The New Zealand Writer's Guild (NZWG) is a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 trade union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

 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

New Zealand Council of Trade Unions

The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions is a national trade union center in New Zealand. The NZCTU represents 360,000 workers, and is the largest democratic organisation in New Zealand....

, the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds

International Affiliation of Writers Guilds

The International Affiliation of Writers Guilds is an international trade union federation representing guilds of professional screenwriters and playwrights. Some affiliates also belong to national trade union federations....

 and the Union Network International

Union Network International

UNI Global Union is a global union federation for skills and services, gathering national and regional trade unions. It was launched on January 1, 2000. Its more than 900 affiliated unions in 140 countries have 20 million members...

.

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

Ponsonby

Ponsonby is a surname which may refer to:*Arthur Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede was a British politician, writer, and social activist...

area of Auckland.

External links

• NZWG official site.