APPLICATIONS CLOSE: 1PM, FRIDAY 21ST MARCH 2025
It has just come to our attention that some of our posts and promotional information regarding Waitaha Screen Development Incubator did not include all the eligibility criteria.
We are very sorry for this and any additional work this may have caused you. As a result, we are extending our deadline until Friday, 21 March, to allow all applicants more time to refine their applications if they want to. Again, we apologise for this technical error.
If you feel you no longer meet the criteria or you are concerned about whether you do, we are available to have a conversation with anyone that wants to. Please contact us on info@script-to-screen.co.nz
Eligibility & Selection Criteria?
This unique development incubator is now open for TV series (scripted or stand-alone documentary) and Feature Film (scripted or documentary) projects in development that are planning to be filmed and produced in Waitaha Canterbury. The purpose of this programme is to support the development of original IP in the region and support creators to progress their project to be equipped for funding and production.
This is an accelerated development programme where up to six projects will be selected to attend a two-day workshop held in Christchurch this May. Teams will then receive mentorship online from experienced industry practitioners to develop their projects. The culmination of this programme is an in-person pitch to an invited audience of project relevant guests in Auckland at the Big Screen Symposium (BSS) 2025. A representative of each team will attend BSS to pitch, further increasing their connections with other creators in the industry by attending all of BSS as a part of this programme.
This collaboration between Script to Screen and Te Puna Matarau will continue to bring attention to the talent and potential within Waitaha and create development opportunities, to strengthen and support screen storytellers, their projects and the future of screen in the region.
Applications open: Thursday 20th February
Applications close: 1pm, Monday 17th MarchApplication Deadline Extended: 1pm, Friday 21st March
Key Dates
This development programme has been designed with momentum and progression in mind. It has been structured in a way to help support teams to gain new information that can be implemented into their work, developed through an online mentorship, and utilized in a unique opportunity to pitch to decision makers within the industry within 2 months.
All teams chosen will need to commit to the dates below and the speed in which this programme will be run.
Programme dates:
Note: All workshop expenses are covered other than any travel for those attending from outside Waitaha.
Submission Requirements:
Feature Film (Scripted or Documentary):
TV Series (Scripted or stand-alone Documentary):
The Waitaha Screen Development Incubator is made possible thanks to funding from the
New Zealand Film Commission, and NZ on Air.
A Script to Screen Programme presented in partnership with Te Puna Matarau.
Image Building: Lincoln Mechanics cnr West Belt and Gerald Street – Image from The Lincoln Project by Kelly Shakespere
This unique development incubator is now open for TV series (scripted or stand-alone documentary) and Feature Film (scripted or documentary) projects in development that are planning to be filmed and produced in Waitaha Canterbury. The purpose of this programme is to support the development of original IP in the region and support creators to progress their project to be equipped for funding and production.
This is an accelerated development programme where up to six projects will be selected to attend a two-day workshop held in Christchurch this May. Teams will then receive mentorship online from experienced industry practitioners to develop their projects. The culmination of this programme is an in-person pitch to an invited audience of project relevant guests in Auckland at the Big Screen Symposium (BSS) 2025. A representative of each team will attend BSS to pitch, further increasing their connections with other creators in the industry by attending all of BSS as a part of this programme.
This collaboration between Script to Screen and Te Puna Matarau will continue to bring attention to the talent and potential within Waitaha and create development opportunities, to strengthen and support screen storytellers, their projects and the future of screen in the region.
Applications open: Thursday 20th February
Applications close: 1pm, Monday 17th MarchApplication Deadline Extended: 1pm, Friday 21st March
Key Dates
This development programme has been designed with momentum and progression in mind. It has been structured in a way to help support teams to gain new information that can be implemented into their work, developed through an online mentorship, and utilized in a unique opportunity to pitch to decision makers within the industry within 2 months.
All teams chosen will need to commit to the dates below and the speed in which this programme will be run.
Programme dates:
Note: All workshop expenses are covered other than any travel for those attending from outside Waitaha.
Eligibility & Selection Criteria:
NB: It has just come to our attention that some of our posts and promotional information regarding Waitaha Screen Development Incubator did not include all the eligibility criteria.
We are very sorry for this and any additional work this may have caused you. As a result, we are extending our deadline until Friday, 21 March, to allow all applicants more time to refine their applications if they want to. Again, we apologise for this technical error.
If you feel you no longer meet the criteria or you are concerned about whether you do, we are available to have a conversation with anyone that wants to. Please contact us on info@script-to-screen.co.nz
Feature Film (Scripted or Documentary):
TV Series (Scripted or stand-alone Documentary):
The Waitaha Screen Development Incubator is made possible thanks to funding from the
New Zealand Film Commission, and NZ on Air.
