Can I submit a Series Concept in any genre?
Yes, you can submit a comedy/thriller/crime/horror/sci-fi etc series concept as long as it is scripted.
Do I have to have a producer attached to my project to apply?
No, but it is important that the series is being developed to pitch to broadcasters, platforms or co-producers experienced at getting series funded and produced. So if one of the writers is also going to pitch the series after Bootcamp, then a producer does not need to be in the team.
Can I be both the writer and the producer?
Yes, you can be a producer and writer of your TV series concept as long as you are capable of performing both roles.
Do all team members have to attend in person?
All key team members must be able to attend the two-day development lab in person in Auckland 4 & 5 May, the online session mid June and the pitch day 26 June.
If there is a highly experienced producer guiding a new producer (or writer-producer), only the new producer needs to attend the development lab.
How do I know if my experience level meet eligibility?
We expect applicants to be on a learning pathway. For this programme, if you think you are emerging or mid-career and that you can learn from Series Bootcamp advisors, then you are eligible. You may choose to address how this programme would develop your career in your biography e.g. you are an experienced writer/director who is stepping into producing; or you are an experienced producer in film/doco/reality TV but not Scripted TV.
Can I apply more than once?
Yes, but keep in mind the selectors would have to eliminate one project from the short list should one team member be attached to two projects that are in the shortlist.
Fraser Brown combines a rare blend of creative, business and leadership expertise in his work as a creative producer, co-founder and Creative Director of FluroBlack.
Fraser started his career, more than 20 years ago, as a professional actor working extensively in film, television and theatre. His evolution into creative producer started with award-winning short, Dead Letters(Telluride Film Festival, 2006), followed by a stint producing branded and commercial content. Since then he has produced or executive produced nine international feature documentaries, two scripted features, a major international television series and an edgy, award-winning web series.
Fraser’s first feature, Orphans & Kingdoms, won numerous international awards and was released theatrically in NZ with 4-star reviews. In 2016 he developed and produced, in a strategic partnership with Matthew Metcalfe of GFC Films, the feature documentary McLaren. Directed by Roger Donaldson, McLaren was the highest grossing New Zealand film at the NZ box office in 2017 and was released globally by Universal Pictures, Transmission Films and Gunpowder & Sky. He and Matthew then produced Wayne, an official NZ/AUS co-production directed by Jeremy Sims, which premiered at the opening weekend of MIFF 2018 and was released in Australia and New Zealand by Transmission Films and in the US by Gunpowder & Sky.
Fraser is an Executive Producer on numerous feature documentaries with Universal Pictures and GFC Films: Born Racer, directed by Bryn Evans; We Need to Talk About A.I, directed by Leanne Pooley; Dawn Raid, directed by Oscar Kightley; Mothers of the Revolution, directed by Briar March; Billion Dollar Heist, directed by Daniel Gordon and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*CK, directed by Nathan Price. He is also an EP on feature film, Whina, currently in post-production and on The Dead Lands –an 8x1hr action-adventure series collaboration between GFC Films, AMC-Shudder and TVNZ, nominated for “Best Drama” at the New Zealand TV Awards, 2020. In the factual TV space, Fraser is currently a producer on Reunited (TVNZ), The Circus (BRAVO) and Great Southern Truckers (TV3/DISCOVERY).
Karin Williams began her career as a reporter at the Cook Islands News in Rarotonga. She went on to become a producer for film, television and theatre in the USA and Aotearoa. Her work has earned dozens of honours, including five regional Emmys, and her independent films have screened at festivals around the world. Karin served as Development Executive at the NZ Film Commission from 2015-18, working on a wide range of NZ feature films. She is currently producing projects with Pasifika stories for stage and screen.
Kristina Ceyton founded Causaway Films with Samantha Jennings. Together they helped produce Jennifer Kent’s psychological thriller The Babadook (2013), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and became an international cultural sensation as well as winning Ceyton an AACTA Award for Best Film. Causeway was subsequently awarded a Feature Enterprise grant and Gender Matters Brilliant Careers grant to foster female screen talent.
She co-produced Cargo (2017) starring Martin Freeman, which was Australia’s first Netflix Original feature film. It was released in May 2018 and nominated for five AACTA awards.
This was followed by Buoyancy which premiered at the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Ecumenical Jury Prize. She received her first APSA nomination for Best Youth Feature Film for producing Buoyancy. She also produced Jennifer Kent’s The Nightingale, which won two awards at the 2018 Venice Film Festival.
Tony Ayres is an award-winning Australian showrunner, writer and director, and is one of the founding members of internationally renowned Australian production company Matchbox Pictures, now owned by NBC Universal Studios. In 2018 Tony established his own production company Tony Ayres Productions (TAP), developing and producing feature films and television for global audiences and international marketplaces.
Tony was the showrunner on International Emmy and BAFTA nominated series, The Slap and an EP on its US remake. He co-created and was Executive Producer on multi-award winning series Glitch (3 seasons). He was also an executive producer on International Emmy nominated Wanted (3 seasons), and multi-award winning series The Devil’s Playground, Old School, Underground: The Julian Assange Story, and The Straits. He executive produced comedy series The Family Law (3 seasons), Bogan Pride and Maximum Choppage. He produced miniseries Barracuda and the multi- award winning Seven Types of Ambiguity. He directed the multi-award winning TV movie, Saved.
In children’s TV, Tony created and executive produced the International Emmy and BAFTA award winning Nowhere Boys and the telemovie based on the series, Nowhere Boys: The Book of Shadows. The series is internationally acclaimed, winning the AACTA Award for Best Children’s Television Series, two Logies, three Kidscreen Awards, a Rockie, and a Prix Jeunesse Award.
