Have you ever had funds to bring on a script consultant or editor for your screen story but have struggled to find the right person to work with?
In response to an industry need for greater access to experienced script developers, Script to Screen launches Aotearoa’s first ever multi-consultant Script Development Service. It provides access to experienced, thoughtful story developers who can help you progress your story in a meaningful way.
Our Script Development Service is underpinned by manaakitanga, excellence and rigour.
Script Developers:
We have entered into agreements with experienced script developers who work with feature films, short films and series. They are working creatives who do development work when they have time available.
Services:
There are six services, each begins with a conversation with your developer to explore your intention, motivation, and the kaupapa of your story.
1. Feature Film – In depth discussion: discussion and feedback on where the script is at, and guidance with how to move forward from the current draft.
Fee: NZ $1,500 (+ GST if applicable)
2. Feature Film – Script consultancy: in-depth development, with the consultant guiding the writer to a workable plan for the next draft. The writer then writes the draft without the developer.
Fee range: NZ $2,875-$4,600 (+ GST if applicable)
3. Feature Film – Script edit: in depth development, with the consultant guiding the writer to a workable plan for the next draft. The developer continues to work with the writer throughout the writing of the draft all the way through to delivery.
Fee range: NZ $5,750-$9,000 (+ GST if applicable)
4. Short Film – In depth script discussion: discussion and feedback on where the short film script is at, and guidance to move forward from the current draft.
Fee: NZ $440 (+ GST if applicable)
5. Pitch Deck for a limited series – In depth discussion: discussion, feedback and guidance on strengthening your Pitch Deck.
Fee: NZ $880 (+ GST if applicable)
6. Pitch Deck for a limited series, with pilot episode – In depth discussion: discussion, feedback and guidance on strengthening your pitch deck and the pilot episode.
Fee: NZ $1,400 (+ GST if applicable)
Script to Screen launches a series of video tutorials where talented New Zealand filmmakers share their knowledge and advice about how to develop a short film or web series. Over nine videos, viewers learn how to find a good story, write a script, prepare for production and pitch the project to funders and collaborators.
The videos are a valuable resource for any new or emerging screen practitioners developing a screen project as they are full of tips and insights thoughtfully shared by experienced writers, directors and producers from the NZ screen community.
The filmmakers who contributed are Hamish Bennett (Bellbird, Ross & Beth, The Dump), Robyn Grace (Power Rangers Dino Fury, Sweet Tooth, Oranges and Lemons), Sophie Henderson (The Justice of Bunny King, Baby Done, Fantail), Alex Lovell (My Friend Michael Jones, Mister Sunshine), Shoshana McCallum (INSiDE, Head High, Creamerie), Marina Alofagia McCartney (Vai, Milk & Honey), Jaimee Poipoi (Krystal), Emmett Skilton (Millennial Jenny, Auckward Love), Morgan Leigh Stewart (Albularyo, Blood and Gold, Deathgasm), Dianne Taylor (Beyond the Known World, Apron Strings, Hauraki) and Karin Williams (Burning of the Gods, Teine Sā, Sis).
Jackie Dennis, Executive Director at Script to Screen said “These tutorials are packed with information about what to do if you want to make a short film or web series and we are so happy to now be able to share them with anyone interested in telling screen stories. They remove the mystery and will support the development of new voices in Aotearoa”.
Script to Screen created these videos in 2021 for the Paerangi Project – a development programme that reduced barriers by offering accessible learning to those who had not had the opportunity to study filmmaking. With the successful completion of the Paerangi Project earlier this year, the video tutorials are now available to all.
The tutorials are:
Each video has closed captions, and transcripts in .pdf and .doc formats. Self-directed homework accompanies the videos and can be downloaded from our website.
Paerangi Project and these video tutorials are possible thanks to funding from Screenrights Cultural Fund and New Zealand Film Commission.
