Writers’ Room: Seat at the Table (WRSATT) is an initiative funded by Irirangi Te Motu New Zealand, On Air to bring Pan-Asian writing talent to writers’ rooms in Aotearoa and beyond. Featuring a range of workshops including “mock” writers’ rooms led by local and international industry experts, the programme seeks to deliver experiential learning to writers who are serious about series writing.
This immersive workshop invites up to 18 selected writers to take the knowledge from Part-1: Writers’ Room Fundamentals into a three-day storylining simulation, under the leadership of seasoned Lead Writers and Developers of series television.
During these in-depth, hands-on sessions, participants will be divided into teams of 6 across three rooms to create a compelling, multi-episode series arc and gain practical insights about:
How to actively contribute as a storyliner
How to steer a room as a Lead Writer
How to collaborate as a group towards a common goal
How to listen deeply and articulate clearly
How to be an indispensable notetaker (writers will rotate as notetakers)
Additionally, these workshops will include plenary sessions that offer a unique platform for robust, facilitated discussions around the opportunities, challenges and issues affecting Pan-Asian writers in this field.
Applications closed on Monday 19 August, 5pm
Key Bios
-
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.
-
Harriet Crampton is a Creative Producer and Head of Scripted for Greenstone TV. Harriet is currently producing Aotearoa’s first musical comedy tv series Happiness, for Three Now (Warner Discovery NZ). She is Executive Producer on My Life is Murder Aotearoa seasons 2 & 3 for Acorn and TVNZ. She is EP of NZ’s first Jewish comedy Kid Sister for TVNZ, the second series of which goes to air in Aotearoa Q3 2024. Kid Sister is distributed by Red Arrow in Europe and the US, playing on ITVX, CBC and Yes! In Israel. In 2021 Harriet produced the action thriller Vegas and the feature-length The Tender Trap, the story of a woman caught in a romance scam, both for TVNZ. She developed, produced and Executive Produced three series of the teen sci fi drama Cul de Sac from 2015-2017 and produced Māori Television’s Tongue Tied, a comedy set in a kura pō, in 2017. Harriet’s career in television began when she produced long-running soap Shortland Street from the early 2000s.
-
Dan Musgrove is an Emmy award-winning screenwriter, producer, playwright, and actor based in Auckland, NZ. As co-founder of NZ production company Luminous Beast, Dan co-created the SKY Originals series INSiDE, in 2020. INSiDE picked up multiple international awards, including the 2021 International Emmy for Short Form series. Dan served as a writer and script editor on Seasons One and Two of the TVNZ/Hulu dystopian comedy drama, Creamerie, which picked up the best Drama Award at the 2022 New Zealand Television Awards. Other credits include story producing Kevin and Co’s critically acclaimed, half-hour comedy, Homebound 3.0 (nominated for best comedy in 2023) and writing for the hit one-hour drama Westside (winner Best Drama in 2018) in which he also starred. Dan is currently developing season 3 of Creamerie, alongside several Luminous Beast projects, and has recently completed scriptwriting for the upcoming musical comedy Happiness for TV Three.
-
Judi McCrossin is an award-winning Australian writer and producer. Judi’s career began when her first short film was selected for competition at Cannes. After that, Judi became the principal writer on the landmark Australian series – The Secret Life of Us. This game-changing Australian show won many awards for writing, acting and producing. In 2012 Judi wrote the telemovie, Beaconsfield, starring Lachie Hulme and Shane Jacobson. It's the story of two miners, Todd Russell and Brant Webb, trapped underground for 14 days after a rockfall in the Beaconsfield gold mine. It was screened on Channel Nine and was one of the highest rating telemovies ever shown in Australia. Judi created, wrote and produced two seasons of the ABC drama, The Time of Our Lives. This show was nominated for, and won, a number of awards including the AACTA award for best actress for Claudia Karvan. Judi wrote and produced Season 1 of The Wrong Girl. Recently, She developed, co-wrote and produced a children’s short form series The Listies Work for Peanuts, which she recently sold to the ABC.