December 2024 Newsletter

Tēna koe,

I was immensely proud of the quality and diversity of funded content celebrated at the NZ TV Awards recently and congratulate all finalists and winners. The nine-awards sweep by After The Party reflects what an exceptionally good show this is, and the buzz it is creating offshore demonstrates once again that ambitious, well-funded stories told by very talented local creative teams are world-class. 

We are excited by the projects funded in Round Rua, for their ambition, breadth and creativity, but this is tempered by acknowledgement of the many great projects that we couldn’t fund. We hope some of these will be back for consideration in Round Toru. The guidelines for that round will be out tomorrow.

I’m sure I am not the only one looking forward to this year ending. Although every year that I have been here at NZ On Air has had its challenges (and wonderful achievements) 2024 has been tough. The extreme headwinds being faced throughout the media sector have hit hard. We are seeing it reflected in the number of applications for projects we would previously not have been asked to fund, and in the very limited ability of platforms to contribute to costs. We are also seeing many talented people losing their jobs. I worry about the loss of talent and capability in the sector. In short, we need a thriving sector in order to do our job. 

Every funding round requires astute assessment of funding applications, balancing the creative merits and audiences served, while trying to achieve the best bang for buck with finite funds. Whilst we are acutely aware of the financial challenges faced by individual platforms and businesses, we have to be guided by the consistent application of our published guidelines and investment principles in service to the audiences of Aotearoa New Zealand. 

I sincerely wish you all well for the coming year and hope that 2025 will be better one for all in the sectors we support. The work we collectively do matters. We are all here to ensure New Zealanders see and hear their stories and songs. Connection with our culture in this way is such a fundamental part of being a New Zealander. And we look foward to continuing to serve audiences with powerful, beautiful and informative content.

Kia kaha

Cam

Round Toru – the last funding round for the 2024/2025 financial year – opens for applications next week, Thursday 12 December. 

The Round Toru Information for funding applicants will be available on our website from tomorrow, Tuesday 3 December, with a Round Toru information webinar on this Wednesday 4 December from 3-4pm. If you haven’t already, email funding@nzonair.govt.nz to register.

Timeline

• Targeted and General Audiences round
• Round Toru information webinar: Wednesday 4 December
• Applications open: Thursday 12 December
• Applications close: Thursday 30 January, 2025
• Applicants informed: Friday 11 April, 2025

Also, just an update on the new NZ On Air Portal we mentioned in our last newsletter - we are now using the system internally checking it top to bottom to ensure it is working as intended. For Round Toru, applicants can continue to use the existing application portal. We'll do the switch over next year, creating less pressure on applicants to this round.

We have just completed our last funding round for the calendar year and received applications across Scripted, Non-Fiction, Content Development, Capability and Discoverability. 

You can find the full list of funding decisions at the end of this newsletter.

Scripted

We approved 12 Scripted projects for a total of just over $15m. This included four new drama series, ranging from procedural crime to comedy and millennial angst, and seven pieces of content for tamariki. You can read about that here.

Non-Fiction

We approved just over $11.5m in funding for 20 local Non-Fiction projects. Three-quarters of these were returning series with a strong audience, while eight were journalism projects with strong reach and consistently large audiences across the motu. You can read more here.

NZ On Air-Te Māngāi Pāho Reo Māori Co-Fund

Three Scripted and one Non-Fiction projects received funding via our co-fund with Te Māngāi Pāho, along with a further three Scripted projects for development. In total, the projects will receive funding of just over $8m. The projects, which contain at least 30 percent te reo Māori, reflect a breadth of Māori perspectives and will appeal to many audiences across Aotearoa. For the details on that announcement, you can see more here.

CNZ Arts and Culture Podcast

Creative New Zealand, NZ On Air and RNZ came together for a one-off podcast co-fund to address the deficit in media coverage about arts and culture in Aotearoa New Zealand. This was off the back of the Creative New Zealand New Mirrors research published in 2023 which showed a real need for support for arts and culture coverage.

Of 209 proposals, three podcasts were selected – a podcast taking listeners on a gallery visit with an art critic, an artist and rangitahi Māori; an exploration of New Zealand’s bold Māori art history and its intersection with societal change; and a podcast of Māori and Pasifika collective voices, bringing queer artists, academics and thinkers together to exchange ideas.

The podcasts are due to go into development towards the end of 2024 and will be broadcast on RNZ National in 2025 and available on all the RNZ podcast platforms.

The funding decisions are included in the full list at the end of this newsletter.

Annual Report

Our Annual Report for the 2023/24 year was recently tabled in Parliament. It gives an overview of the activities, achievements and issues in the year. And it was a very big year (yet again!). With the introduction of a whole new rebate scheme for the game development sector, the expansion of the Screen Production Rebate benefitting local productions accessing NZ On Air funding, and a comprehensive review of the Music funding streams.

