Surviving The Wilderness: Judith Curran’s Lessons For Southern Filmmakers

Judith Curran knows a thing or two about resilience. The seasoned producer, director, and writer has dodged African leopards, survived the Bornean rainforest, and faced an even tougher challenge—navigating New Zealand’s screen industry.

As a keynote speaker at the upcoming Virtual Southern Screen Summit on Saturday, 29 March, Judith is ready to share her hard-won insights on creativity, persistence, and survival. Her passion for the New Zealand screen industry is unwavering. “It’s in my nature to never give up even when times are tough,” she says. “Summits and groups banding together across the country are one of the critical mechanisms to keep our filmmakers incentivised and functioning – stronger together!”

In 2001, Judith joined the iconic Kiwi production company NHNZ in Dunedin, producing hundreds of hours of documentary content for global broadcasters. “We always had an edge. Never afraid to take a risk,” she says. Working from the South offered a unique storytelling perspective, far from the industry’s domestic hub in the North Island.

But the industry landscape has shifted. “Telling wildlife stories requires patience, taking risks, holding your nerve when everything turns pear-shaped, and then pivoting the storyline to reflect what happens. But that is actually quite manageable compared to trying to pitch stories to networks and funding bodies when the business models the industry relied upon have been up-ended.”

Her most challenging and rewarding project? Orangutan Island. Inspired by Lord of the Flies in reverse, the series followed pre-teen orphaned orangutans learning to form a society on a Bornean island. After three years of polite “no’s,” a commissioning executive at Animal Planet finally took a chance. “I was on my way to Borneo with a crew and absolutely no clue whether this concept would work,” she recalls. “But it quickly became clear I had stumbled across something profound, and I had thirty little red hairy scriptwriters to help me make my series.”

The show’s success led to 26 episodes and another 30 hours of Orangutan Jungle School for Love Nature, cementing its impact and reach.

Judith remains committed to encouraging Southern filmmakers. “Stories from the past can still be a guide to inspire even when everything has changed. Filmmakers from New Zealand’s south can make a huge impact in critical global issues and create change. Telling stories from our backyard is just as important as ever.”

Yet, the challenges are real. “There’s just so little funding and so many hungry producers jostling for coin. And there’s probably an unconscious bias against Southern creatives, maybe because they can’t hob-nob at network events as easily as those in the north.”

The Southern Screen Summit, organised by the Southern Filmmakers Collective and supported by Film Otago Southland, will be held online to encourage participation from filmmakers across the motu. Featuring speakers and panels with extensive industry experience, the event offers emerging creatives the chance to gain valuable insights from experts like Judith.

Judith’s advice to filmmakers is simple. “Be persistent, stay passionate, and start with low-budget pilots to present authentic, personal stories. Be resourceful with the tech that’s now available, understand how business models work—distribution, marketing, co-pro deals—alongside being creative. Build relationships with other filmmakers but also keep thinking about what the audience wants.”

As Judith prepares to speak at the Summit, her message is clear: resilience, creativity, and collaboration are more important than ever. And if you can survive the screen industry jungle, a leopard or two is nothing.

For more information or to register for the Southern Screen Summit, visit: www.southernfilmmakers.nz

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