Don’t miss this interactive and practical weekend workshop that will help you navigate through the complexities of writing a feature film.
Great stories create an umbilical cord between the screen and the audience, where the audience feels everything that the character does. This workshop will look at the elements that you need to consider to build that level of engagement with your own stories.
Through writing exercises and watching clips, you will look at a wide range of aspects of story and character including how to hook an audience from the first moment they meet your protagonist, tips and tricks to making an audience connect with how your character feels, and ensuring that your stories don’t run out of momentum.
To gain the most out of the workshop, please come with a film concept in mind.
When: 9am – 5pm Saturday 27 August & 10am – 3pm Sunday 28 August
Where: Samoa House, 20 Beresford Square, Auckland CBD, Auckland 1010
Who is it for? Anyone writing a feature film
Cost: General Admission $40.00 (incl. GST) via Eventbrite.
ABOUT GAVIN MCGIBBON
Gavin McGibbon was the Programme Leader of the MA Screenwriting programme at Liverpool John Moores University. He has worked as a development executive for the New Zealand Film Commission, taught playwriting at Victoria University of Wellington for the International Institute of Modern Letters, where he also works as an MA Supervisor on Ken Duncum’s MA Scriptwriting Course. Students that Gavin has taught have gone on to win numerous awards for their writing and are currently working on major television shows in the UK.
Gavin, now makes his living as a freelance screenwriter and has optioned films and tv series in the UK, as well as here in New Zealand. He is currently writing two feature films for Libertine Pictures.
Gavin has a very different take on scriptwriting and what it takes to build a story that connects with people. He doesn’t believe in formula – he believes in craft meeting art, and using that combination to create an engaging, emotional journey for an audience.
This workshop is made possible thanks to generous support from Creative Communities and New Zealand Film Commission
Script to Screen introduces Deep Dive Workshops. These workshops are for mid-career and experienced screen practitioners to extend and build on what you already know so you can continue to make powerful stories for the screen. They will be smaller sessions with limited tickets available. Here are the details for our first one.
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ABOUT DAVID COURT
David Court is the Founder of Compton School, Australia’s first business school for creative people. He is also Chairman of Screen Canberra and a Director of the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Foundation. David was formerly Head of Screen Business at the Australian Film Television & Radio School where he developed Australia’s first screen business qualification. David has been involved in the financing of more than a dozen film and television productions including John Weiley’s Antarctica, Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom, Dean Cavell’s The Wiggles Movie, Jerzy Domaradski’s Lilian’s Story, Robert Connolly’s The Bank, Andrew Horne’s The Animated Leunig and Don Featherstone’s The One Percenters. David was founding editor of the highly regarded industry newsletter Entertainment Business Review. As author of Film Assistance: Future Options (Allen & Unwin, 1986), he was the policy architect of the Film Finance Corporation, established by the Australian Government in 1988. The FFC invested more than $1 billion in Australian film and television productions during the next 20 years. In 2010, with Sir Peter Jackson, David undertook a review of the New Zealand Film Commission for the NZ Government. He holds a PhD from the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University.
This workshop is made possible thanks to generous support from
New Zealand Film Commission
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Wed 27 April
5:30pm – 6:30pm NZDT – TALK
Live on Zoom Webinar
Join us for a TALK with Rachel Okine, Head of Features and Development Executive at Stan – Australia’s leading local streaming service and creator of original productions.
Rachel will talk with NZ producer Fraser Brown about the breadth of Stan’s slate, what projects they are looking for, how they fit into the financing eco-system and what kinds of partnerships work well with their model.
This is a chance to learn how and when to approach the platform in an efficient way, how their commissioning process works and classic mistakes you should avoid. Producers of all levels, as well as writers and directors developing series and features, will find this webinar useful.
The Stan Originals slate includes the hit series Wolf Like Me, starring Isla Fisher and Josh Gad; The Tourist, starring Jamie Dornan and Danielle Macdonald; Gold, starring Zac Efron; Nitram, directed by Justin Kurzel, starring Caleb Landry Jones, Essie Davis, Judy Davis and Anthony LaPaglia; Bump series 1 & 2, starring Claudia Karvan; RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under, and many other acclaimed original series and films.
Don’t miss out on this opportunity to hear directly from the Development Executive at Australian streaming platform Stan.
Register for free in advance to secure a spot and to receive the link for the talk. There will be a Q&A at the end of the discussion, questions can be submitted to the moderator when registering or during the discussion.
ABOUT THE PANEL
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Script to Screen welcomes BAFTA and AWGIE winning screenwriter Anthony Mullins to Aotearoa.
Join us as Anthony discusses screenwriting and how writers can explore and excel in telling more complex, intricate, authentic stories. Anthony challenges the conventions of story structure and character arcs, expanding your possibilities as a storyteller.
