.
New Zealand Writers Guild Seed Funding Roadshow
We are supporting the NZWG to launch their NZWG Seed Development Fund through workshops being held in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Queenstown throughout November and December.
WIFT Finance Masterclass
We supported WIFT to run a Producers Finance Masterclass with Emile Sherman and Sasha Burrows from See Saw Films and Sharon Menzies from Fulcrum Media Finance. The masterclass covered execution dependent and pre-sellable films, covering the value of a film, commercial investors (gap finance, film fund debt and commercial equity) and then providing a working example of finance and recoupment. It also covered soft money, official and unofficial co-productions, and shooting overseas.