Small Country, Big Picture 2005 HIGHLIGHTS SPADA CEO, Penelope Borland

The SPADA conference Small Country Big Picture in Wellington this year attracted 370 delegates - a fantastic turnout. How quickly the SPADA conference comes and goes, but how well do the memories and networking opportunities last…

THURSDAY & FRIDAY SESSIONS

NZ ON Air John O'Shea Memorial Address South Pacific Pictures CEO John Barnett analysed the structural reasons for recurring problems at TVNZ and offered for debate two related solutions – the virtual doubling of NZOA’s funding and the leasing out of TVNZ – that, in his view, would advance the general aim of fostering public broadcasting. Download Speech PDF (102kb)

(L-R)Don Reynolds, Merata Mita, Alison Maclean, Niki Caro

Niki Caro and Toa Fraser

How Local Can You Go?
Producer Don Reynolds (Silverscreen Films), lecturer and filmmaker Merata Mita, director Alison Maclean, and directors/writers Niki Caro and Toa Fraser agreed that while films could be made anywhere, they also had to have cultural specificity.  Thus, the global market’s interest in NZ film depends on us expressing a distinctive New Zealand voice, but with stories accessible to an international audience. Distribution, several speakers pointed out, is increasingly a problem for niche players. Several speakers mentioned digital filmmaking opening doors to low cost filmmaking, but that such films would require non-traditional forms of distribution to be created ( e.g., via the Internet) beyond normal theatre outlets. Don Reynolds recounted his sound assistant entree to the film industry during a more innocent era, Alison Maclean said she had not found a distributor for her topical documentary (shown at Sundance) about post 9/11 detainees, and had relied on community screenings.  Niki Caro spoke about the pressures of balancing international filmmaking with motherhood and said that Whale Rider had never “dumbed down” its culturally specific themes for an international audience. Toa Fraser talked about how his personal history had infused and reflected the multicultural themes of his debut feature, Number Two.
Moderated by Roger Horrocks

Post Mortem of a Train Crash Australian producer Paul Barron outlined to delegates the inherent difficulties involved in his attempt to establish a viable production house in faraway Perth, and the reasons that led to its collapse - too much diversity in his product, too diffuse a brand identity, inattention to the detail and delivery of financing during a phase of expansion. A more focused company with tighter controls on financial governance has since seen him rise from the ashes – buoyed by a couple of successful formats, including an entirely scripted, young adult show shot in real time sequence on Freemantle’s streets. Moderated by Ross Jennings

Local to Glocal From An Irish Perspective
Top Irish producer Arthur Lappin spoke about his long working relationship with director Jim Sheridan ever since My Left Foot, and  spoke about the cultural affinities between the Irish and black Americans that drew Sheridan to direct the recent 50 Cent movie Get Rich Or Die Tryin. The cost of the necessary television marketing in North America , Arthur said, was the main barrier in moving from a 35-50 print niche release to the next, 1,500 print level.  Arthur provocatively suggested that state funding agencies tend to focus on supporting individual directors (“they’re drawn to the creative side of the package”) who often then go off to Hollywood. Health and continuity in the Irish and New Zealand film industries may require, Arthur suggested, the funding agencies to focus more of their resources on the nurturing and retention of producers. He also cited the necessity of having a viable television production and commercials stream of income, to help make a feature film industry viable.
During Arthur’s time at conference, he expressed a keen interest in developing an Irish/NZ project.
Moderated by Richard Fletcher



20/20 Vision
Broadcasting Minister Hon. Steve Maharey was interviewed by Gemma Gracewood across a range of policy issues. Among the highlights: the Minister defended the TVNZ board from being depicted as political dupes. He also stressed that charter programmes did not equate with local content, and that charter moneys could be spent by TVNZ on overseas programme purchasing. Afterwards, the Minister expanded on that last point. He agreed that it could be seen as anti-competitive practice, and that private broadcasters have raised the issue with him. “But at the moment, they’re entirely comfortable with this. They can recognise that what TVNZ is doing is outside their remit of commercial broadcasting. It’s additional work that doesn’t bring in more revenue. In fact it can decrease their revenue. So they’re comfortable that what they’re seeing is consistent with all countries that fund their public broadcaster to do something…”

