New Zealand Writers Guild

"NZWG" redirects here. For the aerodrome with ICAO code NZWG, see Wigram Aerodrome.

NZWG

Full name	New Zealand Writer's Guild
Founded	1975
Members	507
Country	New Zealand
Affiliation	NZCTU, IAWG, UNI
Office location	Auckland, New Zealand
Website	www.nzwritersguild.org.nz

The New Zealand Writer's Guild (NZWG) is a New Zealand trade union which represents writers in the fields of film, television, radio, theatre, video and multi-media. It provides services, events, networks, lobbying, and legal advice to those in the film and television industry. The Guild is affiliated to three major union organisations, the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds and the Union Network International.

Description

The Guild's members include most of the professional script writers working in New Zealand. There were 507 registered members of the Guild as of 22 May 2008. The Guild was founded in 1975. It was initially established to set minimum rates and conditions for writers working in television. It has expanded to encompass all script writing fields.

The NZWG lobbies government to improve conditions for writers, comments about matters relevant to writers and represents the interests of writers when dealing with funding bodies and other industry organisations. The guild also publishes and provides information and advice to writers. Some of the services offered include negotiating on script credits, advice for contracts with producers and a script registration service to help writers to protect their ideas.

The NZWG also provides members with fortnightly copies of the guild’s e-news publication "The Write Stuff" and the guild magazine "Pitch Engine." Members are also provided with access to the NZWG library which includes film and television scripts, books on screen writing and industry publications from around the world.

Recent successful initiatives include Date Nights (where writers meet with producers to pitch their ideas in three minutes), and the Final Draft Short Film Script Competition.

Governance and office

The NZWG board is made up of several screenwriters working in the NZ entertainment industry. The President of the board is Peter Cox and the Vice President is Dianne Taylor. Other board members include past-president Allan Baddock, D F Mamea, Sean Molloy, and Athina Tsoulis. Previous board members include Benedict Reid, Alison Davie, Barry Duffield, Roseanne Liang, Mark Prebble and Mike Riddell. The Executive Director of the NZWG is Steven Gannaway.

The main office for the NZWG is located in the Ponsonby area of Auckland.

External links

• NZWG official site.

Organized labour portal