Kōpere Ake Guides

Applicants Details

Applicant(s) Biography

Half a page or less, per applicant, this document will outline all relevant screenwriting or screen industry experience.

This must include:

• Name
• Contact email and phone number
• Experience Level
• Relevant credits (screen or stage)

Development Plan

A simple outline of how the Kōpere Ake Grant will be used to develop your project to a market ready series pitch deck and pilot script.

This could include:

• How the $35,000 will be spent.
• What the $5000 Story Development Assistance could be used for.
• What the $2000 Professional Development Assistance could be used for.

Applicants cannot apply for funding to cover costs already incurred.

Rights & Adaptation Rights

Applicants must be the rights holder of the works in the application. Whether the work is original, an adaptation, or based on other source material the writer must hold and maintain the rights in the work when entering and while they are a current recipient of a grant.

On entry the applicant(s) confirm these rights. If an applicant does not hold these rights, NZWG reserves the right to withdraw funding and the recipient will be required to return any funding already received.

Application Fees

$25.00 – Members of NZWG, Women in Film and Television (WIFT), Pan-Asian Screen Collective (PASC), Pacific Islands Screen Artists (PISA) and / or Ngā Aho Whakaari (NAW).

$50.00 – Non-members of any of the above organisations.

Terms & Conditions

All applicant(s) agree to the Terms and Conditions when applying for Kōpere Ake series development funding.

Quick Application Checklist

• Applicant(s) can be an individual, or a team
• Applicant(s) must be writer(s) and or creator(s) of the idea
• Applicants can apply with the same project up to three times
• If the project is based on any underlying works, the applicant(s) must demonstrate they have the rights in the underlying works for the purposes of development through this fund
• If the project has already been optioned by a producer or production company, it will not be eligible
• Projects are not eligible if they have already received development funding of any kind from any of these agencies:
  • Te Māngai Pāho
  • NZ on Air
  • New Zealand Film Commission
• The lead applicant must be a NZ citizen or resident

Assessment Materials

Identifying Details & PDF Requirements

All Assessment Materials must have their identifying details removed. These are: writer(s) names, contact details and other types of personal identifiers e.g., previous works, additional writers etc.

Series proposals and script samples must:

• Have all applicant(s) identifying details removed
• PDF format only

Title

Current title or working title of the project.

Logline

A logline is a one-to-two sentence synopsis of a tv show's concept, plot, and characters. Often stating the central conflict of the story, at times providing both a summary of a story's plot and a hook to engage readers.

Potential Market

This paragraph will answer the following questions.

• Who is the primary target viewing audience?
• What makes this series different from competing series?
• Why should your audience spend their time watching this series?
• What territories could this be pitched to?
• What distribution type do you see for this series?

This must not include reference to prior material that may identify the applicant.

Series Proposal

PDF format only. Minimum of 2 pages, maximum of 20 pages.

This document could include:

• The core story and narrative outline
• Genre and form
• The hook and why this series will find an audience, and why now
• The world, including its theme and tone
• Characters, and their key relationships
• Identify if this is an adaption of underlying works

Screenwriting Sample

PDF format only. Minimum of 10 pages, maximum of 15 pages.

Up to 15 pages of a sample of your script writing either from the draft Pilot, or from a previous work. If the sample is from a previous work, it must not show the title of the work, or writers names.

This document must:

• Be standard script formatted sample
• Include some dialogue