The History - Act VIII

HISTORY OF THE NZWG ACT EIGHT

Alice Shearman, Executive Director 2015 – 2026

Alice Shearman has been the Executive Director of New Zealand Writers Guild since 2015. In that time, she has represented New Zealand screenwriters at home and internationally, in the office and at Parliament, online and in live presentations.

The role of Executive Director includes talking to nervous first-time writers who are ready to accept fifty cents and a pie for their first treatment simply because they are so grateful to have work – to dealing with experienced writers who still don’t want to read the contract for fear that the pay will be too insulting. Short story, being the boss at the Guild can be a thankless task. Whether you are dealing with Inland Revenue, the Board, the landlord, the funding bodies, industry groups, or indeed, the writers, it is a role that requires commitment, enthusiasm, organisational smarts, professionalism, and compassion – Alice has all of these skills in spades.

The following is her account of her time with the Guild. For the full version follow this link: https://www.nzwg.org.nz/the-guild/our-history

The Long Game

In 2015 I walked through the door of the old, uneven floored Ponsonby villa, a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Agent. 11 years later in 2026 I’m walking out the door a battle-hardened advocate, unreciprocated lover of Writers, and a gold star connoisseur of acronyms.

The Lay of the Land, October 2015

On 5 October 2015, the first month of the job included the Script Writer Awards NZ (SWANZ), a New Zealand Film Commission potential core DE-funding meeting, the separation of Script to Screen from NZWG, and attending my first Big Screen Symposium at the helm of NZWG. Luckily, I love swimming because I was in the deep end in full work drag.

The old villa on Ponsonby Road had seen better days and was next in line for demolition (that plot still stands empty to this day), the filing systems consisted of shoe boxes. Ghosts of tenants past roamed the hallways, and the Ant and Matt Timpson script library was straining the second-hand book shelves and floor boards to buggery. One of the first things I did was to overhaul the physical space, moving the script library to surer footing, clearing the hallway into a proper reception area, and turning the dining room into a writers’ room available for hire. A minor achievement in the grand scheme of things. A quote from my December 2015 report to the board:

“Action Item 3. Rearrange the ED’s office and the Membership office

Note A) Each office needs a bloody good bleaching!”

However, the bleaching and local mouse population paled into insignificance compared to the moment that NZWG found itself in.

Script to Screen had started its life in March 2001 as The Writers Foundation established by NZWG to massive fanfare. It was the organisation responsible for writer’s craft and professional development programmes. Then, in 2006, The Writers Foundation renamed and revitalised as a standalone entity called Script to Screen. And now, in 2015, it was officially separating from NZWG, taking flight on its own, or “asserting its sovereignty” as Tainui Stephens said to me at the time.

The emancipation of Script to Screen from NZWG was a fraught situation, and I arrived the week the shit hit the proverbial… Emotions were high, accusations of subterfuge, misleading relationships, and downright unfair game play were being thrown around. Sadly, a lot of trust was lost. Trust between the two groups has taken a long time to rebuild.

Read Act Eight Here