A full-day workshop, consisting of two parts, that will discuss various aspects of a successful writer’s room.
This is open to PASC members who are writers serious about series writing and producers who are interested in understanding writers’ rooms.
Seats are limited, you must be available to attend the full day. Register your interest by 9am, Thursday 19 September, and we will be in touch closer to the day to confirm your spot.
This workshop is being run as part of Writers’ Room: Seat at the Table (WRSATT), an initiative funded by Irirangi Te Motu New Zealand On Air to bring Pan-Asian writing talent to writers’ rooms in Aotearoa and beyond.
Workshop A: How a Room Works
with Vanessa Alexander
Beyond understanding the organisational dynamics of a writers’ room, attendees will explore the roles of the lead writer, the storyliners, and the notetakers - each crucial to crafting compelling narratives and supporting the creative synergy of the team. This session will also include topics such as:
Roles and responsibilities of the lead writer, and storyliners
Efficient workflow in the room
Types of contributions
Understanding and managing expectations
Time management and daily goals in the room
Workshop B: Note-Taker Masterclass
with Marisa Nanakhorn Brown
The note-taker plays a crucial role in recording and organising the ideas which swirl around the high-velocity environment of a writers’ room. Detailed and accurate notes may determine whether a winning idea gets lost in the din or helps launch a series into the stratosphere.
In this workshop, Marisa Brown, co-founder of Octopod Films and experienced writer, storyliner and story developer from Tony Ayres Productions in Australia, will run a master class on effective note-taking in writers’ rooms. Attendees will learn about:
Writing in real time
Recording, organising, editing and presenting notes
Formatting and releasing scripts
Making the most of opportunities as a note-taker
Speaker Bios
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Shuchi Kothari is a New Zealand-Indian writer, producer and academic. Many of her award-winning films (Kainga, Firaaq, Apron Strings, Coffee & Allah, etc) have screened at over 100 international film festivals including Venice, Cannes, Toronto, BFI, Busan, and Telluride. She co-devised and produced A Thousand Apologies, New Zealand’s first Asian prime-time television Asian show. She regularly contributes to writers’ rooms, mentors critically acclaimed filmmakers/projects, designs and convenes workshops and has served on juries of Film and Television awards and national funding bodies. As the co-founder of the Pan-Asian Screen Collective she advocates for equitable representation and increased access to means of production for Asian screen practitioners in Aotearoa New Zealand. She is an Associate Professor in Screen Production at the University of Auckland in New Zealand where she teaches screenwriting and creative producing. Shuchi is the recipient of WIFT’s “Outstanding Contribution to the New Zealand Screen Industry'' award.
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Vanessa Alexander is an award-winning writer and producer, nominated for Best Comedy Series and Best New Series at the 2021 Writers Guild of America Awards for her work on The Great (Hulu), a series which separately picked up three Golden Globe and multiple Emmy nominations. Alongside writing on season one and two of The Great, Vanessa wrote four episodes and co-executive produced the Netflix/MGM series Vikings: Valhalla. She has recently written a feature about the life of Queen Caroline of Brunswick for Richard E. Grant and Brouhaha, and has just had a pilot she developed with Hayley Atwell and Monumental commissioned by ITV. She previously also wrote on the UK crime series Tin Star for Sky Atlantic.
In the more distant past, Vanessa worked in Australia and New Zealand where she has won Best Drama Series, Best Comedy Script, Best Short Film, SPADA New Filmmaker of the Year, Best Young Adult Series, as well as receiving multiple nominations for Best Drama Script and Best Director across more than one project. In 2018, she was nominated for an Australian Writers Guild Award for Best Script for the comedy/drama series The Wrong Girl (Channel Ten) while also writing for the award-winning series Love Child (Channel 9). Vanessa was also the first female director of the Power Rangers series for Disney, the Executive Producer of Taika Waititi’s Oscar-nominated short film Two Cars, One Night, and received an International Emmy nomination for her teen show Being Eve, which she also produced and directed.
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Marisa Nanakhorn Brown is an Australian-born writer, developer, script editor and creative producer of Thai-New Zealand heritage, who is passionate about a range of genres, but is always drawn to the themes of belonging, being an outsider, and finding your place in the world. In 2019, Marisa spent nine months working in the script department of the Netflix show Clickbait, then moved onto Development Assistant on Fires (ABC), before picking up a full time role in the development department at Tony Ayres Productions (part of NBCUniversal's International Studios division) in early 2020. Here she worked across a broad range of projects for the local and international markets, including writing, script editing and associate producing on the ABC/BBC live action kids show Spooky Files, and she is currently working in the script team of an as yet unannounced Netflix drama. However, Marisa started her writing career as a notetaker, and understands the importance of training the next generation of emerging writers in this pivotal role.
This event is free to attend and open to PASC members who are NZ residents/citizens.
As part of your registration, you will need to submit a CV and personal statement (up to 250 words) on how attending this workshop will benefit your career goals over the next three years.
PASC can offer members a modest travel and child care subsidy if required. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to the GM for support.