This is a fantastic opportunity to hear from one of Australia’s leading screenwriters, and author of the book Beyond the Hero’s Journey: Crafting Powerful and Original Character Arcs for the Screen.
Essential for anyone interested in writing scripts for film and TV series, this TALK will take place in both Wellington and Auckland in early May.
ABOUT ANTHONY MULLINS
Anthony is a BAFTA and AWGIE award winning screenwriter, director and script producer. The projects Anthony has written and directed have won numerous international awards including a Primetime Emmy, an International Digital Emmy, two BAFTAs and five Australian Writer’s Guild awards. One of Anthony’s first short films (STOP, 2000) was nominated for the Palme d’Or for short films at the Cannes Film Festival. One of Anthony’s first TV assignments was writing and directing two spin-off web series for the hit US television series LOST, one of which won a Primetime Emmy Award for Best Interactive Television (Dharma Wants You, 2009). In 2022, Anthony’s play, The Norman Mailer Anecdote was a finalist in the Queensland Premier’s Drama Awards. His book Beyond the Hero’s Journey is based in part on his doctorate and was released by New South Publishing (UNSW) in 2021. It has so far been released in Australia, the UK, the United States and will be released in China in 2023.
AUCKLAND TALK
Wednesday 3 May 2023
6:30 – 7:30pm – TALK
7:30 – 8:30pm – Cash bar, socialising and pizza
Capitol Cinema, 610 Dominion Road, Balmoral, Auckland
After the TALK, stay and have pizza on Script to Screen. There will be a cash bar and socialising with fellow filmmakers.
$5.75 (incl. GST) for sales via EventBrite to secure your seat
Script to Screen TALKS are made possible thanks to generous support from
New Zealand Film Commission, Foundation North, Te Auaha NZ Institute of Creativity, The Capitol Cinema and White Studios.
Script to Screen welcomes BAFTA and AWGIE winning screenwriter Anthony Mullins to Aotearoa.
Join us as Anthony discusses screenwriting and how writers can explore and excel in telling more complex, intricate, authentic stories. Anthony challenges the conventions of story structure and character arcs, expanding your possibilities as a storyteller.
This is a fantastic opportunity to hear from one of Australia’s leading screenwriters, and author of the book Beyond the Hero’s Journey: Crafting Powerful and Original Character Arcs for the Screen.
Essential for anyone interested in writing scripts for film and TV series, this TALK will take place in both Wellington and Auckland in early May.
ABOUT ANTHONY MULLINS
Anthony is a BAFTA and AWGIE award winning screenwriter, director and script producer. The projects Anthony has written and directed have won numerous international awards including a Primetime Emmy, an International Digital Emmy, two BAFTAs and five Australian Writer’s Guild awards. One of Anthony’s first short films (STOP, 2000) was nominated for the Palme d’Or for short films at the Cannes Film Festival. One of Anthony’s first TV assignments was writing and directing two spin-off web series for the hit US television series LOST, one of which won a Primetime Emmy Award for Best Interactive Television (Dharma Wants You, 2009). In 2022, Anthony’s play, The Norman Mailer Anecdote was a finalist in the Queensland Premier’s Drama Awards. His book Beyond the Hero’s Journey is based in part on his doctorate and was released by New South Publishing (UNSW) in 2021. It has so far been released in Australia, the UK, the United States and will be released in China in 2023.
WELLINGTON TALK
Tuesday 2 May 2023
6:30 – 7:30pm – TALK
7:30 – 8:30pm – Cash bar, socialising and pizza
Tapere Iti, Te Auaha NZ Institute of Creativity, 65 Dixon St, Te Aro, Wellington
After the TALK, stay and have pizza on Script to Screen. There will be a cash bar and socialising with fellow filmmakers.
$5.75 (incl. GST) for sales via EventBrite to secure your seat
Script to Screen TALKS are made possible thanks to generous support from
New Zealand Film Commission, Te Auaha NZ Institute of Creativity, The Capitol Cinema and White Studios.
You can now watch this STS TALK online about developing and making TVNZ’s dark comedy series Creamerie. Co-created by Roseanne Liang, Ally Xue, JJ Fong and Perlina Lau from Flat3 Productions and co-produced with Kevin & Co, Creamerie was released in 2021creating a big buzz locally. It went on to be picked up by US platform Hulu and won the prestigious Best Drama Series gong at the 2022 New Zealand Television Awards.
Creamerie is a six-part series set in a post-pandemic world where a contagious virus has decimated 99% of men, presciently conceived pre-COVID-19. Funded by NZ On Air in 2019, Creamerie was shot during the early phase of the pandemic when most of the global industry was locked down.
