New Look Directors Guild: Check Out the Website

30 June 2014

New Look Directors Guild: Check Out the Website

The Screen Directors Guild has changed its name and is proud to launch new branding as Directors and Editors Guild of New Zealand (DEGNZ).

Guild Chair Peter Roberts says “We welcome a new energy in the NZ screen industry and our new name recognises our broadening representation of screen story tellers. It brings with it a vigorous group of new members dedicated to lifting production values and levels of professionalism in screen story telling craft.”

The makeover includes a contemporary new website www.degnz.co.nz and an extensive new professional development programme for both directors and editors, funded largely by New Zealand Film Commission.

The Guild is launching two substantial international mentorships, as well as a Collaborators seminar series, in addition to its established schedule of workshops and film talks and the highly successful Rehearsal Room series, introduced this year. In November DEGNZ will send an emerging NZ director to Los Angeles to screen their feature in the prestigious Director’s Finder Series facilitated by the Directors Guild of America. Later this month there is a chance for directors to discuss their projects with iconic Australian director Rolf de Heer.

Says DEGNZ Executive Director, Fiona Copland, “The Guild’s primary function is to support the creative, cultural and financial wellbeing of NZ directors and editors, and lobby for policy that will improve their opportunities and protect their rights. We also offer professional advice to individual members, alongside professional development and networking opportunities.”

“Our development thrust is to help NZ directors and editors out into the world with their work. Distribution models are changing in both film and television. There is more opportunity for directors to connect directly with their audience and more options for presenting non-standard work in non-standard ways. But we do need to make sure we actually get paid. Directors and editors need sustainable careers.”

The first event in DEG’s new Collaborators Series is Find An Audience: Monetise Your Work, with distributors Michael Eldred (Madman) and Elizabeth Trotman (Studio Canal), exhibitor Chris Mathews (Event Cinemas) along with digital platform developer David White (IndieReign). The event is Tuesday 10th July in Auckland, and will be streamed live to Wellington members.

ENDS

© Scoop Media