News
Newsletters
A note from the CEO
Kia ora tatou
Two quite different controversies swirling around both film and
television in the last few weeks have dominated the headlines. Both
cases show how passionate the debate can be when important issues
are at stake - and the power of screen production issues to engage
the wider public. The learnings from each case will be important
and, I hope, will continue to be widely discussed within the
sector. We are fortunate to work in a mostly collegial environment.
Strong relationships, built up over many years, underpin what will
always be a complex business and cultural environment. We are
nothing if we can't work together.
This month NZ On Air is delighted to announce support for over $20
million in children's and special interest programming for a wide
variety of television audiences; for the shooting of 35 music
videos carefully selected from 215 applications and for two new
albums (from Annah Mac and Tyree) to bring
to ten the number we have funded since July. As always there
were more applications than we were able to fund and we're sorry
some didn't make it past the gates. We know the effort put into
devising funding proposals and we can tell you that the
decision-making is never easy.
One particularly exciting development is our support for a brand
new preschool series, intended for daily screening on TV2. It's
been some years since we've been able to support a long-run
preschool programme. Tiki Tour (working title) will fill a
gap in our children's strategy to provide strongly New
Zealand content to three key audiences: preschool, primary and
secondary school to help balance the plethora of available foreign
content. It's being made through a partnership of two veteran
children's programme makers: producer Mary Phillips and
animator Brent Chambers.
Alongside this, a new strand for TV One called New Zealand
Stories will be a fresh opportunity to introduce New
Zealanders from different ethnic, social and cultural backgrounds
to the country as a whole. It's a wonderful new project that will
involve three different production houses in Auckland, Wellington
and Christchurch, all working with varied directors to enhance
diversity of story and style. Special thanks to TVNZ for supporting
both these initiatives.
These series join several stalwart, much-loved series supported by
both TVNZ and MediaWorks, from What Now? and Sticky
TV to Tagata Pasifika, Praise Be and
Attitude. We're delighted that both broadcasters
willingly continue to support these important programmes.
We're also really pleased to be able to support Christchurch with
two very special projects. We're behind the live broadcast
coverage of the spectacular music event Band Together
coming together for eight hours on TV3 over Labour weekend. As
well, we're backing Christchurch doco company Paua Productions'
year-long project for Prime TV documenting the city's trek back to
normality.
In the music world, NZ On Air-supported artists enjoyed stunning
success this month at the Vodafone NZ Music Awards, an
event that continues to take my breath away with its sheer scale
and energy. I may be getting on a bit, but I still marvel over the
public support and enthusiasm for NZ music that has vaulted so high
during my lifetime. The pioneers should take a bow - and the
current stars I hope will recognise the efforts of those who went
before them. A round of applause for all involved.
And the same goes for last month's Qantas Film and Television
Awards. NZ On Air is thrilled that so many of its funded
programmes and people received the accolades of their peers.
|
Also this month I was privileged to speak at the Access Community Broadcasters annual conference in Nelson. It was a lively gathering of grassroots broadcasters, all providing very special radio services by and for communities who often have little voice in the media. Their challenges are similar to all broadcasters - relevance, revenue and audience - and NZ On Air is actively working in this sector to help improve diversity of output. All the projects announced in this newsletter are classic examples of public broadcasting content in action, focused on serving a range of audiences by providing quite different programming. None are commercially viable; all are important additions to the cultural fabric of New Zealand. NZ On Air is a proud advocate of them all. Cheers Jane |
|
Deadlines |
Meeting dates |
TV Genre Series Rounds |
| 28 January 2011 | 9 & 10 March | Documentary, Factual, Arts/Culture, Platinum |
| 21 April 2011 | 1 & 2 June | Documentary, Regional TV, Arts/Culture |
| 24 June 2011 | 3 & 4 August | Documentary, Factual, Māori, Platinum |
| 26 August 2011 | 5 & 6 October | Children's, Special Interest, Arts/Culture |
| 28 October 2011 | 7 & 8 December | Documentary, Māori, Factual, Platinum |
| One off programmes,drama and comedy can come to any
meeting. |
New Recording deadlines: |
Digital Content Partnership
|
|
4 February 2011 |
8 April 2011 |
A chart with these dates can be printed off from the front page of our website here.
