Senior executives, producers, showrunners and writers of internationally acclaimed shows, including American Horror Story, Better Call Saul, Bloodline, Glee, Glitch, Marcella, Please Like Me, Succession and Supergirl, will arrive in New Zealand next week to be advisors in an intensive week-long Series Drama Lab designed to develop strong New Zealand projects for the international and domestic market.
The Series Drama Lab is part of Raupapa Whakaari: Drama to the World, a new initiative from the New Zealand Film Commission and NZ On Air delivered in conjunction with Script to Screen. The initiative supports ten talented New Zealand writer/producer teams to develop distinctive, high-end scripted series with international and domestic appeal.
The advisor line-up includes Caitlin Parrish creator, writer and producer (The Red Line, Supergirl); Chris Loveall Vice President, International Programming for AMC, SundanceTV and BBC America (EP Fortitude, Please Like Me); Chris Oliver-Taylor CEO of Fremantle Media Australia; Christine Bartlett a writer, creator and producer (Five Bedrooms , The Wrong Girl); multiple Emmy award winning producer Dante Di Loreto (Temple Grandin, American Horror Story, Glee); Jonathan Glatzer writer, producer, director (Succession, Better Call Saul, Bloodline); Louise Fox co-creator, writer, producer (Glitch, Broadchurch); Nicola Larder co-creator, executive producer (Marcella).
Annabelle Sheehan, CEO of the New Zealand Film Commission, said, “The excellence and high profile credits of the international advisors will provide significant inspiration for our New Zealand creative teams regarding their work with the global marketplace. The week focuses on the commercial and creative drivers for producers and showrunners and will help shape the next wave of New Zealand series drama for New Zealand and the rest of the world.”
NZ On Air CEO, Jane Wrightson said, “The combined brainpower of a stellar lineup of international advisors with outstanding local talent and their ideas has great promise – we are very much looking forward to seeing the next stage of these Raupapa Whakaari projects. ”
Script to Screen Executive Director Jackie Dennis said, “This hasn’t happened in New Zealand before. The writers and producers coming to the Series Drama Lab will develop their projects with advisors who have worked on exceptional shows that have found dedicated audiences all around the world. I can’t wait to see the results.”
The international advisors will take part in panels, conversations and case studies and provide feedback on participating teams’ series drama concepts in story and market meetings.
The ten teams have received initial development of $10,000. Following the Series Drama Lab and submission of the re-worked projects, four teams will be selected to receive additional development funding of up to $80,000 each.
The ten Stage 1 projects selected for Series Drama Lab in 2019:
(*Not Her Real Name)
Pip Hall / Carmen J Leonard / Deborah Cope
All of Me
Daniel Musgrove / Natalie Medlock / Shoshana McCallum / Peter Salmon
Chasing Pure
Carey James Carter / Gavin Strawhan / Rachel Lang / Steven Ivan Zanoski
Dreamhunter
Roxane Gajadhar / Angela Littlejohn
Drunk Poetry
Briar Grace-Smith / Victor Roger / Desray Armstrong
O
Donna Malane / Paula Boock / Carthew Neal
Rockburn
Hannah Marshall / David de Lautour / Gareth Williams / Kelly Martin
Ruatoria
Kath Akuhuta-Brown / Greg McGee / Philippa Rennie / Robin Scholes / Lee Tamahori
The Different Girl
Alison Maclean / Philippa Campbell
The Harder They Fall
Matthew Saville / Luke Sharpe / Gerard Johnstone
The four projects selected for Stage 2 further development funding:
All Of Me – Shoshana McCallum, Natalie Medlock, Dan Musgrove, Peter Salmon
Depressed and ready to end it all, Lauren orders an illegal clone to replace her. But when she messes up the process and gets three unsatisfactory duplicates, she is forced to stick around and deal with herselves.
Ashes and Prophets – Kath Akuhata-Brown, Greg McGee, Philippa Rennie, Robin Scholes, Lee Tamahori
Arson, kidnapping and murder engulf a small New Zealand town, as a Māori rastafarian sect exacts revenge for historical land theft.
Rockburn – Hannah Marshall, Gareth Williams, David de Lautour, Kelly Martin
Trauma experienced as a teenager on her family farm, Rockburn, reverberates throughout three distinct ages of Celia Ray’s life. Now, a social worker in her 50s, she must confront her past to save a young girl’s future.
Drunk Poetry – Briar Grace-Smith, Desray Armstrong, Victor Rodger
Newly separated and in her forties, Lizzie discovers she has the emotional brain of a fourteen-year-old. Now she has to grow up all over again.
