Future Thinking in Lockdown

Geographically isolated and with a relatively small population, New Zealand has the potential to contain the spread of Covid-19 and allow our workforce to safely resume trading ahead of the rest of the world. Christchurch Branch Chair (advertising) Line Producer Amanda Jenkins ponders the potential for our screen industry if New Zealand’s isolation can be transformed into a unique set of opportunities (to work/service other countries’ productions by proxy) that could set up a stronger, bolder screen sector here for a long time to come.

Before New Zealand went into lockdown last week, Screen Canterbury NZ (film office) was strengthening (https://www.christchurchnz.com/screen-canterburynz) our screen foundation to support production with a crew list, image gallery, and website. Handling national and international inquiries as well as promoting the region. Screen Canterbury NZ is working with private investment projects on studio infrastructure, developing regional screen protocols and now also advocating for Covid-19 recovery stimulus.

Meanwhile, our local producers, directors, and crews were busy with local and international development and content creation in the form of TV, advertising, short films, web content, Te Manga Paho funded content, documentaries, and print advertising. How did that look? Before contemplating the gritty realism of our current situation, let’s celebrate what we’ve been doing this year.

Christchurch producer and SIGNZ member Nadia Maxwell has been nominated as a finalist in the WIFT NZ awards for Woman to Watch, and is currently in post-production on her next feature ‘Reunion’ - a psychological thriller written and directed by Venice and SXSW award-winning Jake Mahaffy and starring Julia Ormond – which is due for release in 2020.

Christchurch writer/director Gillian Ashurst’s NZFC Catalyst funded short film The Meek is currently in post-production. Shot on location in North Canterbury, the short is produced by Nadia Maxwell and Catherine Fitzgerald (Blueskin Films). Nadia and Gillian are also in advanced development on feature film GNATS, which was selected for Script to Screen’s Story Camp in December 2019.

On another note, a huge congratulations must go to Christchurch Writer/Director Vanessa Wells for her selection for the 2020 FilmUp Mentorship Programme run by Script to Screen, which will continue during the level 4 lockdown. Vanessa is also in pre-production on her second commission for Sesame Street.

In February, I traveled to Auckland for the Line Producer workshop “Share the knowledge” led by producer Emma Slade and line producer, Victoria Dabbs. This was an intense and highly informative workshop for 15 participants held over 3 days that covered all aspects of being a line producer for long format feature film productions. The intention was to support the participants with opportunities for internships and mentoring to develop this role actively within the screen industry. Regular online digital meet-ups with guest speakers are also planned to be ongoing for the rest of the year.

Meanwhile, producer/director Slavko Martinov was about to get on a plane to the Middle East for a month’s recce on one of the films he has in development. Thankfully, he decided not to get on the plane at the last minute and avoid what would’ve been a disastrous quarantine upon arrival. On a positive note, that bought him time to chat with international co-producers about their involvement while he continues to develop the other local and international projects on his slate.

The claymation children’s series Kiri and Lou is animated in Christchurch by a team led by one of New Zealand’s most internationally successful stop motion animators, Antony Elworthy. The ongoing series continues in production during lockdown, with sets relocated into animators’ garages. Written and directed by Harry Sinclair and produced by Fiona Copland, the series screens on TVNZ on demand, CBS, BBC, ABC, as well as broadcasters in Europe, Scandinavia, the Middle East and Africa.

But now, with the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic halting all international and domestic productions, we are all faced with uncertainty. Beyond the shock of the immediate impact, no one knows how we will be affected, or for how long.

As you know, fairly robust conversations have been occurring throughout the industry. We’re all affected in different ways, depending on our roles and the sectors we work in, but we can all agree that these are unprecedented times we find ourselves in together. And that will require us to come together and use our creativity to come up with unprecedented solutions.