A Script to Screen Programme presented in partnership with Te Puna Matarau.
Image View: Filmmakers setting up their camera in Pigeon Bay, Banks Peninsula
Image Building: Lincoln Mechanics cnr West Belt and Gerald Street – Image from The Lincoln Project by Kelly Shakespere
We have decided to reschedule the South Shorts Webinar due to the Auckland premiere of Tinā being held at the Civic Theatre on Tuesday 11th February 2025.
Script to Screen is committed to supporting the craft and culture of screen storytelling and we encourage you to support New Zealand cinema and attend if you are available. It’s going to be great!!!
The South Shorts Script Mentorship programme continues to support new and emerging screenwriters from South Auckland and aims to enhance the screenwriting capabilities of these filmmakers.
We understand that applying for opportunities, talking about yourself, and sharing your ideas can be difficult. This may even be your first time applying for a programme like South Shorts and that, in itself, can present obstacles. To reduce application anxiety and encourage more submissions, we are holding an online webinar. This webinar will walk through each question in the application, allow time for questions, as well as give insight into the opportunities and content that the mentorship programme will provide. This year we will also be accepting video applications to help expand the accessibility of our application process.
Don’t know where to begin? Here are a few ideas that might help to get you started:
Remember you can submit a video instead of this written approach.
Script to Screen recognises the enormous creative potential in South Auckland, and we encourage you to get in touch if you have any questions or need help with the application process.
The South Shorts Mentorship Programme is made possible thanks to generous support from Foundation North.
Story Camp Aotearoa is a residential development lab for feature film that fosters craft, voice and exceptional storytelling. The programme is designed to meet the development needs of each writer and project. It provides a framework and environment that enables films to be rigorously developed, elevated and supported. Over the week, the participating writers and their collaborators workshop their feature film projects with exceptional local and international advisors.
The selectors had an incredibly difficult job in assessing the feature films submitted. We thank and value all the filmmakers who took the time to apply for this opportunity. Thank you for sharing your stories and aspirations with us.
Script to Screen is delighted to announce the filmmakers and their projects selected for Story Camp Aotearoa 2025. Huge mihi to our funders Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga New Zealand Film Commission for continuing to support this unique development kaupapa.
This year, we are excited to announce that through Script to Screen’s partnership with VicScreen in Australia, we will have a ninth team, Melbourne-based film Scorpio writer/director Allanah Avalon and producer Gabrielle Pearson attending Story Camp. This welcome addition will add another aspect of collaboration and community within the programme, and we hope to bring more international collaborations to this kaupapa in the future.
The team at Script to Screen is humbled by the mahi that has already taken place across the selected projects, and we look forward to helping to support and uplift them and their filmmakers during this residential development lab.
Congratulations to the filmmakers whose feature film projects will be developed through Story Camp Aotearoa 2025:
READ MORE ABOUT THE TEAMS HERE
Script to Screen is working in partnership with VicScreen in Australia, for Melbourne-based film Scorpio writer/director Allanah Avalon and producer Gabrielle Pearson to attend Story Camp.
Story Camp is made possible thanks to funding from the New Zealand Film Commission.
After 10 years of support from Foundation North, we are proud to open applications for the 2025 South Shorts Script Mentorship programme. This programme will continue to support new and emerging screenwriters from the South Auckland community* to enhance their screenwriting capabilities. Take the leap and submit your story ideas to be a part of this unique development opportunity. South Shorts will help you develop your story idea/s (short film or web series), write a script, share your unique perspective, and advance your screenwriting career within a supportive framework.
During this six-month mentorship programme (Dates to be confirmed; likely May-September 2025), you will attend a series of Saturday hubs alongside like-minded creatives, be led through focused script development and receive one-on-one feedback under the guidance of writer, and director Briar Grace-Smith (Cousins, Waru). Briar has mentored the past 7 years of South Shorts, and she brings considerable experience and knowledge from her own projects.
The hub days are shaped based on the groups needs and involve script read-throughs, writing exercises, and hearing from guest speakers about their experiences making films. We also look forward this year to adding sessions around pitching ideas, funding, working with actors and further development tasks to the programme as required.
On completion you will leave South Shorts with new skills and tools to develop your work, a great new network of like-minded practitioners, a completed script, and greater confidence in yourself as a screenwriter.
We welcome applications from past participants of the South Shorts programme, who wish to develop a new script idea and are still recognised as new and emerging screenwriters.
This year we will also be accepting video applications to help expand the accessibility of our application process.
