Narrative Films & Web Series

Here is how this works in practice. We crew short-form narrative and web-series shoots inside the same talent ecosystem that produced Taika Waititi's early Oscar-nominated short Two Cars, One Night before Jojo Rabbit (2019 Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar) and Jane Campion's short-form origins before The Piano (1993 Palme d'Or, Original Screenplay Oscar) and The Power of the Dog (2021 Best Director Oscar).

Here is how this works in practice. The NZ short-film pipeline runs through NZIFF (since 1969, festivals across Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin), Wairoa Māori Film Festival, Show Me Shorts (NZ's flagship short-film festival), and NZ on Air's web-series funding stream. Briar Grace-Smith (Cousins writer-director) and the post-Whale Rider Niki Caro / Keisha Castle-Hughes era set the visual and cultural benchmark for Pacific-led narrative short work. Web-series briefs we crew regularly come from TVNZ+, Three Now, RNZ, and emerging-sites funded slates targeting YouTube, Vimeo, and proprietary brand channels.

Here is the short of it. In practice, we structure compact 5-10 day shoots with lean DOP-AD-producer-sound packages, scaling up for episodic blocks of 4-8 episodes shot back-to-back when budget allows. Crews carry full ACC accident cover, work the standard NZ entertainment-industry-guild-aligned schedules, and bill against 15% GST and bracket-based PAYE. The 25% NZSPG cash rebate applies to qualifying global short or episodic content meeting QNZPE thresholds, though most domestic short work falls under NZFC and NZ on Air domestic funding pathways.

Here is the short of it. Pasifika and Māori narrative work — increasingly central to NZ's emerging short-form slate — needs tikanga consultation, karakia, and iwi/hapū engagement where whakapapa appears on screen. We lock these protocols into pre-production. Auckland (Tāmaki Makaurau), Wellington (Te Whanganui-a-Tara), and the Wellywood Miramar facilities cluster anchor most shoots. Queenstown and Central Otago landscapes routinely feature in conceptual web-series and music-narrative hybrids. Post finishing routes through indie houses and Park Road Post-adjacent rooms for festival-grade DCP delivery.