Read more about the year in review here.

Diversity Report

The Diversity report for Scripted and Non-Fiction funded projects in the 2023/24 year is also now out. Reporting on 212 projects, the report findings include an improvement of representation in above-the-line positions for Māori, Pasifika and Middle Eastern, Latin American or African (MELAA). However Asian creatives remain under-represented.

You can read the full report here.

The Music Team is super proud of the changes we have made to the Music Funding streams in response to the 2023 Music Funding Review by Victoria Kelly.

The changes we have made to date are:

• Adding a 10% Artist Creation Fee on top of all the New Music funding grant totals and making this mandatory. This ensured artists received a ring-fenced fee for their creative work.
• In New Music Project, we increased the total funding amount per project to $50,000, changed the drawdowns to advances to help aid cashflow, and phased out the requirement for financial co-investment. 

And shortly, we will be announcing some further changes to our Music Funding streams, so keep an eye out for this.

2025 Music funding dates

The 2025 Music funding dates until 30 June 2025 are now up on our website.

The next round for New Music Project and New Music Project Kids will open on Thursday 12 December and close 4pm, Thursday 23 January. 

The next New Music Single round opens on Thursday 16 January 2025 and closes 4pm, Thursday 30 January. 

Celebrating our sound

We are always so proud to see many of the artists we support being celebrated at various awards ceremonies and 2024 was no different:

Aotearoa Music Awards – finalists and winners

Taite Music Prize – finalists and winners

Pacific Music Awards –finalists and winners

APRA Silver Scroll Awards – finalists and winners

Aotearoa Alternative Awards –  winners

Whakarongo mai nei!

Finally, with Christmas fast approaching, we encourage you to enhance your holiday season by tuning in to the NZ On Air Music team’s lovingly curated playlist of only the freshest cuts from these shores.

As we near Year Two of the Game Development Sector Rebate, the Games team has been hard at work making several refinements to our processes thanks to invaluable feedback from the sector.

Those refinements include an update to the registration and application process to include the Statement of Readiness as part of the registration form itself and a change to the requirement for applicants to give financial projections – so they need only confirm they’re confident their studio’s eligible game development expenditure will exceed $250k.

We have also extended the application window from four to six weeks, allowing extra time for applicants to finalise submissions and introduced standardised templates to make applying for the GDSR even easier. These include a GDSR Financial Details Template and a GDSR Game Details Template. Finally, we have also developed Software Eligibility Guidelines so applicants can determine exactly which software expenses qualify.

2025 Dates

• Registration Opens: Monday, 3 February
• Registration Closes: Friday, 28 February
• Applications Open: Tuesday, 1 April
• Applications Close: Friday, 9 May
• Decisions Announced: July

Full details of the GDSR are available on our website. 

We have made a few changes to contracts that will be rolled out with the Round Toru contracts. These include:

No more flash drives

To date, under the NZ On Air production funding agreement (PFA) for funded screen content, we have required a copy of funded content via a USB or DVD. However, the feedback we have been getting is that this is inefficient and outdated. So we now require only a link to the content either via a shared online drive or on a supporting platform’s website which will make everyone’s life easier.

New workforce reporting tool

NZ On Air is currently collaborating with Te Māngai Pāho and the NZ Film Commission on a demographic survey tool called ‘The Everyone Project Aotearoa’ (TEPA). Developed for the screen sector, it aims to provide an accurate picture of the industry by gathering data across a wide range of categories in a 5–10-minute survey. As part of a post-shoot drawdown in our Funding Agreements, successful applicants will be expected to submit their project into the TEPA portal. All demographic data is de-identified, aggregated and owned by the individuals who provide it. More information will be made available soon. This will replace the current Diversity survey requirement. Please direct any questions to our Research Advisor fairooz@nzonair.govt.nz.mailto:

Code of Conduct

We are introducing a Code of Conduct to outline behavioural expectations for anyone engaging with NZ On Air – this includes funding recipients and other stakeholders, our Board members and staff.

Please take the time to read the Code of Conduct, which will now be referenced in contracts. 

CNZ Arts and Culture Podcast

Toitu te Toi (working title): an exploration of New Zealand’s shifting Māori art history including landmark moments such as the establishment of Ngā Puna Waihanga, the 1984 exhibition Te Māori, and recent Venice Biennale Golden Lion winners. Producer Jamie Tahana with presenter Matariki Williams.
Funded: $81,500.

Tukua (working title): an art critic, a practising artist and rangatahi Māori attend an arts event together and share their own responses. Producer Kathryn Graham and presenters Brett Graham, Ngāhuia Te Awekōtuku and Kura Turuwhenua.
Funded: $95,500.

Orators Anonymous (working title): an indigenous queer podcast for rogue philosophers, researchers, bedroom scholars and those trying (and sometimes failing) to be likeable ancestors. Producers Jessica Hansell aka Coco Solid and the Wheke Fortress collective.
Funded: $80,000.

