The Guild
The New Zealand Writers Guild is dedicated to supporting and empowering screenwriters in Aotearoa New Zealand. With a rich history spanning several decades, our mission is to provide advocacy services, foster creative collaboration, and ensure fair treatment for writers. We believe in the power of storytelling and strive to create an environment where writers can thrive and contribute to our vibrant screen industry.
Who we are
The New Zealand Writers Guild - Puni Taatuhi o Aotearoa is a professional association of scriptwriters.
We represent the professional interests of writers across film, television, theatre, radio, comics, and new media. NZWG members include the majority of professional scriptwriters working in New Zealand.
We are committed to working in a way that upholds the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
Aims & Objectives
NZWG exists to:
- To protect, represent, and further the interests of New Zealand writers
- To be the national and international voice of New Zealand writers
- To establish, maintain, and improve minimum conditions of work and rates of compensation for writers
- To provide communication, negotiation, conciliation, arbitration, information, and advisory services for members in their relationships with employers, contractors, producers, other writers, or anyone else related to their work
- To promote policies, legislation, and legal and economic rights for the benefit of writers, including, but not limited to, issues of copyright, moral rights, and the status of the artist
What we do
- Organise writers
- Publish and provide information and advice to writers
- Lobby the government to improve conditions for writers
- Represent writers with funding bodies and other industry organisations
- Comment on matters relevant to writers
- Provide template contracts and agreements
- Offer core services for professional development
- Register intellectual property
- Arbitrate on script credits
Discover our full range of membership services.
Key Team Members
Here are just a few of the incredible people who make all of this possible.
Fiona Samuel has been on the NZWG board for 10 years and Co-President for 4 years, alongside her esteemed colleague David Mamea.
Fiona Samuel MNZM
Fiona Samuel has been on the NZWG board for 10 years and Co-President for 4 years, alongside her esteemed colleague David Mamea.
Fiona is a writer and director for television, radio, film and theatre, and a NZ Arts Foundation Laureate. Her body of work includes the original TV drama series The Marching Girls, one-woman stage play Lashings of Whipped Cream – A Session With a Teenage Dominatrix, television documentary Virginity, short films Bitch and Song of the Siren, radio dramas Blonde Bombshell and A Short History of Contraception and telefeatures Piece of My Heart, Bliss and Consent – The Louise Nicholas Story, and in 2024 she makes her debut as a feature film screenwriter with the movie Pike.
David Fa’auliuli Mamea (Safune/Safotu, Sāmoa) hates a lot of things about writing (don’t get him started on treatments) but the absolute pits is candidate statements like this.
David F. Mamea
David Fa’auliuli Mamea (Safune/Safotu, Sāmoa) hates a lot of things about writing (don’t get him started on treatments) but the absolute pits is candidate statements like this.
He’s been writing for over twenty years. It doesn’t feel like twenty years but by golly his calendar and Morgan Freeman in the mirror don’t lie. He’s been around a bit.
He believes in the guild and the work that it does for you — yes, you, dear guild member (you are a paid up member, aren’t you?) because not only is there safety in numbers, an organised bunch of writers has agency and influence. They have a voice.
The industry currently faces funding challenges and unprecedented change. The guild will be in right there, advocating for writers because without us, there are no stories.
There’s also collective negotiations on the horizon. You know what that means, right? Minimum conditions. Industry wide standards. What conditions? you might ask. What standards? We’re going to figure that out together when collective negotiations begin.
Rachel is an award-winning television writer, creator, show runner and executive producer. She is best known for long running series Outrageous Fortune, Go Girls, Nothing Trivial and The Almighty Johnsons.
Rachel Lang MNZM
Rachel is an award-winning television writer, creator, show runner and executive producer. She is best known for long running series Outrageous Fortune, Go Girls, Nothing Trivial and The Almighty Johnsons.
Her career as a writer started on Shortland Street, where she was the first NZ story editor.
Rachel has also worked in development and as a script editor, script consultant and mentor. She’s been a member of NZWG for many years and joined the board to help promote the interests of NZ screenwriters.
In 2017, Rachel was made a member of the order of NZ for her services to television.
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