MA Scriptwriting 2013 prizewinners announced
The winners of the David-Carson Parker Embassy Prize and the inaugural Brad McGann Filmwriting Award have been announced.
Alison McLachlan won the 2013 David Carson-Parker Embassy Prize for her television drama series The Staceys.
The script explores the re-opening of a 'cold case': the unsolved disapperance of an eight-year-old boy. Fifteen years on, his family must wrestle with past trauma and unanswered questions if they are ever to move forward.
One of Alison's MA examiners writes:'The Staceys has the potential to be a captivating television drama series. It's layered, complex, visually exciting, well thought through, cleverly and professionally written. As a producer I'd be very happy if this arrived on my desk. In fact, it just might make my day.'
Lisa Cherrington won the inaugural Brad McGann Filmwriting Award, with her film script Emoha.
Emoha is the story of Tiwai, a young woman at the centre of a conflicted family who, having recently lost her mother, is struggling to understand where she now belongs. When the mother's body arrives in Wellington, various factions of her extended family both Maori and Pakeha - converge to pay their respects. As they argue over the appropriate rituals for her death and fight over the body, Tiwai positions herself as her mother's primary protector, isolating herself in the process.
One of Lisa's examiners writes:'The central ideas of belonging, ownership and the emotional hierarchy that forms within a community after a death, have the potential to speak to an international audience. At its essence a story about forgiveness, and featuring a well-drawn cast of beautifully flawed characters, this story has universal appeal.'
Both awards were announced at the David Carson-Parker Embassy Prize ceremony on 10 December.
The late David Carson-Parker, with the Victoria University Foundation, established the David Carson-Parker Embassy Prize to be awarded to a graduating student from the Scriptwriting stream of the MA in Creative Writing. This prize was originally funded by the Embassy Trust, which was formed in July 1996 to preserve and restore the early 20th century theatre turned cinema, and to support the infrastructure of the local theatre and film industry. With the completion of the Embassy restoration and the winding up of the Trust, one of the trustees, David Carson-Parker, generously stepped in to continue funding the prize, and to increase its value to $3,000. David Carson-Parker passed away in 2012.
A generous donation in memory of noted New Zealand filmmaker Brad McGann led to the establishment, in 2013, of the Brad McGann Filmwriting Award. The award, worth $2000, will be presented annually to a graduating student from the Scriptwriting stream of the MA in Creative Writing who has, through their folio of work, demonstrated excellent potential as a film scriptwriter. It is intended to support them in the further development of this work.
Mr McGann, who passed away in 2007, won international acclaim for his first full-length feature film In My Father’s Den, which he wrote and directed. The film is one of the top 20 highest grossing New Zealand movies. He was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2006.
Funds for the new award were donated by Mr McGann's friends, family and colleagues, and the New Zealand Film Commission.
Ken Duncum, the Michael Hirschfeld Director of Scriptwriting at Victoria University, is thrilled about the award.
'It's very gratifying, not only that this award will aid the development of an emerging film writer but that it honours Brad McGann, a much-missed writer and director,' says Mr Duncum.