Steve Maharey then introduced the launch of Ministry for the Environment's ‘Greening the Screen’, a practical environmental toolkit for the screen production industry. The resource helps the industry to reduce the environmental impacts of screen productions. Read the media release here The Greening the Screen toolkit can be downloaded on www.greeningthescreen.co.nz Moderated by Penelope Borland

Network Sessions

Kelly Martin

(L-R)Caterina de Nave, Sue Woodfield, Elizabeth Mitchell, Ant Farac, Nicole Hoey, Matai Smith, Gary Scott & Dave Gibson

TV3 Local Production Department entertained delegates with an interactive session ‘Snatch Our Schedule’ challenging a number of delegates on stage about 3’s commissioning and scheduling over the last 12 months. Dave Gibson and Gary Scott snatched 3’s booty at the session.

Prime TV’s Programming Manager Andrew Shaw stood ‘In the Dock’ and reminded delegates that industry practitioners are not brain surgeons.  (He paid for any crimes he was accused of with press-ups and alcohol).
Moderated by Victoria Spackman

Captivated audience

Stephen Smith, Annemarie Duff, Rob Fenwick

TVNZ’s Stephen Smith and Annemarie Duff shifted the focus from the recent headline problems at TVNZ to research (some of it in TVNZ’s latest annual report) that underlined TVNZ’s continued dominance of the most watched shows, and the prominent and mutually beneficial role played by local producers in that success. Together with Tony Holden, ‘Thinking Ahead and TVNZ’ stressed to delegates that their pitches needed to be extremely precise and detailed about the audience they purport to deliver.  Annemarie cited TV1’s current need for viable entertainment and comedy shows in the 7:30pm prime time slot. Board member Rob Fenwick indicated that the next CEO would be appointed towards the end of the first quarter, 2006.
Moderated by Dave Gibson

Tom Gutteridge

Jane Millichip NZTE’S Wired To The World (The Sequel)

Patrick Younge

Behind The Scenes With Alison Maclean In an informal and entertaining session, Alison Maclean described the lengths and breadths of her versatile directing career from her award-winning short, Kitchen Sink and her features Crush and Jesus' Son, through her directing of high end US drama episodes (Sex and the City, Homicide) to her political documentary, Persons of Interest, a response to the climate in the US post 9/11. Moderated by Annie Goldson

Pakiwaha With Merata Mita There are not many Māori women filmmakers who have their phone calls taken by Robert Redford, Martin Scorsese (to name a couple). Merata Mita is the back bone of the indigenous film industry in Hawaii and she attended this year to ‘shoot the breeze’ with us about her work there. Merata is a lecturer at the University of Hawaii film studies, this year she and her team organised the first indigenous film festival attached to the HIFF (Hawaiian International Film Festival) which is to become a part of the programme in the future. Merata’s key message to delegates was in handling the difficulties she encounters in negotiating her work in order to achieve another’s perspective, the ‘other’ ultimately being the one who will have influence over the financial aspects of one’s work. Her answer to how does one manage, was that you get to a point in your growth and in the project where there is ‘no compromise’. The session was well attended with requests for her to bring the Hawaiian programme model for indigenous filmmakers back to Aotearoa. Merata will be returning to New Zealand mid 2006 to Direct her feature film Cousins. Moderated by Rhonda Kite

