New Zealand Writers Guild - Puni Taatuhi o Aotearoa

New Zealand Writers Guild - Puni Taatuhi o Aotearoa 1976 - 2026 Celebrating 50 years of Empowering Screenwriters. By writers, for writers since 1976. 1976 - 2026 Celebrating 50 Years of Empowering Screenwriters.

The New Zealand Writers Guild (NZWG) is a professional association of script writers and is a registered trade union. The Guild represents the interests of writers in the fields of film, television, theatre, and radio. We seek to keep writers informed by publishing information and advice, and provide opportunities for skill development by organising events, networks, and legal advice. The Guild:
•

lobbies government to improve conditions for writers
• represents the interests of writers when dealing with funding bodies and other industry organisations
• publishes and provides information and advice to writers
• arbitrates on script credits
• provides opportunities for writers
• Provides members with fortnightly copies of the Guild’s e-news publication The Write Stuff
• Provides members with access to the NZWG Library, which includes many film and television scripts, books on screen writing, and industry publications from around the globe
• Provides script registration services available at http://www.nzwritersguild.org.nz/services/library.html
• Provides advisory services for contracts with producers available at http://www.nzwritersguild.org.nz/contracts

The Guild was founded in 1975, Unionised in 1976. It was initially established to set minimum rates and conditions for writers working in television, but has since expanded to encompass all script writing fields. Today, the Guild has more than 400 members and includes most of the professional script writers working in New Zealand. The NZWG is affiliated with three major union organisations: the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (NZCTU), the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG) and Union Network International (UNI).

Seedlings! Now we're getting close... you got this. Apply here: https://www.nzwg.org.nz/grants/seed-grantsThe deadline i...
24/08/2026

Seedlings! Now we're getting close... you got this. Apply here: https://www.nzwg.org.nz/grants/seed-grants
The deadline is Friday 4 September at MIDDAY 🌱

Thanks heaps to NZ Film Commission for continuing to support screenwriters through Seed 🎉

Once you've nailed the Treatment and Script pages, spare a little time and thought for the final question - the audience...
21/08/2026

Once you've nailed the Treatment and Script pages, spare a little time and thought for the final question - the audience. Don't be too general here, the judges need to know that you really understand your audience, comparisons can be useful too!

More guidance here: https://www.nzwg.org.nz/grants/seed-grants/seed-guides

Come hang with us at Meet the Guilds! 📣When: Tuesday 8 September. Drop by anytime from 5-8pm!Where: Morningside Tavern, ...
19/08/2026

Come hang with us at Meet the Guilds! 📣

When: Tuesday 8 September. Drop by anytime from 5-8pm!
Where: Morningside Tavern, Tāmaki Makaurau

Learn about how guilds support the screen industry, and the diverse range of resources and opportunities available from each guild. Most importantly, your favourite Guild team (that’s us, Alice & Mirabelle) will be there! Come hang at our table!

Free to attend, RSVP and more info here: https://screenindustrynetwork.nz/news/meet-the-guilds-2026/✍

And now for the meaty part of your Seed application - the Script pages! These are the second of the TWO key elements tha...
17/08/2026

And now for the meaty part of your Seed application - the Script pages! These are the second of the TWO key elements that the judges will be reading🌱

The synopsis and the treatment state the promise and potential of the idea, this screenwriting sample delivers on that promise! The script samples have to show that the writer can execute this screenplay in a skilful and professional manner. This includes tone, dialogue, cinematic imagery, transitions between scenes, and all the other elements that create a filmic experience in the reader’s mind.

More guidance here: https://www.nzwg.org.nz/grants/seed-grants/seed-guides

More handy tips for your Seed application incoming! Let's look at the TWO key elements that the Judges will read 🌱The fi...
14/08/2026

More handy tips for your Seed application incoming! Let's look at the TWO key elements that the Judges will read 🌱

The first, and by all accounts the most tricky, is your TREATMENT. This should deliver an outline of the core narrative story, including a beginning, middle, and an end. The treatment should also convey the emotional journey, structure, and genre, as well as something of the tone and characters.

