News / Events

A member of the Spada team recently spotted a Facebook thread where it seemed people weren’t fully aware of the international success New Zealand productions have achieved. We’ve compiled a snapshot of some recent success stories to address this. Feel free to share it widely! 

We appreciate that it may seem a little odd to be talking about success at such a challenging time for our industry, but maybe that's also a reason to do it.

We'll start with some of the excellent productions that have come through from the Premium Production Fund Te Puna Kairangi. The drama series After the Party has had rave reviews here and abroad, with Robyn Malcolm's performance being compared with Kate Winslet in Mare of Easttown and Frances McDormand in Olive Kitteridge. The series has been seen on the ABC in Australia and Channel 4 in the UK. Robyn won Best Actress at the Series Mania Festival in France. 

Quirky true story drama Far North has also been well reviewed and is screening internationally. It won the New York Festivals Film and TV Awards Best Direction award for David White. Madam - starring Golden Globe winner Rachel Griffiths - has won the Golden Nymph for Best Creation 2024 at the Monte Carlo TV Festival, and Best Comedy Series at the Berlin TV Series Festival. 

Award-winning family horse drama Mystic has bolted out and is screening in around 75 countries. Quirky comedy Creamerie is screening in the US (on Hulu) and in Australia and France. It has also attracted very positive reviews. 

And aside from the PPF productions, other New Zealand shows also continue to sell well around the globe - Wellington Paranormal and The Brokenwood Mysteries are both screening in over 100 countries. Under the Vines series three has just launched in all Acorn territories (which includes the US, Canada, and Spain). My Life is Murder has sold to 90 countries. Factual series Border Patrol screens in around 50 territories across the globe, and Motorway Patrol is in about 20.

Comedies Kid Sister and Good Grief have had strong reviews and international sales. Animated preschool children's series Kiri and Lou has been streamed over 21 million times in the UK since it first appeared on the BBC’s iPlayer service, it's been broadcast in over 15 countries, including on Nickelodeon USA, and secured a BAFTA nomination. LGBTQI+ drama series Rūrangi  won an International Emmy Award and is still screening abroad, including Hulu in the US. 

Feature film Bookworm has picked up the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival’s audience award for best international feature. Meanwhile, Upgrade Productions recently acquired the worldwide rights to The Mountain ahead of its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. 

Short film Lea Tupu’anga / Mother Tongue continues its stellar A list festival run, with a win at NZIFF following selection at Sundance, Sydney, and Palm Springs, which is an Academy Award, BAFTA, and Goya qualifying festival, and is one of North America’s largest short film showcases. 

As we mentioned, this is just a taste of the many export success stories out there, so please share your own. It helps us greatly when advocating for our sector, as we can demonstrate how investment in our industry benefits New Zealand both culturally and economically. 

Spada is continuing to lobby for regulation of the international streamers so they contribute to our local industry in some way. The Government is listening, and we expect something to happen in this area. But the pace of legislation is not fast, and it could take as much as two years for this to come to fruition.   

Therefore, we believe it’s important to continue to advocate for an increase in the baseline funding for the NZFC, NZOA, and TMP in next year's budget. Our funding agency budgets haven't kept pace with inflation, and now they are facing the pressure of high inflation and significantly lower platform contributions to production budgets because of the serious decline in advertising revenue. 

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