The Kids Are Alright

The Kids Are Alright

Online Panel Discussion

New Zealand has quietly built one of the world's great track records in children's and young adult screen storytelling. From animated adventures to YA drama, our writers, directors and producers have consistently punched above their weight, exporting stories, formats and characters that resonate with audiences far beyond our shores.

Join NZWG Executive Director Alice Shearman in conversation with Becky Kuek, Briar Grace-Smith, and Ryan Cooper. Three practitioners working at very different points of the youth-audience spectrum, from animated comedy to YA drama to teen adventure, for a candid, craft-focused conversation about what makes stories for young people different from stories for adults.

Writing for children and young adults demands its own discipline, its own honesty, and arguably a deeper trust between storyteller and audience than almost any other genre. We'll talk about:

• Why Aotearoa punches above its weight in this space, and what's distinctive about the way local writers approach youth audiences
• The craft differences between writing for children/YA and writing adult drama or comedy — structure, tone, morality, humour, and pace
• Representation and responsibility — telling stories for young New Zealanders and stories about them, and the difference between the two
• What young audiences actually want versus what the industry assumes they want
• Where the opportunities are, locally and internationally, for writers wanting to move into this space

Whether you're an established screenwriter, a new voice curious about youth-audience storytelling, or simply someone who cares about the stories we're telling the next generation, this is a conversation about craft, purpose, and why New Zealand keeps getting this right.

TICKETS:

Members of: NZWG, Ngā Aho Whakaari, Pan-Asian Screen Collection (PASC), Pacific Islands Screen Artists (PISA) = $5

General admission = $10

Get your tickets HERE

PANEL:

Becky Kuek (郭金玫)

Becky Kuek is a multi-genre writer, director, producer and actor, and the founder of production company Mooncake (est. 2018). Born in Australia to a Chinese-Malaysian father and Pākehā mother, and raised across Australia, Vietnam and New Zealand, Becky trained as an actor in Los Angeles, London and Sydney before returning home to Auckland in 2018. She created, wrote, directed, edited and starred in two seasons of Tales of Nai Nai — Aotearoa's first Asian-themed animated television series, and has written for local comedies including My Favourite Dead Person and Quimbo's Quest. Becky is a vocal advocate for empowering and upskilling underrepresented filmmakers, with several animated and live-action projects in development through Mooncake.

Briar Grace-Smith ONZM

Briar Grace-Smith (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Wai) is one of New Zealand's most celebrated writers for stage, page and screen. Her television credits span Fishskin Suit (winner, Best Drama, NZ Television Awards), Being Eve, and Kaitangata Twitch — a thirteen-part adaptation of Margaret Mahy's beloved YA novel. She co-wrote Billy, the TVNZ tele-feature on the life of Billy T James, and was one of eight Māori women filmmakers behind the acclaimed feature omnibus Waru, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. Her feature The Strength of Water was selected for the Sundance Screenwriters' and Directors' Labs and premiered at Rotterdam and Berlin. Most recently she wrote for the SBS/Magpie Pictures series Swift Street, which had its world premiere in competition at Canneseries. Briar was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2018 for services to theatre, film and television, and continues to mentor emerging screenwriters through the Aotearoa Writers Labs and imagineNATIVE Screenwriting Labs.

Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a co-founder of Auckland animation studio Mukpuddy, alongside Alex Leighton and Tim Evans, and leads the studio's writing and voice-acting work. Over two decades Mukpuddy has grown from a three-person team into a studio of more than forty, producing some of New Zealand's best-loved kids' content — including The Barefoot Bandits (which Ryan co-created, co-directed and largely scripted), Quimbo's Quest, The Adventures of Tumeke Space, and Jandal Burn. Ryan also voices a number of the studio's characters, including Bessie and Homeless Harry in The Barefoot Bandits, and led the writing on Mukpuddy's adaptation of Spike Milligan's Badjelly the Witch. Mukpuddy's stated aim — to help establish New Zealand animation as a genuinely world-class industry — has made it one of the country's most consistent exporters of youth-audience content, with current US co-productions including The Dead Sea Squirrels and Juju Brain.