We’re Looking forward to seeing you at the next Big Screen Symposium on Sat 9 and Sun 10 July 2022 at the ASB Waterfront Theatre, Auckland! Tickets are now on sale. Each ticket gives you access to two days of sessions with local and international speakers, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, and our much-loved networking drinks on the Friday night. Industry concessions apply to members of participating organisations.
The WIFT Awards will again be held at the same venue the night before on Fri 8 July to complement the event.
Subscribe to our mailing list here, and follow us on Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with announcements.
Script to Screen is excited to be offering scholarships for six screen practitioners to take part in UCLA’s 10-week online training course Writing Screenplay Coverage.
Script to Screen will provide wrap-around support for the six participants before, during and after the course which runs from 30 September to 8 December 2021 (NZST). The UCLA course content is delivered through an online learning platform where you can engage with the instructor and classmates. There are no required live meetings, but assignments are due regularly. This course upskills aspiring story analysts, script editors, script assessors and development producers.
UCLA Extension: Writing Screenplay Coverage – Course Description:
“You learn how to do an in-depth analysis of the three-act structure, as well as dramatic and comic scene construction. You also learn the precise terminology used in story sessions, the foundations for great dialogue, and how to find original approaches to established genres. These and other principles become synthesised into coverage written to the highest professional standards in preparation for a job as either a story analyst or screenwriter who needs to critique his or her own scripts effectively.”
Script to Screen has identified a need to increase the diversity of script readers, assessors and selectors in Aotearoa and will therefore prioritise EOI from people with diverse identities and backgrounds.
The six selected participants will attend two Script to Screen workshops, one before the course starts and one after it finishes. The workshops will give context to the US-based course, demonstrating how the learning can be applied to a New Zealand context. Participants will also form a study group for the duration of the course.
To be eligible for this opportunity you need to:
UCLA course costs are paid for by Script to Screen thanks to support from the US Consulate. The workshops will take place in Auckland and all travel costs for participants based outside of Auckland will be covered by Script to Screen.
Those interested in participating please submit an expression of interest. It will include:
Expressions of Interest close: 20 June 2021, 11:59pm
Script to Screen Alumni Florian Habicht‘s new film James & Isey is currently screening in cinemas all over Aotearoa. How can a film, shot without a film crew, become a hit at the NZ box office?
Florian would love to have coffee or lunch with you at Bestie Cafe in Auckland, and share some of his filmmaking secrets with you.
To enter, simply email us a publicity stunt idea for James & Isey and Florian will choose his favourite and try and make it happen!
James & Isey in cinemas now! Find a screening near you.
Entries close: Sun 30 May 2021
Florian Habicht was born in Berlin, and immigrated with his family to New Zealand in the eighties. He studied at the Elam School of Fine Arts Auckland and Binger Filmlab in Amsterdam.
He is one of our most prolific filmmakers being responsible for some of NZ’s most innovative films, from experimental Woodenhead (2003), cult documentaries Kaikohe Demolition (2004) & Rubbings of a Live Man (2008), to his participatory Love Story (2011) and cinematic homage to British band Pulp – Pulp: a Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets (2014). Florian released his seventh feature film Spookers in 2017. James & Isey (2021) is his eighth feature, currently showing in cinemas. His films have been distributed in over 18 countries.
Script to Screen has partnered with US-based Catalyst Story Institute to give New Zealanders the opportunity to participate in the Storieroad International program. This program is focused on discovering content creators and advancing creative careers within the global episodic marketplace.
Catalyst’s team of industry professionals will select up to 5 finalists and 10 semi-finalists from each participating country including New Zealand. Script to Screen will then present the 5 New Zealand finalists at a local showcase in Auckland in July 2021. The 5 finalists are also automatically selected to screen at the 2021 Catalyst Content Festival in Duluth, Minnesota. All finalists and semi-finalists will receive at least one meeting with a US-based industry professional/mentor. Applicants must be developing a series, it can be any genre, length or format and they can be at any stage of development.
