Wift NZ Events

We know this workshop may seem a bit dry but remember: knowledge is power! Come along and engage with your future! 

This important workshop will explain how new legislation, the Screen Industry Workers’ Bill, will relate to you, no matter what your role is.

If passed, this legislation which is heading to its second reading, will affect the majority of you.

Most workers in New Zealand’s screen sector are contractors who are not entitled to employment rights, including the right to collectively negotiate terms and conditions of work.
The Screen Industry Workers’ Bill would see contractors allowed to bargain collectively. The proposed changes also include new universal terms that will apply to all contract relationships in the screen industry, and a tiered dispute resolution system which will support parties to resolve issues.

As well as taking a deep dive into what the bill would mean for the screen industry, our panel will outline how the sector became so contract-based, and the differences between being an employee and a contractor.

Keep updated on the bill’s progress here.  

Panel:

• Alice Shearman, Executive Director New Zealand Writers Guild
• Tui Ruwhiu, Executive Director at the Directors and Editors Guild of New Zealand
• Denise Roche, Director Equity New Zealand
   

RSVP essential to office@wiftnz.org.nz

WIFT NZ members free, non-members $15 - includes drinks and nibbles.

Don't miss this very special WIFT NZ preview screening - before the official premiere!

Written by Sophie Henderson (Baby Done, Human Traces), produced by Emma Slade (Rage, Come To Daddy, The Changeover), and directed by Gaysorn Thavat, The Justice of Bunny King is a gritty tale of triumph over adversity about women fighting their way back from the bottom of society.

Bunny King (Essie Davis) is a mother of two, a woman best described as a rough diamond with a sketchy past. Attempting to leave this past behind, she works intersections as a squeegee bandit using her quick wit to charm money from motorists. However, Bunny finds her frustrations difficult to contain, leading her to clash with the public and police.
Bunny is only able to see her children during supervised meetings. Convinced that everything will fall into place if they can all be together as a family, she continually makes reckless promises she can’t keep and then a spur-of-the-moment decision with huge consequences … Click here to watch the trailer

“Davis brings a rough-edged authenticity to this spirited portrait of a mother in crisis … the actor is as compellingly watchable as a car crash” – Screendaily.com

Enjoy a complimentary glass of bubbles before the screening and, afterwards, Newshub Entertainment Editor and Film Reviewer Kate Rodger will host WIFT NZ members Sophie and Emma onstage for a discussion about making the film.

Click here to buy your tickets

Let’s celebrate the work of the many hugely talented WIFT NZ members who worked so hard on The Justice of Bunny King!

The Director-Editor relationship 

The Content: How does a director find the right editor? At which point in the process do you bring the editor in? Understanding the parameters of each role and making sure your contract reflects that. Who has creative say? How important are the editor’s fresh pair of eyes? How do the directors and editors navigate the test screening process? What happens if you change editor over the course of the project?  How does the editor help manage the relationship with the commissioner / client? Who leads when? How do you maintain a healthy, collaborative relationship that has longevity over more than one project?

WIFTNZ and DEGNZ members free, non-members $15 cash - includes a drink and nibbles.

Come along and get your questions answered by this extremely experienced panel:

Panellists:

Dame Gaylene Preston, DNZM, has been a writer/director/producer since 1978, and made the classics of New Zealand cinema Mr Wrong, Ruby and Rata, War Stories Our Mothers Never Told Us and Home By Christmas. Her dramatic TV series include Bread & Roses and Hope and Wire, plus many documentaries, her latest being the feature, My Year With Helen. Her work has screened in most high profile international film festivals including Sundance, Toronto, London, and Sydney. Dame Gaylene is the New Zealand Arts Foundation's inaugural Filmmaker Laureate (2001). 

Pietra Brettkelly, recipient of the 2020 South Pacific Pictures Award for Achievement In Film for her acclaimed documentary feature Yellow Is Forbidden. Pietra is a three-time Oscar-selected documentary filmmaker, a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and an Arts Laureate of New Zealand.

Alex Boyd (they/them) editor of the acclaimed recent feature film Cousins, they have also edited all four seasons of Wellington Paranormal. They enjoy working across genres, and have edited documentary, drama, sci-fi, comedy, and animation. 

Annie Collins is best known for her extensive resume of documentaries, having edited such landmark productions as Patu!, The Neglected Miracle and Gardening with Soul. The talented editor has also won awards for her work on Scarfies, Two Little Boys and Out of the Blue, with Coming Home in the Dark having premiered to critical acclaim at Sundance and due to be released here in August.

Lala Rolls 
Fijian-European Lala Rolls' projects often involve explorations of Māori and Polynesian culture. She directs as much as she edits, often doing both on the same project. Rolls has been a multiple finalist at New Zealand awards ceremonies for her work on acclaimed drama series The Insider's Guide to Happiness and the Rita Angus documentary Lovely Rita. She edited The Man in the Hat (about art dealer Peter McLeavey), and 2018's Celia, about late equality advocate Celia Lashlie, and directed, produced and edited the 2020 feature film Tupaia’s Endeavour.

Here is your opportunity to pitch your ideas and skills to each other! Producers, even if your slate is full, it isn’t a waste of time to meet new talent, or hear ideas that knock it out of the park. Writers/directors you may attend as a team.

Producers will be split into four groups:

• Producers, short form
• Producers, factual / documentary
• Producers, features / series drama
• Producers interested in everything

Meetings will be 20 minutes long. At the bell you move on.

Cost: WIFT and NZWG members $5; non-members $10 (tea and coffee included. There will be a lunch break so you can skip up to Ponsonby Road to buy your lunch, or bring your own.)

Click here to book your tickets

Enquiries to office@wiftnz.org.nz