Check out some script samples and our FAQ guide here: https://www.nzwg.org.nz/grants/seed-grants/seed-guides

Fair warning: this one's not going to be polite. 😏On Saturday 22 August, five of the sharpest minds in New Zealand scree...
13/08/2026

Fair warning: this one's not going to be polite. 😏

On Saturday 22 August, five of the sharpest minds in New Zealand screen sit down together in Tāmaki Makaurau for an honest, unfiltered kōrero about 50 years of writing for the screen, the breakthroughs, the personal toll, the blind spots, and the fights still worth having.

Here's a taste of what's coming:

🖋️ Rachel Lang (Outrageous Fortune) on the shows that helped New Zealanders finally see themselves on screen.
🖋️ Victor Rodger (Black Fa**ot) On Pasifika stories should be taken seriously enough to be properly critiqued.
🖋️ Scotty Cotter (Dead Ahead) on why our best work so often gets discovered by word of mouth while the big HBO shows soak up the spotlight.
🖋️ Diana Wichtel, the Listener's TV critic for 36 years, on how audiences have changed.
🖋️ Dominic Corry on the awkward truth of reviewing local work when the industry's small enough that everyone knows everyone... and everything!

Honest, funny, occasionally provocative, the conversation the sector actually needs to be having. And yes, the gloves are off.

📍 Kōmanawa Theatre, Te Puna Creative Hub, Henderson
🗓️ Saturday 22 August, 2–4pm
🎟️ Grab your seat: https://events.humanitix.com/where-we-come-from-the-writers-journey-auckland-b8nv5ecf/tickets

$15 Tickets for members of NZWG, Ngā Aho Whakaari - Māori in Screen Industries Pan-Asian Screen Collective PISA - Pacific Islands Screen Artists WIFT NZ
$20 General Admission
$10 Students

Part of our 50th Anniversary year, come be part of it. ✨
Thanks to:
Te Puna Creative Hub Australian Writers' Guild Authorship Collecting Society Australia Aotearoa (ACSAA)

PS - you can come out on the train! Plus free parking... flash.

Join us on Wednesday 19th August at 12:30pm for a practical one-hour Zoom workshop led by NZWG Executive Director Alice ...
12/08/2026

Join us on Wednesday 19th August at 12:30pm for a practical one-hour Zoom workshop led by NZWG Executive Director Alice Shearman! This workshop is designed to help screenwriters prepare strong applications for Seed, NZWG’s script development grant programme funded by the New Zealand Film Commission ✍

Get more info and tickets here: https://events.humanitix.com/seed-grants-how-to-apply

For as long as we can remember, New Zealand had a bit of "cultural cringe"... that feeling that our own stories weren't ...
11/08/2026

For as long as we can remember, New Zealand had a bit of "cultural cringe"... that feeling that our own stories weren't quite as good as the ones from overseas.

Well… that's over. 🎉

NZ On Air Where Are The Audiences? 2026 research is out, and it's a love letter to local:

❤️ 81% of us love seeing NZ faces and places on screen
🇳🇿 7 in 10 say local shows and music make us prouder to be a New Zealander
🌟 Most of us now rate our own shows and music alongside the best in the world
📺 Local TV is back on top, ahead of the global streaming giants

Even better: the people who watch the most (local AND global) are the ones who love our stories most of all. We're not choosing between the world and ourselves. We're proudly both!

So here's to loving local. To every writer and storyteller in Aotearoa, kia kaha, keep going. The country is watching, and it's proud.

📖 Read the full report here: https://www.nzonair.govt.nz/news/where-are-the-audiences-2026/

If you want to support your local story tellers, come listen to them at the following live and online events - https://www.nzwg.org.nz/the-guild/50th-anniversary

Ngā mihi nui, The team at NZWG

10/08/2026

MMP explained... we like a simple answer!

Address

8/14 Henderson Valley Road
Auckland
0612

Opening Hours

Monday 10am - 3pm
Tuesday 10am - 3pm
Wednesday 10am - 3pm
Thursday 10am - 3pm
Friday 10am - 3pm

Telephone

+64 9 360 1408

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