Can we work through this adversity together and find ways to promote growth and create opportunities that didn’t exist before? Of course we can. And we must. It’s in our Kiwi DNA to come together and be resilient, confident, innovative, and versatile in the face of a crisis. We thrive on it. And there is no industry in New Zealand better equipped to thrive on these unique set of challenges we face than the screen sector. Heck, it’s part of the job description on a good day!

No one knows when this crisis will end or what will happen next. We know that. But we can be prepared to move quickly when we get the ‘green light’ to get back into the game. And that starts now. Together, as an industry, we need to start asking ourselves how we can adapt to this crisis and create opportunities that will help promote our screen industry to the rest of the world.

Watching with interest the industry in the USA, there has been an unprecedented international content boom with streaming services disrupting the content model by looking for authentic and original content filmed in partnership with local storytellers and local crew! As well as NZ storytellers getting on the radar of the large international brands.

Let’s face it: globally, viewers, networks, and various platforms are going to be starved for content by the time all of this ends. The question we need to answer is, how will we use this time under lockdown to ensure we are ready to start creating content as soon as possible?

Conversations with both North and South Island crew in lockdown have already started over the past week, with people asking how we can collectively create an innovative action plan that sets us up for the future. Many thoughts, ideas, plans, and patterns have already started to emerge and we know we need an action plan:

Location supervisor and scout Clayton Tikao suggests we need to be versatile as an industry, nimble and creative, and offer the solutions to create content remotely as soon as possible. He thinks we need to look at the most effective way to provide visual information to the client. Whether this is live streaming with different technology applications, we also need to look at the pros and cons to enable problem-solving around what the direction we take. We will have a window of opportunity, he adds, to promote our locations via video feed to the rest of the world and develop a coordinated approach to enable delivery to the client and agency in another country.

A concern for writer/director Vanessa Wells is the need to ensure the networking opportunities so vital to the industry remain open during the lockdown. How will access to the gatekeepers of networks, industry conferences, governing bodies, and events & training during this period of lockdown work? Communication and ideas sharing is vital and connectivity must be transferred to and boosted online. People will start to socialize more online and be open to investing time into online meetings with people they haven’t met before. This will be a positive step toward collaborations and connections that otherwise mightn’t have existed before. This is definitely where the screen industry agencies guilds like Script to Screen, NZonAir, NZFC, and Doc Edge can help facilitate and open up opportunities for connections.

Lighting technician, Zac Beckett Knight thinks the sector should in the interim, fund regional stimulus packages. Increase seed funding. Even if that means each one gets less. Funding supports growth. This will generate physical content in the form of a pilot or test scene but also ensure that crew can participate giving them a greater chance to upskill, embrace, nurture and amplify the New Zealand cultural voice.

It is brilliant to see the screen sector strategy 2030 Facilitation group enable the Screen Sector Covid-19 Action Group, a taskforce which was established mid-March, to offer a “pan-sector unified voice” with members and stakeholders working together for our screen industry.(https://www. screenindustrynz.co.nz/ about-us)

There seems to be a unanimous belief that creation of intentional regional local content needs to be supported first, with a focus on challenging the delivery platforms to announce how they’re dedicating resources to that for the next 6-12 months. Of course, it must be noted that any future planning is easier hoped for than actioned, given that this is unchartered territory and no one knows how the next 6-12 months and possible fluctuations in spikes of infection will affect anyone’s plans.

However, let’s not overlook the obvious silver lining in this crisis: there is a good chance that New Zealand’s domestic economy will be able to emerge from lockdown and get back into business sooner than other countries, due to swift action and strong leadership of our government creating international market and investment confidence in New Zealand. The world’s demand for content in the short and medium term will possibly be unprecedented.

What does that mean for our local screen sector? Not only will our locally made content find international audiences like never before, but with so many countries still on lockdown while we can get back to work, they will be looking to create content somewhere, and somehow, during this global lockdown, and that somehow and somewhere can be us.

Keep safe, start connecting, Kia Kaha.