Catalyst Story Institute runs the Catalyst Content Festival early October each year in Duluth, Minnesota. New Zealand 5 finalists receive 4 VIP passes to the festival but because of COVID-19 it is unlikely the finalists will be able to attend this year. However there will be a virtual festival. COVID-19 also means the meeting with a US based industry professional/mentor will be virtual. Semi-finalists meetings are always virtual.
The 5 finalists living outside of Auckland will have travel costs covered by Script to Screen to attend the local showcase. In the unlikely event it is possible to fly to Duluth, Minnesota for the Catalyst Content Festival in October, finalists will need to pay for their own travel and accommodation. Script to Screen has not sought funding for this because of the global pandemic.
Registrations Open Now: Registration is Free
Registrations Close: 15 April 2021 EST which is 16 April 2021 NZDT
Notification of Finalist: early June 2021
Who Can Register
Types of Content Accepted
About Storieroad International
Storieroad includes an international showcase aimed at advancing new voices & storytellers from 10 countries on 6 continents. Thanks to our partnership with Catalyst Story Institute this opportunity now extends to New Zealanders who will be represented in the showcase. Participants have gained jobs, signed with agents, sold projects, and made career partnerships through the Storieroad program.
About Catalyst Story Institute
The Catalyst Story Institute is an arts organisation and an annual festival gathering of artists and executives from around the world to celebrate outstanding independent narrative production. It is a step-by-step pathway of meetings, workshops, seminars, festivals, and social events designed to showcase your stories to the industry, advance your career opportunities, and grow your trusted professional network.
This is a Catalyst Story Institute initiative run in partnership with Script to Screen and in collaboration with “The Innovation Station” at the U.S. Department of State and Careers in Entertainment founded by the Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation.
Thanks for being with us on the ride that was 2020! There have been setbacks and wins for the industry as a whole and it’s been heart-warming to see all the mahi you have collectively achieved.
In 2020, we adapted our programmes to run online during lockdowns and (finally) managed to run the Big Screen Symposium 2020! We launched a new programme and devised another (more news on that coming!); have had more than 60 filmmakers go through our development programmes and were lucky enough to see more than 1300 of you at our TALKS, Workshops (online and in-person) throughout the year and at the Big Screen Symposium!
Thank you to all of our funders, supporters, mentors, speakers, advisors, collaborators, industry partners, contractors, friends and to all of you who’ve made this year special! We hope you and your whānau enjoy a warm, safe, well-deserved summer break!
The Script to Screen office will be closed from 19 Dec 2020 – 11 Jan 2021. Come January, look out for more information on our new programme, Paerangi and for information on FilmUp 2021.
To keep up to date, make sure you’re on our mailing list!
The Big Screen Symposium presents an annual snapshot of our screen culture framed by the guiding principles that filmmaking is both a creative and practical endeavour. Delegates are immersed in two-days of conversations, masterclasses, workshops, panel discussions and case studies with a stellar line-up of local and international filmmaker speakers.
After being postponed TWICE due to COVID-19, Script to Screen and janda productions are thrilled that the Big Screen Symposium is going ahead in Auckland on 4 – 5 December at the ASB Waterfront Theatre. With support from BSS’s fantastic sponsors, we have kept tickets at early bird prices as we know the pandemic has negatively impacted many filmmakers finances.
Now in its 8th year, the Big Screen Symposium will once again present inspiring and accomplished speakers to the New Zealand film and television community.
Hear from Academy Award-winning Chilean director Sebastián Lelio (A Fantastic Woman, Gloria, Disobedience), Cowboy Bebop showrunner André Nemec, renowned producer Finola Dwyer (Brooklyn, An Education), Australian writer/actor Scott Ryan (Mr Inbetween), two-time Emmy winning filmmaker Arielle Kilker (Cheer, Last Chance U), writer/actor Sophie Henderson (Fantail, Baby Done, Justice of Bunny King) and the makers of box office hit Savage director Sam Kelly and producer Vicky Pope. Sneak previews from five up-and-coming New Zealand films will be shown on Friday before everybody closes the day with Networking Drinks. Sebastián Lelio, Arielle Kilker and Scott Ryan will be live-streamed.