In feature films, Tony directed Cut Snake (2015), The Home Song Stories (2007) winner of 24 international and Australian awards, and Walking on Water (2002), which premiered at the Berlinale. He also EP’d feature films Ali’s Wedding and Lou.
Currently Tony is the showrunner for upcoming US Netflix series Clickbait, and co-created and EP’d the Matchbox/ABC refugee detention centre drama Stateless alongside Cate Blanchett and Elise McCredie. Stateless stars Yvonne Strahovski, Jai Courtney, Dominic West and Cate Blanchett.
Head to our Script to Screen podcast channel where you will find newly released Script to Screen Podcasts. Find out what local distributors consider before they take on a project for distribution and learn about the hard task of navigating the balance between staying true to your story while satisfying the audience’s expectations for your character. Especially if those characters are the first of their kind on screen.
Plus, delve into 14 newly released 2018 Big Screen Symposium Sessions. Revisit Wanuri Kahui’s uplifting keynote address on the Zeitgeist of Joy; get practical tips on engaging your audience with Anna Dean; or take a deep dive into David Lowery’s filmmaking process with The Old Man & the Gun.
Available on Podbean, Apple and Spotify.
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AFTERNOON SESSION
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AFTERNOON SESSION
Can I submit a Series Concept in any genre?
Yes, you can submit a comedy/thriller/crime/horror/sci-fi etc series concept as long as it is scripted.
Do I have to have a producer attached to my project to apply?
Yes.
Can I be both the writer and the producer?
One of the aims of this Development Lab is to increase the number of producers with the skills to make series in New Zealand. Because of this, there needs to be a minimum of two people in each team – producer and writer. Yes, you can be a producer and writer of your TV series concept, but you need to have a co-producer or a co-writer separate from yourself.
Do all team members have to attend in person?
All key team members must be able to attend the two-day development lab in person in Auckland in December. We aim to run the event in person unless we are prohibited to do this due to Covid-related government restrictions. Due to this, all team members must know they will be in New Zealand at the time of the December workshop.
If a highly experienced producer guides a new producer, only the new producer must attend the development lab.
If one or more of our key team members’ experience level/s differs from the guidelines set out (e.g. we are too experienced), am I still eligible to apply?
For this programme, if you think you meet emerging or mid-career for a reason not listed, explain why in your biography. You may choose to address how this programme would develop your career in another field e.g. you are an experienced writer/director who is stepping into producing, or you are an experienced producer in film/doco/reality TV but not Sscripted TV; or you are an experienced TV producer who has brought a less experienced producer onto the project to upskill them.
STS’s reference point for experience levels aligns with the NZFC’s, which you can read here.
During this six-month mentorship programme (July-November 2024), successful applicants attend a series of one-day hubs and are led through focused script development under the guidance of Briar Grace-Smith. Briar brings considerable experience and knowledge to the room for group mentorship, and each participant also gets one-on-one feedback. The hub days involve script read-throughs, writing exercises, and hearing from guest speakers about their experiences making films. On completion of the programme, you will leave with new skills and tools to develop your work, a great new network of like-minded practitioners, and a completed short film script.
Submission Requirements:
Opens: Wednesday 7th February 2024
Closes: 1:00 PM Monday 25th March 2024
Notification of outcome: Early May 2024
Who is eligible?
What you’ll need to submit:
*Applicants need to submit at least one short film concept and it can be at any stage – it may simply be a new idea (synopsis) that the writer is pursuing for the first time, or the writer may have already written multiple drafts. Applicants can submit more than one short film idea in their application.
This programme is reliant on funding being achieved. Applicants will be informed of the funding outcome prior to the South Shorts submission deadline on the 25th of March.
The South Shorts Mentorship Programme is made possible thanks to generous support from Foundation North.
Stephen Cleary has been a film and television professional for over twenty years, working in Europe, North America, and Australasia, with occasional forays into Asia. He has worked as a feature producer, television producer/director, educator, and screenwriter.
He has developed many feature films from inception to production, and many have won international festival prizes. In recent years he developed the Venice Golden Lion-winning feature Sweet Country from conception to production, and was the lead consultant on the Emmy Award-winning feature documentary What Happened Miss Simone? He conceived and produced Filmlab in South Australia, a program designed to develop a base of local production companies. The initiative resulted in five low budget locally generated features, all of which secured domestic theatrical distribution. Two premiered at the Sundance film festival, one at the Berlin film festival, one at SXSW. Three of the features secured a US theatrical release. Filmlab filmmakers won best international director at Sundance 2014, the Crystal Bear at the Berlin Film Festival and other international awards.
From 2016 to 2017 he ran a TV drama series development initiative for Canal Plus Europe, developing series from conception to the final bible and pilot episodes with selected writers and producers from across Europe. And from 2015 to 2017 he was senior consultant of the Danish Film Institute and Nordic Film Fund’s Polar Bear initiative, developing TV drama series with TV professionals from Scandinavia.
Previously he ran Arista, Europe’s largest private story development agency for 11 years, providing a range of short and long training courses in all aspects of film and TV writing and development. Arista was designated a “Centre of Excellence” by the European Commission. Currently, he is an adjunct professor at the film school of the Victoria College of the Arts, Melbourne, lecturing and running seminars for students four weeks a year. He is a regular lecturer at the Danish Film School, the National Film School of the UK and AFTRS. All on aspects of story development