Stefan Arndt & John Barnett The Secrets of Collaboration, German Style International guest speaker from Germany, producer Stefan Arndt of X-Filme Creative Pool, reminded delegates that the mere existence of a film treaty - such as recently concluded between New Zealand and Germany - should always remain secondary to the integrity of the project, and not be its prime driver. Stefan discussed how Germany had been known to the world only for “Schiller, Goethe and Hitler” and in films, had been defined by Fassbinder. So, he and a small band of colleagues (including director Tom Twyker) set out to make more energetic, youth – oriented German films that were accessible to international audiences, starting with Run, Lola, Run –a 30 page script that out of combined intuition and desperation, Twyker decided to shoot three times, in different ways. X-Filme has not used the German tax shelters, nor did Stefan regret their demise - they had, he said, largely benefited Hollywood and done little or nothing for the local industry. He also spoke about the limited career paths for women actors In the German industry – with Franka Potente (Run, Lola, Run) now seeking to become a director, an option that he said was never available to the great actors from Fassbinder’s generation, such as Hanna Schygulla. Moderated by John Barnett

MP Hone Harawira

Jim Mather

John Bishara

Māori Broadcasting – The Browning of the Business
With standing room only John Bishara CEO Te Māngai Paho, Jim Mather CEO Māori Television Service, and MP Hone Harawira Māori Party, addressed a captive audience. Based on the two CEO’s addresses - MTS is here to stay and we will be seeing more browning of the industry both on and off screen. TMP in backing its commitment to te reo Māori makes no distinction to Māori or non, Production companies nor broadcaster. MP Hone Harawira, hot off his maiden speech in Parliament, gave us food for thought in the dangers of underestimating the power of Māori presence in the industry, and reminded us how Radio is the pōhara end of the industry which I am sure he is addressing in the hall’s of power right now. This session was an entrée to next year’s session which promises to be a very lively debate indeed. Bon chance and mauri ora for 2006 were their parting wishes to the industry.
Moderated by Tainui Stephens

Writing For TV With Mike Bullen In conversation with Mike Bullen, award-winning creator and writer of the comedy-drama Cold Feet, he discussed the working relationships involved in making five series of the hit show, and his take on its success. He revealed the genesis of his next drama series, Life Begins, and reflected on the rather cooler reception to his latest fare, All About George starring Rik Mayall. Mike explained the importance to him of the creative control offered by a producerial credit and his recent foray into directing his own short film, which he is now developing into a feature. And there was a little bit of cricket. Moderated by Paula Boock

Childrens’ Television CEO of Australian Children’s Television Foundation, Jenny Buckland, discussed the current climate for childrens’ programmes in Australia and the potential opportunities for Aus/NZ co-productions. She pointed out that the mainstay for children’s drama in Australia is only due to the quota which is applicable to commercial channels only. Jenny touched on marketing opportunities  and informed delegates that it often takes a few years before things sell at the markets then the programmes come into their own and often go on to increased sales for years. Moderated by Virginia Wright

(L-R)Karen Cafe, Joe Moodabe, James Brookman

Michael Eldred

Elizabeth Trotman

Cracking the Local Market
The biggest panel of the conference, NZFC Chair Barrie Everard, Village SKYCITY’s Joe Moodabe, Dendy Films’ Michael Eldred, Elizabeth Trotman from Hoyts, Sandie Don from Hopscotch Films, and independents James Brookman and Karen Cafe, contributed to a wide ranging discussion about the key elements of film promotion. Delegates received a better understanding of the distribution process, encouraging filmmakers to become involved from the earliest stages of their films. Marketing consultant Karen Cafe used her third party campaign for The World’s Fastest Indian as a template for how to manage successful joint promotions and tie-ins, with the judicious use of newspaper advertising to ad placements on automatic bank tellers being cited.  Hoyts’ Elizabeth Trotman discussed tying it all together into a campaign and in her summary explained how product placement (and even the weather!) could also be relevant to campaign outcomes. Joe Moodabe made the point from an exhibitors point of view that what works in the US may not succeed here, singling out horror movies and Afro-American genre flicks in particular as being relatively unsuccessful here – while middle of the road fare such as Queen of Sheba’s Pearl and Ladies in Lavender did far better business here than in Australia. Hopscotch Films’ Sandie Don discussed publicity, citing the inability of some promotions (e.g. Hopscotch Films’ campaign for Murderball) to successfully redefine a film to reach a wider audience. Trailer Producer James Brookman discussed the evolution of a movie trailer and as an example used the trailer for the feature film No.2 (screened at the Embassy Theatre for delegates the night before).
Moderated by Paul Davis