Opens: Monday 16th December 2024
Information Webinar: 5 pm – 6 pm Tuesday 11th February 2025
Closes: 1 pm, Monday 3rd March 2025
“The confidence that participating in South Shorts has instilled in me as an emerging filmmaker cannot be understated. Briar and Script to Screen create such a safe space for us to grow as writers at our own pace and to tell stories that otherwise wouldn’t get told in Aotearoa. Whatever is next on my filmmaking journey, I can thank South Shorts for helping to build me as a writer and filmmaker.”
– Claire Patolo, South Shorts 2024 Participant
About you: (Either a written application or video submission outlining the below.)
About your project:
Optional material:
Who is eligible?
Briar Grace-Smith is of Ngā Puhi descent and a writer of short fiction, stage plays and feature films. Her plays include Ngā Pou Wāhine, Purapurawhetū and When Sun and Moon Collide. She is an Arts Foundation Laureate and was recently made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to film, television and theatre. She has worked as a Development Executive for the New Zealand Film Commission and taught ‘Writing for Theatre’ at IIML (2015). Briar is a Sundance alumni and the writer of the feature films The Strength of Water and Fresh Meat. Her television credits include Fishskin Suit, Being Eve, Kaitangata Twitch and the Australian children’s television series, Grace Beside Me (2017). She was a director and co-writer of the short film, Nine of Hearts, and wrote and directed Charm for the feature project Waru (2017). She collaborated with Toi Whakaari, directing Krystal, a short film by Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu. She was the screenwriter and co-director of the feature film Cousins, and is a writer and co-director of Rūrangi, Series 2. Briar was made a member of the Directors branch of the Academy in 2022.
The South Shorts Mentorship Programme is made possible thanks to generous support from Foundation North.
Kotahi kapua ki te rangi he marangai ki te whenua *
one cloud from the heavens brings rain and nourishment to the parched land
nā tauira o Te Ataarangi
Script to Screen, in collaboration with Compton School, is excited to announce the participants for our new innovative mentorship programme, Rainmakers Aotearoa.
We received 100 applications for Rainmakers Aotearoa, it is clear this is a programme that the industry wants.
Thank you to everyone who applied. Due to the quantity and high quality of applicants, the selectors struggled to narrow down the shortlist.
The second part of the selection process involved brief interviews with the 12 shortlisted applicants. This was an opportunity to further clarify what they wanted to get out of the programme, the type of person or qualities and skills they were looking for in a potential mentor, and where they saw this mentorship taking them on their own personal and professional journey.
The final six chosen to be a part of this first year of Rainmakers Aotearoa are now ready to begin this journey with Script to Screen and Compton School in designing their mentorship for the year ahead.
Candidates come from across the landscape of screen storytelling.
The participants selected for Rainmakers Aotearoa:
(pictured left to right)
Once mentors have been selected and matched, Script to Screen will publish them alongside the mentees.
Rainmakers Aotearoa will harness the knowledge of a generation of exceptional individuals, and through a co-designed approach, support the transfer of knowledge.
Script to Screen is committed to continuing to develop and deliver development programmes that meet the needs of the screen sector of Aotearoa.
* This whakatauī is from a waiata composed by early members of Te Ataarangi in honour of Dame Kāterina Mataira and the kaupapa of Te Ataarangi in Te Reo language revitalisation – which continues today. It describes how a single person or kaupapa (kotahi kapua) can have great impact, just like one lifegiving rain shower on the parched land.
Rainmakers Aotearoa is a Script to Screen initiative run in partnership with Compton School.
Rainmakers Aotearoa is possible thanks to generous support from Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga New Zealand Film Commission.
“South Shorts has given me the opportunity to connect with industry experts and fellow storytellers, building my confidence to develop my first short film.”– Ava Williams, 2022
The South Shorts Mentorship Programme, an initiative by Script to Screen funded by Foundation North, has made a significant impact on the South Auckland community and creative storytelling over the past ten years.
By fostering local talent through intensive script development for short films, this programme has supported over 80 aspiring filmmakers to develop their creative visions.
The South Shorts programme which runs five hubs over five months, equips participants with essential skills in script and story development.
The fully-funded programme features mentorship by writer and director Briar Grace-Smith and seminars with industry experts. This combination of mentorship and seminars, helps participants build a strong understanding of the film industry and aids them in refining their scripts for further development, preparing them for the next steps in the process.
Since 2015 numerous films developed during South Shorts have gone on to be made and screened in festivals across the world, including:
Many alumni have gone on to achieve remarkable success, including:
These achievements highlight the programme’s effectiveness as a launch pad for emerging filmmakers. The South Shorts programme has not only contributed to the success of individual participants but has also played a vital role to support the creative community of South Auckland.
