The three-day intensive workshop, funded by the New Zealand Film Commission, will be held at The Business Hive and will provide both talent and project development for three film-making teams.
Entitled Southern Pilots, the newly created script development programme is a collaboration between Film Otago Southland and Script to Screen and will be solely focused on developing new scripted series projects.
Film Otago Southland co-manager Stefan Roesch conceived the development lab and worked closely with Script to Screen executive director Jackie Dennis to craft an intensive development workshop for the participants and their projects.
Mr Roesch said the idea for the programme was born out of a need to support local film-makers and creatives from the region to produce stories about the South to tell all New Zealanders and the world.
"It’s important we see a diverse range of stories on our screens and that includes stories from the regions, in this case Otago and Southland," he said.
"We are thrilled the New Zealand Film Commission provided sufficient funding for running a contestable application process and pulling together a highly respected team of advisers and speakers for a three-day development workshop in Oamaru," Mr Roesch said.
Script to Screen used three external selectors to find the most compelling story ideas suitable for development and viability for future production.
Eight participants, within three teams, have been chosen for the programme. They include writer and director Pennie Hunt with project team Dog Town, writer-director Emma Schranz with project team Junction, and writers Martin Kean and Vicki Lenihan with project team Southern Skies.
All three teams hail from Dunedin.
"They are being supported to develop their projects at the intensive workshop in Oamaru, and getting it up to the standard needed to seek production funds," Ms Dennis said.
The selectors chose these projects because the teams’ applications had standout features such as originality, strong concepts, strong characters, interesting themes and strong writing samples, they said.
The advisers for the programme are executive producer (EP) Glenn Standring, creator and EP on TV series The Dead Lands, based on his film of the same name; comedy writer, director and actor Paul Yates, who also produced TV series Wellington Paranormal, and award-winning writer and arts laureate winner Fiona Samuel, who has most recently written for Princess of Chaos and Pike River, in post-production.
The participants will also hear from director Aidee Walker (White Fever, Kid Sister, Mystic) and writer Dianne Taylor (After the Party) and get pitching advice from executive writer and producer Steve Barr.
Ms Dennis said the teams would have one-on-one expert adviser sessions and then hear from industry speakers over the three days.
"This gives the teams an opportunity to hear two points of view, which can be very powerful, especially if they are both pointing out the same areas of strengths or weaknesses.
"As well as the one-on-one advice, they also hear from guest speakers about specific topics to do with writing, producing and directing a television series, as well as collaborating within their team," she said.
"After the teams have had time to take on board the learnings from the development workshop and update their materials, the projects will have been developed to a point where the teams can partner up with a production company or go straight to commissioners and funders to get their project into production," Mr Roesch said.