Access radio programme-makers, staff and governors descended on Nelson for the annual Association of Community Access Broadcasters' conference on October 15, 16, and 17. As well as a strong line-up of speakers on the Saturday and the Annual General Meeting on the Sunday, the conference was a great opportunity for broadcasters to network with access radio peers from around the country. NZ On Air was represented by Board member Caren Rangi, Chief Executive Jane Wrightson and Community Broadcasting Manager Keith Collins. Thanks to Mike Williams of Fresh FM and his team for hosting such a successful event.
|
Still with access radio, our Community Broadcasting Manager has been visiting stations all over the country with consultant Dr Brian Pauling to discuss sector-wide improvements in the quantity and quality of priority section 36c programming. Stations already produce an average 440 hours of first-run, locally produced s36c content in an average week. That's a fantastic effort!
Congratulations to Manager Karen Neill and the team at Sound Archives/Nga Taonga Korero. While no permanent harm was done to the archive by the earthquake in Christchurch the disruption did, however, require many hours of hard work by her dedicated team to tidy up. See photo at right.
In the hours following the earthquake, CTV and Plains FM, both funded from the community broadcasting budget of NZ On Air, did a sterling job of keeping locals informed as well as helping to provide assistance and assurance. It was a great effort by all the broadcasters involved, many of whom were also dealing with significant problems of their own. |
 |
| Below is a photo of a building damaged in the earthquake just around the corner from the Plains FM studio. |
From Tuesday this week Concert FM is broadcasting a selection of NZ fine music which has been brought back into the light through the NZ On Air-funded Resound project. The first broadcast featured Jack Speirs' Three Poems of Janet Frame, a 2001 performance by Stroma, conducted by Hamish McKeich.
The music is from the NZ Composer Archive, originally licensed for two broadcasts only. Many of them represent the first and only public performance of the compositions. NZ On Air initiated a project with SOUNZ (the Centre for New Zealand Music) and Radio New Zealand Concert to work together in a major re-licensing and digitising effort.
The digitisation from tape, DAT and CD of 1200 hours of music is currently being finalised. The recordings, from this century and last, are selected for broadcast by an expert panel. The project is aimed at improving the level of NZ music broadcast on RNZ Concert.
Many of the recordings will also soon be available via SOUNZ 'Media on Demand' platform, to be launched in the next few months. For more information see here
A reminder if you are applying for NZ On Air funding to record an album.
We have changed the funding guidelines and the funding contract. There is a new application form, a new budget and cost-reporting template that clarifies "eligible costs", and a new contract that spells out changes to the funding drawdown arrangements.
The key things to remember are -
- NZ On Air's contribution to a funded album is 50% of the eligible costs of recording and marketing the album (up to a maximum of $50,000 for any one project).
- The NZ On Air funding will be paid on a reimbursement basis from now on. We will reimburse 50% of actual and eligible costs incurred, on production of receipts or invoices confirming expenditure.
To get full details and see the fine print, see here
In the course of his review of NZ On Air's domestic music work, music industry consultant Chris Caddick has interviewed over 100 music industry and broadcasting industry specialists including artists, labels, broadcasters, producers, managers, promoters and commentators.
On top of that, his online survey about NZ On Air's music programme attracted over 650 responses and something like 3,500 comments from respondents before it closed at the end of September.
Chris Caddick's report will be presented to the NZ On Air Board in early December. Watch this space for innovations and changes to NZ On Air's music work from mid-2011. Changes and updates will be communicated via this newsletter, via our nzonair.govt.nz and kiwihits.co.nz websites, and will feature in NZ On Air's regular pages in NZ Musician magazine.
|
NZ On Air-funded artists were well represented amongst the big winners at the NZ Music Awards on 7 October.
