New Zealand producers have access to a new internationally-facing professional development accelerator aimed at building commercially viable businesses, as well as leadership skills and industry networks.
Applications are open now for the Activator Screen Business Programme, the brainchild of Libertine Pictures and 113 Partners, in partnership with Hinterland and SPADA.
Twelve participants will take part in three two-day workshops that examine how the international marketplace operates and how development, financing, pitching, and production vary between key territories.
Further, they will also undertake two weeks of online learning modules with LA-based screen experts, and go on three five-day in-person market visits to Sydney, London and Los Angeles to meet sales agents, distributors, streamers, broadcasters, financiers, agents, managers and other industry professionals;
The New Zealand Film Commission, NZ On Air and Te Māngai Pāho have supported the initiative, as have Vista Foundation, Netflix and Grant Thornton & Gallagher Insurance.
“The screen industry is dynamic and rapidly changing – no more so than in the past decade. We are operating in an increasingly globalised marketplace, and the imperative to be commercially viable and competitive is more important now than ever,” Libertine Pictures managing director Richard Fletcher says.
“For New Zealand producers to be able to compete in this international marketplace, they need first to understand how the industry operates in key territories like Australia, LA and the UK in particular, and then learn how to build commercially viable and sustainable business models that will enable them to take advantage of the unique opportunities afforded them by the NZ screen industry.”
Ian Murray, CEO of Sydney-based corporate advisory firm 113 Partners, added the accelerator had been developed in order to grow the export market for the Kiwi production sector.
“This is a practical, hands-on international professional development initiative designed to bridge the gap between creative and business skills and to enhance the capabilities of mid-career and established film and television producers who have a track record in the NZ domestic market, providing them with a robust toolkit for navigating and excelling in the constantly changing international film and television sector.”
Applications close May 16, and the programme will run from July to October. Four scholarships with additional mentoring from Libertine Pictures and Hinterland are available to those from underrepresented communities. More info here.