Co-creator and one of the lead actors in the series, Ally Xue (Flat3 Productions), and producer Bronywnn Bakker (Kevin & Co) talk about how the concept came to life, the writer’s room, and interesting hurdles on its pathway to release, with moderator Marc Laureano
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.
Join Script to Screen and the New Zealand Film Commission for a live webinar on Thursday 16 September at 5:30 pm to hear about what’s needed for Whiringa Tauatahi – Stage One and how to make your 2021 Kōpere Hou – Fresh Shorts application shine.
The purpose of the webinar is to give an overview of the application process and guide you through the selection criteria.
Register for the webinar in advance. There will be an opportunity to send questions during the webinar but you can also submit your question ahead of time to help shape the discussion.
The Webinar will be available for you to view on Script to Screen’s YouTube and Facebook afterwards if you are unable to join the discussion live, and for you to refer to afterwards.
Learn how to make your feature film script stand out in this in-depth scriptwriting workshop. David White will lead you through some of the things he discovered when writing and directing This Town.
Openings! Whether on the page or on screen, the opening scene needs to grab the audience. During the first half of the workshop, David will explore ways to write an impactful opening scene by sharing his experience with the scripted opening of This Town, and the vast changes made to translate the script to the screen.
Write what you know! From locations to characters, using richness from the world around you can help create depth especially when working with the lower budgets of first films. In the second half of this workshop, David will explore how using texture from places and characters you know intimately can help you build a believable world for your film.
Saturday 7th August 2021
9am – 5pm
Drama 2, Te Whaea National Dance & Drama Centre, 11 Hutchison Road, Newton, Wellington.
Who it is for: This workshop is aimed at beginning and emerging feature film writers. Directors and producers wanting to learn more about taking a script into production will also find this workshop valuable and are encouraged to attend. All levels of experience welcome.
Cost: General Admission $23 (incl. GST) via Eventbrite.
What to Bring: Pen and paper. Snacks, tea and coffee will be provided. Please bring your own lunch or there are places to buy your lunch in the vicinity.
COVID Alert Level Note: This workshop will go ahead under Alert Level 1. If Wellington is in Alert Level 2, the workshop date will be reviewed. If Wellington is in Alert Level 3 or 4, the workshop will be postponed.
ABOUT DAVID WHITE
David White has produced and directed a substantial body of documentary and drama work that has enjoyed considerable national and international success, among them Meat, Shihad: Beautiful Machine, I Kill, Little Criminals, The Cleanest Pig and This Town. His work has screened at over 50 film festivals including Sundance, AFI, SXSW, SilverDocs, Tribeca, MIFF, TRUE/FALSE, Clermont Ferrand and been commissioned and screened on BBC, Sky and PRIME TV.
He was the first New Zealander to be shortlisted for a Cinema Eye Honor for his film I Kill (2013). His next two documentaries Little Criminals (2015) and Of Decades in Colour (2017) aired on PRIME TV to strong ratings and critical acclaim. Feature documentary Meat (2017) opened to 4-star reviews and sell-out audiences throughout NZ, was released on multiple NZME platforms and has sold globally.
David’s (writer/director/producer) debut comedy film This Town was developed at the prestigious Venice Biennale College – Cinema, amongst just 12 selected from a worldwide call. It was critically acclaimed and stayed at number one at the NZ theatrical box office for 21days. World sales are being handled by The Film Sales Company.
This workshop is made possible thanks to generous support from New Zealand Film Commission and Creative Communities Wellington.
Script to Screen, in partnership with Northland Youth Theatre, presents a free four-day film workshop in the July school holidays for 15 – 23 year olds.
The workshop helps young participants to develop skills in crafting a story idea, writing a script, and acting. The aim of the workshop is to foster writing talent and encourage aspiring filmmakers. No experience or prior knowledge of filmmaking is necessary.
On Day 1, participants will hear from writer/director Hamish Bennett (The Dump, Ross & Beth, Bellbird) about finding a story they want to tell and crafting a narrative that is compelling on screen. On Day 2, participants will develop their own film concept and write a scene for their film, guided by actor Laurel Devenie (Shortland Street).
On Day 3 Laurel will lead a workshop on acting for the screen, including working with the scenes written the day before. Each participant will get the chance to act in a scene. On the last day, we will tape the scenes, watch them as a group and discuss what was learned.
Tuesday 13 July – Fri 16 July
9am – 2:30pm each day
Northland Youth Theatre, 86 Bank St, Whangarei 0110
Morning Tea, Lunch and Afternoon Tea provided. However, if you have special dietary requirements (gluten free, dairy free, keto, paleo, etc) please bring food with you.
The workshop is free but please register via EventBrite as spaces are limited.
This workshop is presented in partnership with Northland Youth Theatre and is made possible thanks to generous support from New Zealand Film Commission and Foundation North.
