ABOUT EPISODE ONE
This capability-building initiative was geared towards emerging Pan-Asian practitioners who had the potential to develop and deliver a quality web series pilot for a local and/or international audience.
WHAT:
Episode One
WHO:
Two out of three key creatives must be of Asian Heritage
WHEN:
March 2022 - March 2023
WHERE:
Auckland
OVERVIEW
Episode One is a high-end development initiative that builds creative and professional capacity within our community of Pan-Asian screen practitioners. Our ambition is to launch sustainable careers for people who have been historically underrepresented in Aotearoa New Zealand’s screen industry.
This initiative, made possible with the support of Irirangi Te Motu New Zealand On Air and Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga New Zealand Film Commission, has been designed by convenor Shuchi Kothari to take six teams with a web series idea through a development and training programme to create a series bible, pitch deck, and finally the production of a high quality pilot.
Six selected teams received structured tuition, individual mentoring, up to $15,000 for development expenses, and up to $70,000 for the production of the pilot episode.
The initiative also boosted technical and business capability as it included tailored mentoring, content development, engagement with local platforms and broadcasters, licensing, content production, marketing, audience building, internationalisation, and engagement strategies, fiscal responsibility, and IP negotiations.
EPISODE ONE SEEKS:
Unique voices with vision and a distinctive, original style
Practitioners with an ambition towards sustained screen careers
Excellence from creative teams who push and challenge boundaries
A series concept that has the potential to showcase Pan-Asian talent
A series concept with the potential to appeal to a broad audiences (international or local)
A series concept that takes risks, provokes and entertains audiences
A series that is confident of its relevance in the world today
WATCH THE PILOTS ▷
THE YEAR LONG INITIATIVE
THE YEAR LONG INITIATIVE
Programme Designer + Convenor
Shuchi Kothari, the designer and convenor of Episode One, is a critically acclaimed screenwriter and producer with an illustrious history of teaching, mentoring, and advocacy. She has written and produced several award-winning projects (Firaaq, Apron Strings, Rann, Shit One Carries, Coffee & Allah, Fleeting Beauty, A Thousand Apologies, A Taste of Place) that have screened at over 100 international film festivals including Venice, Cannes, Toronto, BFI, Busan, and Telluride and broadcast on national television and Comedy Central.
Shuchi has extensive mentoring experience both as an academic who has taught screenwriting and film production at the University of Auckland for 25 years and also as an industry consultant and mentor who has guided filmmakers on behalf of NZFC, NZOA, Script to Screen, Show Me Shorts, and Outlook for Sunday. Shuchi has served on juries of Film and Television awards, national funding bodies and policy advisory groups.
Acknowledgements
The Pan Asian Screen Collective extends our deepest thanks to Irirangi Te Motu New Zealand On Air and Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga New Zealand Film Commission as key funders of Episode One, and to Dr Shuchi Kothari for creating and convening this initiative.
PASC acknowledges the Faculty of Arts, the home of Screen Production, at the University of Auckland and the Asia New Zealand Foundation for supporting Episode One.