You heard it here first – Hon. Carmel Sepuloni, Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage will join the $50M Premium Production For International Audiences Fund session. Pre-recorded interviews from Jonathan Frank, Senior Vice President Current Programming, FX Networks and Nathaniel Grouille, Director Nonfiction Series, Netflix were recorded especially for the event and will not be seen outside of Big Screen Symposium 2020.
This year’s programme is crafted around the theme of Transforming Culture and explores the transformative power of story and the transformation of the film industry through technological and sociological advances. Six mini keynote addresses will speak to this theme.
You really do need to be there.
Join the conversation: bigscreensymposium.com/stay-connected/
The full 2020 programme is available now on bigscreensymposium.com/2020-programme/
We’ve been busy zooming, emailing and texting as a team every day, creating a future for Script to Screen that can respond to and embrace change; and exploring new ways to connect our community and support our alumni’s wellbeing during these extraordinary times and we’re pleased to be launching our initiative, Awhi: Peer to Peer Conversations.
Script to Screen is establishing Awhi for alumni to draw on each other when a situation calls for an impartial phone conversation. It can give them a sounding board for an issue to be talked through, an idea tested, a problem solved or to simply have someone to call on that might have been in the same position as you.
Awhi is a safe space available to our whānau of filmmakers where they can be open and honest, get guidance in their careers, suggestions to progress their work and encouragement from someone who understands what it’s like in our film industry. Everyone who signs up to Awhi can be the maker and/or receiver of a call. This is the beginning of a community that supports each other through conversation – even if they have never met.
If you are an Alumni of one of our programmes we invite you to register here.
If you feel like your mental health is in crisis or are worried about the mental health of someone you know, please visit the Mental Health Foundation website for a list of some of the services available in New Zealand that offer support, information and help. All services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week unless otherwise specified.
Need to talk? Free call or text 1737 any time for support from a trained counsellor
Lifeline – 0800 543 354 (0800 LIFELINE) or free text 4357 (HELP)
Suicide Crisis Helpline – 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO)
Healthline – 0800 611 116
Samaritans – 0800 726 666
In April 2020, Script to Screen established Awhi for alumni to draw on each other when a situation calls for an impartial phone conversation. It can give them a sounding board for an issue to be talked through, an idea tested, a problem solved or to simply have someone to call on that might have been in the same position as you.
Awhi is a safe space available to our whānau of filmmakers where they can be open and honest, get guidance in their careers, suggestions to progress their work and encouragement from someone who understands what it’s like in our film industry. Everyone who signs up to Awhi can be the maker and/or receiver of a call. This is the beginning of a community that supports each other through conversation – even if they have never met.
If you are an Alumni of one of our programmes we invite you to register.
How Awhi works:
Script to Screen will connect alumni for one-on-one video or phone conversations. Each person can use Awhi to be connected to a peer up to twice a year, and we suggest keeping the conversation to no longer than 60 mins.
When you want to make an Awhi call, fill out our Awhi Conversation Request Form so we can match you with the best person from the Awhi community.
Once we receive your submitted form, we will work to find a match and then connect you both via email. If you requested the call, then it is up to you to email the filmmaker we have connected you with to schedule a time for your conversation.
We will process all requests as they come in, however we will need to wait on a response from the peer we want to connect you with before we can come back to you, so allow for that in your planning.
If you feel like your mental health is in crisis or are worried about the mental health of someone you know, please visit the Mental Health Foundation website for a list of some of the services available in New Zealand that offer support, information and help. All services are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week unless otherwise specified.
Need to talk? Free call or text 1737 any time for support from a trained counsellor
Lifeline – 0800 543 354 (0800 LIFELINE) or free text 4357 (HELP)
Suicide Crisis Helpline – 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO)
Healthline – 0800 611 116
Samaritans – 0800 726 666