How To Make the TV Ratings Work For You Claire Harris of Neilsen Media Research  contrasted the research situation of the three free to air channels in 1990 with the fragmenting media landscape today – with all the measurement challenges this posed. She presented a range of the detailed Peoplemeter data available, which is moving to breakdowns capable of capturing minute by minute audience breakdowns during ad breaks. She also presented US data on the prevalence of product placement, notably during sports programmes.  A questioner from Maori Television praised the usefulness of such information to measure audiences and delivery. However he also cited the conflict between the availability of increasingly detailed data, the demand by networks that programme pitches contain this precise information on audience delivery – and the rising cost to producers of buying in such data.

Marketing Film Sandie Don from Hopscotch Films presented a practical and insightful workshop and generously shared how she manages her strong personal passion and interest in film with a film’s marketing plan.

Super-Producers Ignite Studios’ Kingi Gilbert, Bro’Town games producer Elizabeth Mitchell, AUT’s Andrew MacKenzie and David Murphy from TVNZ Interactive shared their knowledge and experience of the evolving media space with delegates. Delegates were given practicable example of how to develop or leverage production for new media platforms.

Co-Production and Finance for Film and Television
Alan Harris of Atlantic Film Group, Bryce Menzies and John Barnett spoke about and illustrated the multiple international sources of financing and invited the audience to suggest a project suitable for co-production. The team demonstrated how a possible star could both attract funding and create a major cost that can ultimately make the project non-viable.
Facilitated by Angela Littlejohn

John Gilbert and Barrie Osborne Clare Burlinson

Masterclass: Digital Intermediate Held at Reading Cinemas, Park Road Post presented an invaluable and informative masterclass about DI with an array of first-class speakers such as DOP Leon Narbey and colourist/grader Lynne Reed; and working examples which included the edit and grade of a scene from the feature film No.2. The masterclass was of a superior technical standard with the presence of Quantel and Panasonic systems. Facillated by Barrie Osborne

Philippa Campbell, Leon Narbey & Lynne Reed Adam Scott

The Legal and Business Affairs Clinic
A new feature for the SPADA conference, The Clinic offered delegates the opportunity to meet with lawyers and business affairs experts working in the industry who provided concrete tips on any general issues regarding contracting and business affairs matters.

The Roundtables Back by popular demand, once again the roundtables proved popular and an incredibly practicable alternative to attending sessions. A new roundtable feature this year was SPADA’s ‘30minutes with the Networks’ roundtables. Dedicated for delegates to meet with New Zealand’s network commissioning editors and programmers.

Vincent Burke

Mayor Kerry Prendergast

Richard Taylor

Toa Fraser

Nat Lees and Toa Fraser

Greer Donovan and Catherine Langabeer

(L-R)Delia Shanly, Jamie Selkirk, with guest, Jean Johnston, Richard Taylor

3 Welcoming Drinks and Movie Night at the Embassy Theatre on the first night of conference included Wellington City Council’s unveiling of the tribute to the regional screen industry designed by Weta Workshop. The night proved to be a great opportunity for delegates to meet and mingle before and after the exclusive screening of Toa Fraser’s No. 2. SPADA was delighted to host special guests from the cast and crew of No. 2; and guests from Weta Workshop and Wellington City Council, including Richard Taylor and Mayor Kerry Prendergast.

The New Zealand Film Commission and Investment New Zealand Cocktails got the party started on the Friday night