“The connections I made were life-changing. I highly recommend these workshops to any filmmaker looking to develop their ideas.” – Kaitiaki Rodger, 2023
“Seeing the progression of my peers and myself is a testament to the quality of the programme and its mentors.” – Dennis Zhang, 2021
As we gear up for the 2024/25 South Shorts Mentorship Programme, Script to Screen remains committed to nurturing diverse voices and stories from South Auckland. The continued support from Foundation North ensures that unique narratives will resonate on screens both locally and beyond.
We look forward to celebrating the next generation of filmmakers and the remarkable stories they will bring to life, further enriching the film industry with their perspectives and creativity.
Troy Blackman developed his short film script for Zebra as a South Shorts particpant in 2023. Now he needs our help to make it happen!
A MESSAGE FROM TROY:
“When I submitted Zebra to Script to Screen, I wasn’t sure they’d let me in – I used the N-word so much in the synopsis. But from the start of this journey, I’ve been met with so much support and reassurance that stories like this need to be told. I can’t thank Briar Grace-Smith, Script to Screen, my team, and all my Boosted supporters enough for getting Zebra this far. We’re just about ready to cross now!”
LOGLINE:
A mixed-race (Black/White) crossing guard, who is repeatedly called the N-word at school, discovers the power of his voice and learns that sticks and stones aren’t the only things that can break bones.
WHY THIS STORY MATTERS:
Zebra is more than a short film; it’s a call to action, challenging that classic Kiwi “she’ll be right” mentality that can often dismiss the power of harmful language. The film explores how words can leave deeper scars than physical violence, forcing us to rethink the adage, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” By placing a black narrative within the context of Aotearoa, Zebra offers a fresh, authentic perspective on how to confront racism and use dialogue to bring about change. Our protagonist, Tobe, uses his voice and the system to outsmart his aggressor, presenting a narrative that is both a coming-of-age story and a cautionary tale.
Troy Blackman – Writer/Director (Photo by Abhi Chinniah)
Troy Blackman is an Afro-Caribbean/NZ European filmmaker based in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) whose work is deeply inspired by his unique ethnic background. Through his films, he explores the complex relationships between race, identity, and society. Zebra is a project born from his lived experience and desire to amplify black voices in Aotearoa, highlighting stories often overlooked by mainstream media. This film is a culmination of his creative journey, developed through the Script to Screen South Shorts Mentorship Programme.
The South Shorts Mentorship Programme is made possible thanks to generous support from Foundation North.
Script to Screen is delighted to announce the participants selected for Strength in Numbers 2024/2025.
Over a series of workshops run by Script to Screen and led by David Court, Strength in Numbers participants are given the time and tools they need to make strategic and sustainable choices for their creative enterprises. This is a unique opportunity for screen industry businesses to work together on the building blocks of business models that will sustain their future and, ultimately, shape the industry.
The Strength in Numbers programme was developed to benefit the participants and their businesses, as well as to help foster talent and facilitate economic growth throughout Aotearoa. This year, of the 9 screen businesses selected, participants come from Northland, Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Wellington, Nelson, and Southland.
Strength in Numbers is made possible thanks to financial support from the New Zealand Film Commission and with special thanks to the regional film offices covering travel costs.
Congratulations to the participants and their businesses selected for Strength in Numbers 2024/2025:
Strength in Numbers is a Script to Screen initiative run in partnership with Compton School.
Last month, we wrapped the Southern Pilots Development Programme with an engaging online pitching session, showcasing “Stories from The Deep South.” We are immensely proud of the dedication and creativity demonstrated by our selected participants.
The teams presented their projects to an audience of 14 industry professionals, including platform representatives and leading producers. Delivered by Script to Screen in partnership with Film Otago Southland, Southern Pilots was designed specifically for screen creators based in Otago and Southland.
Among the 3 teams selected Dog Town, Devil’s Junction, and Southern Skies each project brought its unique vision while proudly calling Dunedin home.
Programmes like this allow us to shine a spotlight on the incredible talent and calibre of creatives from the South Island and other regions of Aotearoa.
For Script to Screen, it was a true privilege to host the workshop in Ōamaru, facilitating the growth of these talented teams in such a beautiful part of Aotearoa. Over the three-day workshop, participants engaged in one-on-one advisory sessions and seminars with industry speakers, furthering their development process.
Let’s continue to celebrate the remarkable work of these filmmakers and the often-unseen effort that goes into crafting screen stories. We hope to see these projects lighting up our screens in the near future!
Congratulations to the 2024 Southern Pilots cohort:
Southern Pilots kaupapa was created to help creatives from Otago and Southland generate IP for local and international audiences. This will, in turn, increase activity in both regions and foster a strong creative network of screen practitioners.
The Southern Pilots development programme was made possible thanks to funding from the New Zealand Film Commission.
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📸 Photo by Evie Mackay