Women dominate creative roles in newly funded webseries

Media Release

9 December 2016

Women dominate creative roles in newly funded webseries

Women are strongly represented in key roles in NZ On Air’s latest funded webseries.

Of the seven webseries selected for funding five are written and directed by women, and a sixth is a story about women. The webseries also span a wide range of diversity of stories, cultures and target audiences.

Baby Mamas Club is a comedy drama from a fresh team of Māori and Pacific women writers. It tells the stories of four young women brought together by the revelation they’re linked through “Johnny” the father of all their children.

A second series of Friday Night Bites has been supported, bringing more comedy from the Asian women creators of the successful Flat3 series. A woman writer and director who self-funded their first series are behind Potluck, a comedy centred on a group of four gay women.

Also supported is Tragicomic, a youth-targeted adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet that integrates graphic novel elements, from the successful four young women who are The Candle Wasters.

Lucy Lewis Can’t Lose, from a female writer/director, delivers a second series of teen-comedy drama, with a female central character and welcomed by audiences for its realistic representation of disability.

A third series of Auckward Love, has won support after a great audience response to the first two self-funded series. The comedy follows four millenial women flatmates living in Auckland and dealing with life.

And the internationally acclaimed, award-winning High Road will be wrapped up with Season 4 (The End Of The Road). The series concludes the chaotic rock’n’roll life story of Terry Huffer.

“NZ screens need more stories from women lead creatives. In this round women have been in abundance and there were a range of superb, diverse ideas across the board. There is a growing demand for webseries and we hope audiences will love these,” said NZ On Air Chief Executive Jane Wrightson.

Funding details

High Road 4, 6 x 8 mins , Tomorrowland for online, $100,000
Auckward Love, 8 x 15mins, We Three Productions for TVNZ On Demand, $100,000
Baby Mama’s Club, 5 x 7-10mins, BMC Productions for TVNZ On Demand, $100,000
Friday Night Bites, 20 x 2mins, Flat3 Productions for TVNZ On Demand, $100,000
Pot Luck, 6 x 10mins, Robin Murphy Productions for TVNZ On Demand, $100,000
Tragicomic, 10 x 6mins, Good Times Company for The Wireless, $100,000
Lucy Lewis Can’t Lose, 5 x 7mins, Redletter TV for 3Now and TV3, $94,958

© Scoop Media