Gin Wigmore won four Tuis, including the premiere award for Best Album. Best Single went to Kids Of 88 whose song, Just A Little Bit, also won the Best Music Video award for director, Tim Van Dammen. Other NZ On Air-funded winners were David Dallas (Best Hip Hop); Opensouls (Best Roots); The Checks (Best Rock); Bulletproof (Best Electronica); Dane Rumble (Best Male); Anika Moa (Best Female); and The Phoenix Foundation (Best Group). We also congratulate Stan Walker, who won four awards. While the Australian Idol winner was not NZ On Air-funded, he did take the NZ On Air award for the biggest radio song of the year and the award for the biggest selling single of the year.
|
 |
The NZ On Air / NZ Music Commission New Zealand music showcase at the annual CMJ college radio Music Marathon festival in New York took place on Tuesday 19 October.
|
We showcased six acts - Lawrence Arabia (the winner of the APRA Silver Scroll last year and the winner of the inaugural Taite Music prize), Zowie (who is an NZ On Air New Recording Artist Scheme discovery who has been signed to Sony Australia), Ruby Frost (who won the 42Below Unheard competition last year and has been picked up by Universal Music), Street Chant (who won the inaugural NZ Music Awards Critics' Choice award the other day), Kids Of 88 and Electric Wire Hustle. The Music Marathon is key to our strategy for infiltrating college radio in the US which provides new promotional opportunities for NZ music. |
 |
Our television stakeholders know that October is a huge funding round which sees commitments made for the majority of Children's and Special Interest programmes for the coming year. Along with the return of children's favourites such as What Now, Sticky TV and I Am TV and the new pre-school series Tiki Tour, the award winning series Let's Get Inventin' will return, together with a new series, Operation Hero, that will test children's spirit of adventure. For more information about funded children's programming, see our press release here
|
Returning Special Interest programmes include Tagata Pasifika, Asia Down Under and Praise Be along with a second series of Mike King's well-received mental health series, The Nutter's Club. Fresh, for Pacific Island youth, and NZ Stories are the exciting new additions to the Special Interest group of programmes. NZ Stories will be a series of 25 half hour special interest documentaries to be executive produced by 3 production companies for TV One. Look out for an RFP to be issued shortly. Comedy and Entertainment programmes include a further series of The Jono Project for FOUR and a special New Year's Eve programme for TV One - One's Countdown to New Year. Band Together: Concert for Canterbury also received production funding, see our press release here |
 |
Two important ongoing documentary strands - TV3's Inside New Zealand and Maori Television's Pakipumeka were also supported again.
The first two meetings of the financial year have seen a large and diverse range of documentary projects supported. It is likely that after the December meeting that the budget for this genre will be exhausted and consideration of further applications may need to be deferred until the new financial year. We will update you in our next newsletter.
The December meeting is the second Platinum Fund meeting of the year and we look forward to receiving a wide range of applications for some truly special programmes.
 |
A quick review of previously supported Platinum projects shows that Rivers, fronted by Craig Potton, recently completed a very successful Sunday evening screening on Prime; Bliss has wrapped up their shoot and are in post; Tangiwai is heading into pre-production ready for a shoot later in the year and; the three historical docudramas (Golden Hour, Ice Captain and Cancerman) are at various stages of production. There promises to be some very special programmes on our screens in 2011. |
The fourth historical docudrama (which is nominated as a Rautaki programme) is yet to be selected. This process is still underway but we hope that a project will be confirmed shortly.
An RFP will be issued after our December meeting with applications closing on Friday 8 April 2011. It is intended that applications will be considered at our June meeting.
You still have time to catch the Digital Content Partnership Fund production Reservoir Hill: Everyone Lies before the series finishes. See here. Series 1 won New Zealand's first International Emmy Award.
As we mentioned in our last two newsletters we have been reviewing our standard Production Funding Agreement ("PFA"). After consultation with SPADA, various producers, and broadcasters, we have now updated the PFA. A template is on our website here.
The update was to make the PFA simpler to use, to reflect changes to some industry practices, and to improve some aspects of our contract monitoring. Thank you to those who helped us with this project.