NZ On Air/TMP Te Reo Maori Co-Fund

(The total funding for this co-fund is split 50/50 between Te Māngai Pāho and NZ On Air.)

Scripted:

KIWI (working title), 1 x 80’, Wheke Group for viewing on TVNZ+ and Whakaata Māori, up to $1,095,962. 

This is Home, 6 x 24’, 787 Media for viewing on Whakaata Māori and Sky Open, up to $2,233,682.

Baddies, 6 x 22’, Brown Sugar Apple Grunt Productions for viewing on TVNZ+ and TVNZ 2, up to $3,330,565.

Non-Fiction

Origins 3, 2 x 44’, Scottie Douglas Productions for viewing on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+, up to $1,312,355.

Discoverability 

Going Global Music Summit 2024, Independent Music NZ (IMNZ), up to $2,000

NZ Radio & Podcast Awards 2025, Radio Broadcasters Association, up to $10,000

Taite Music Prize 2025, Independent Music NZ (IMNZ), up to $12,500

Voyager Media Awards 2025, Newspaper Publishers' Association, up to $15,000

Māoriland Film Festival 2025, Māoriland Charitable Trust, up to $20,000

Rotorua Indigenous Film Festival 2024, Steambox Collective Charitable Trust, up to $20,000

Big Screen Symposium 2025, Script to Screen, up to $30,000

Aotearoa Music Awards 2025, Recorded Music, up to $100,000

Platforms 

Access Community Radio Auckland Inc, Planet FM, up to $23,012

Radio One 91 FM, Radio One 91FM, up to $20,318

Music Feature 

Locals Only 2025, NZME. Radio, up to $200,000

Most FM 2025-Kiwiana, Making Tracks,Under the Mic, Taranaki FM Trust (The Most FM), up to $60,000

Pulzar FM-2025 Grid City Grooves & NZXelectronica, Dew Oh Holdings Ltd t/a Pulzar FM , up to $40,000

Rova Kiwi Discovery 2025, Mediaworks Radio, up to $280,000

Smokefree Rockquest & Smokefree Tangata Beats 2025, Rockquest Promotions, up to $100,000

SOUNZ Films 2025, Centre for New Zealand Music Trust, up to $100,000

New Music Projects 

Anika Moa, Anika Moa – Album, up to $55,000

Earth Tongue, Earth Tongue Album, up to $55,000

Jackson Owens, Jackson Owens EP, up to $55,000

Jonathan Bree, Jonathan Bree – Double Album, up to $55,000

Luca Georg, Luca George – Album, up to $55,000

PRINS, PRINS – EP, up to $55,000

Tami Neilson, Tami Neilson - Album, up to $55,000

TEEKS, TEEKS - Album, up to $55,000

Tiny Ruins, Tiny Ruins - Album, up to $55,000

Devilskin, Devilskin - Album 5, up to $55,000

Erny Belle, BUOY, up to $44,000

Georgia Lines, Georgia Lines EP, up to $55,000

Ladyhawke, Ladyhawke NMP, up to $55,000

Lydia Cole, Fragments, up to $55,000

Montell2099, EP 2025, up to $55,000

PARK RD, Album 2, up to $55,000

RIIKI REID, What If, up to $55,000

STNDRD, Album 2, up to $55,000

The Black Seeds, Album 8, up to $55,000

Victor J Sefo, Island Vibe Volume 1, up to $55,000

New Music Single (each receive up to $11,000)

Arahi, Baby's Back

Bridges, Close To You

Coast Arcade, City Limits

Coterie, Wahine

DARTZ, Cool Change

Dillastrate and KEI, Freak

Erny Belle, Boudoir

Flaxxies, Daywrecker

Frankie Venter, Backseat Driving

French for Rabbits, Gold and Blue

Heidi Simpson, heart in danger

Jazmine Mary, Memphis

JessB, Say My Name

Jujulipps, Good Guys

Lips feat. E from Eels, The Wolf

MACEY, More Than A Minute

MOHI, up late

Neive Strang, Gather Round

Paige, Twenties*

Rubi Du, Played Me

Sam Cullen, That Somebody's You

Silas Futura, The Gate

SPYCC, OH BOY

SUB-TRIBE, WOMANKIND

Sure Boy, Orbiting

The Boondocks, Bear With Me

Vince Harder, You're My Sign

Where's Jai, Rosaline

WHO SHOT SCOTT, THE DATA

Keira Wallace, Lambs Aren’t Waking Yet

New Music Kids (each receive up to $11,000)

Hey DUBY, Me & My World

Jaya, Don't Be Scared

Judi Cranston, Christmas Songs for Toddlers

Kia Whanake, Rua

Little Lips, Night Light

Marshmellow, Collaborations

Mr Roberelli, Robert the Plant