Key changes in the PFA are:
- Clarifying provisions relating to reporting and returning sales income, including specifically allowing producers to act as distributors, and setting parameters around this;
- 'Budget Cash Surplus" renamed ""Underspend";
- New provision on interest where NZ On Air funding is $1m or more;
- New requirement that the production budget is to identify any items that will be payable to any Related Party of the Producer; and
- That the Producer is not to change the rate of any Related Party cost set out in its budget without NZ On Air's written consent.
By Related Party Cost we mean any payment to the Producer; any shareholder, director, or employee; any near relative of a shareholder or director of the Producer; and any entity in which any director, shareholder or near relative has a financial interest, including any payment for the Producer's internal costs used in the production, such as edit suites and cameras.
We now ask you to clearly identify in your budget any potential or actual Related Party expenses. You can do this either by simply highlighting such costs OR making them a separate category. This will improve transparency and is good accounting practice.
For further info contact our Business Affairs Executive Amy Bardsley
NZ On Air closes at midday on Friday 24 December and re-opens on Monday 10 January 2011.
Our last direct credit payments for 2010 will be Tuesday 21 December. For January only, our payments will be on Thursday 13, 20 and 27 2011. From February we will be back to our usual Tuesday payment days.
If your television production company's schedule is likely to need a drawdown payment prior to 13 January, please contact Teresa Tito by Tuesday 21 December to discuss how NZ On Air can accommodate your requirements.
No Saturday delivery
And a final reminder that NZ On Air's office is not open on Saturdays so you never need to pay for the extra cost of those Saturday delivery stickers.
Television Funding Decisions |
|
Genre |
Programme |
Total Amount Approved |
No. Of Episodes |
Length of Episodes (minutes) |
Production Company |
Channel |
|
Arts/Culture |
ANZAC DAY 2011 - OUR PACIFIC |
147,565 |
2.0 |
30.0 |
Maori Television Service |
MTS |
|
Arts/Culture |
ANZAC DAY 2011 WREATHLAYING |
44,492 |
1.0 |
90.0 |
Television New Zealand |
TV One |
|
Arts/Culture |
BAND TOGETHER CONCERT FOR CANTERBURY |
185,000 |
1.0 |
480.0 |
TVWorks |
TV3 |
|
Arts/Culture |
COUNTDOWN TO NEW YEAR 2010 |
469,731 |
1.0 |
150.0 |
Television New Zealand |
TV One |
|
Arts/Culture |
POLYFEST 2011 |
238,215 |
6.0 |
30.0 |
Television New Zealand |
TV 2 |
|
Arts/Culture |
THE GRAND TOUR |
265,734 |
1.0 |
75.0 |
Perendale Productions |
Prime |
|
Children |
I AM TV 2011 |
1,414,996 |
35.0 |
60.0 |
Television New Zealand |
TV 2 |
|
Children |
JUST THE JOB 6 |
150,737 |
10.0 |
30.0 |
Dave Mason Productions |
TV 2 |
|
Children |
LET'S GET INVENTIN 2011 |
500,000 |
9.0 |
30.0 |
Luke Nola & Friends |
TV 2 |
|
Children |
LET'S PLAY |
393,515 |
21.0 |
30.0 |
Quick TV |
C4 |
|
Children |
OPERATION HERO |
400,000 |
10.0 |
30.0 |
The Gibson Group |
TV 2 |
|
Children |
SMALL BLACKS TV 2011 |
246,500 |
26.0 |
30.0 |
Content Creators |
TV 2 |
|
Children |
STICKY TV 2011 |
2,220,530 |
252.0 |
35.0 |
Pickled Possum Productions |
C4 |
|
Children |
THE ERIN SIMPSON SHOW 2011 |
2,199,760 |
150.0 |
33.0 |
Whitebait Productions |
TV 2 |
|
Children |
TIKI TOUR |
2,380,000 |
154.0 |
30.0 |
Tiki Tour (2010) |
TV 2 |
|
Children |
WHAT NOW 2011 |
2,979,534 |
40.0 |
120.0 |
What Now |
TV 2 |
|
Comedy |
THE JONO PROJECT 2 |
755,950 |
16.0 |
60.0 |
TVWorks |
C4 |
|
Documentary |
A SHOCKING REMINDER |
131,539 |
1.0 |
60.0 |
Paua Productions |
Prime |
|
Documentary |
INSIDE NEW ZEALAND 2011 |
1,260,000 |
12.0 |
60.0 |
TBC |
TV3 |
|
Documentary |
LAST MEN STANDING |
137,522 |
1.0 |
60.0 |
Locales |
TV3 |
|
Documentary |
PAKIPUMEKA AOTEAROA 2011 |
1,250,000 |
10.0 |
60.0 |
TBC |
MTS |
|
Special Interest |
ASIA DOWNUNDER 2011 |
1,243,068 |
40.0 |
30.0 |
Asia Vision |
TV One |
|
Special Interest |
ATTITUDE 2011 |
1,635,000 |
40.0 |
30.0 |
Attitude Pictures |
TV One |
|
Special Interest |
FRESH |
731,656 |
16.0 |
60.0 |
Television New Zealand |
TV 2 |
|
Special Interest |
NZ STORIES 2011 |
1,125,000 |
25.0 |
30.0 |
TBC |
TV One |
|
Special Interest |
OPEN DOOR 12 |
405,264 |
10.0 |
30.0 |
Morningside Productions |
TV3 |
|
Special Interest |
PRAISE BE 2011 |
499,981 |
40.0 |
30.0 |
Television New Zealand |
TV One |
|
Special Interest |
RURAL DELIVERY 2011 |
1,060,000 |
40.0 |
30.0 |
Showdown Productions |
TV One |
|
Special Interest |
TAGATA PASIFIKA 2011 |
1,500,500 |
52.0 |
30.0 |
Television New Zealand |
TV One |
|
Special Interest |
THE NUTTERS CLUB 2 |
349,109 |
20.0 |
30.0 |
Top Shelf Productions |
MTS |
|
Drama |
*TANGIWAI (Additional) |
157,575 |
N/A |
N/A |
Lippy Pictures |
TV One |
|
Drama |
*WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? WAITANGI (Additional) |
33,000 |
N/A |
N/A |
Eyeworks New Zealand |
TV One |
*These programmes were supported by the NZ On Air Platinum Fund
Radio Funding Decisions |
||||||
|
Funding Type |
Genre |
Description |
Total Amount Approved |
No. Of Episodes |
Length of Episodes (minutes) |
Channel |
|
NZ Music Programmes Radio |
Music |
Backyard Beats |
45,200 |
750.0 |
4.0 |
Mai FM |
|
Radio Programme Production |
Youth |
Seeded Series 2 |
65,000 |
26.0 |
60.0 |
b.Net |
|
Radio Programme Production |
Children |
That's The Story 2010-11 |
39,000 |
52.0 |
60.0 |
Coast FM |
|
Radio Programme Production |
Comedy |
Ben & Steve's Week That Was |
45,000 |
40.0 |
120.0 |
The Rock |
Music Funding Decisions |
|
|
|||||||||
|
Funding Type |
Programme |
Total Amount Approved |
No. Of Episodes |
|
Length of Episodes (minutes) |
Production Company |
Channel |
||||
|
Music TV |
NZOWN 2010/11 |
100,000 |
50.0 |
|
60.0 |
Juice TV.com |
Juice TV |
||||
|
Funding Type |
Artist - Project |
Total Amount Approved |
|
Production Company |
|
||||||
|
NZ Music Albums |
Annah Mac - Album 1 |
50,000 |
|
Sony Music Entertainment (NZ) Ltd |
|
||||||
|
NZ Music Albums |
Tyree - Album 2 |
38,450 |
|
Move The Crowd |
|
||||||
|
NZ Music International |
Dane Rumble - The Experiment/Australia |
20,000 |
|
Let The People Speak Entertainment |
|
||||||
|
NZ Music International |
Kidz In Space - Ghost/Australia |
5,000 |
|
Move The Crowd |
|
||||||
|
NZ Music International |
Zowie - Broken Machine/US & Australia |
20,000 |
|
Zee Music |
|
||||||
|
New Recording Artists |
Te Paamu - Casanova |
10,000 |
|
Youth Performance Trust |
|
||||||
|
New Recording Artists |
The Good Fun - Naughty Little Sin |
10,000 |
|
Rockquest Promotions |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Anna Coddington - Bolt |
5,000 |
|
Tea Set Records |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Annah Mac - Same Cartoons |
5,000 |
|
Sony Music Entertainment (NZ) Ltd |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Brooke Fraser - Betty |
5,000 |
|
Sony Music Entertainment (NZ) Ltd |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Bulletproof feat PNC & David Dallas -Back In The Day |
5,000 |
|
Dirty Management |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Clap Clap Riot - Computer Screen's Dead |
5,000 |
|
Clap Clap Riot Ltd |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Concord Dawn feat JDubs - Move |
5,000 |
|
Uprising Records Ltd |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Dane Rumble - What Are You Waiting For? |
5,000 |
|
Rumble Music Ltd |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Deach - Tears |
5,000 |
|
Move The Crowd |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Dear Time's Waste - These Words Stick Me To You |
5,000 |
|
Isaac Promotions |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Gareth Thomas - Get Along Better |
5,000 |
|
Hark Music |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Hollie Smith - Why Can't We Get Along? |
5,000 |
|
Soundsmith Records |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
K.One feat Jason Kerrison - Walking Away |
5,000 |
|
Illegal Musik |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Kingston - Lotto |
5,000 |
|
Short Stack Records Ltd |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Kora - Galaxy Express |
5,000 |
|
Kora |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Lindon Puffin - Outta Reach |
5,000 |
|
Lindon Puffin |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Lisa Crawley - Leaving |
5,000 |
|
Let The People Speak Entertainment |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Maitreya - Chur To The Chur |
5,000 |
|
Control Freak Music Ltd |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Miriam Clancy & Mario Grigorov -Life Extraordinary |
5,000 |
|
Desert Road Records |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Mt Eden - Sierra Leone |
5,000 |
|
Mt Eden |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
North Shore Pony Club - Quick Draw |
5,000 |
|
Tardus Music |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Pistol Youth - Happy Pills |
5,000 |
|
Let The People Speak Entertainment |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
P-Money feat PNC, Vince Harder etc - Dance With You |
5,000 |
|
Dirty Management |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Savage - Twerk |
5,000 |
|
Dawn Raid Music |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Seth Haapu - Owe You Nothing |
5,000 |
|
Sony Music Entertainment (NZ) Ltd |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Shihad - Engage |
5,000 |
|
Warner Music New Zealand Ltd |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Street Chant - Stoned Again |
5,000 |
|
Arch Hill Recordings |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Supermodel - Blondie |
5,000 |
|
Supermodel |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
The Exiles - The Sun |
5,000 |
|
This Year's Model |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
The Feelers - Dasvidanja |
5,000 |
|
The Feelers Ltd |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
The Frisk - Cinema Smiles |
5,000 |
|
Cruel Records |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
The Jury & The Saints - Everybody |
5,000 |
|
The Jury & The Saints Ltd |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
The Naked & Famous - Girls Like You |
5,000 |
|
Somewhat Damaged |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
The Pink Pound Experience - To Us, To Them, To You |
5,000 |
|
Isaac Promotions |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Tyree - Always Come Back To You |
5,000 |
|
Move The Crowd |
|
||||||
|
Music Videos |
Young Sid - You |
5,000 |
|
Move The Crowd |
|
||||||
Printable versionIn this issue...
-
October 2010 -
Applications deadlines and meeting dates 2011 -
Community Broadcasting -
More NZ Broadcast Classical Music -
Album Funding -
Caddick II -
NZ Music Awards: success! -
CMJ New York -
TV Investments -
Platinum Fund -
Digital Content Partnership Fund -
Contract changes -
Christmas and New Year Office Hours -
Funding
Newsletter
Anyone can subscribe to the NZ On Air newsletter, which is emailed several times a year. Simply fill your email address in the box below.
