An unpredented number of international film and television notables are arriving in New Zealand in November to attend
Small Country, Big Picture, the annual national New Zealand screen industry conference.
"We are enormously fortunate this year to have attracted some key movers and shakers from America and Europe," said
SPADA Chief Executive Jane Wrightson. With the help of Investment New Zealand and the NZ Film Commission, in particular,
we have lured some top names to visit New Zealand and check out our industry. Speakers include David Parfitt (producer,
Shakespeare In Love and most of Kenneth Branagh's films), Ed Solomon (writer of blockbusters Men In Black and the Bill & Ted films), producer Eileen Gallagher (Bad Girls, Footballers' Wives), Nik Powell (producer The Crying Game, Little
Voice, Mona Lisa), Michael Lake, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Production at Village Roadshow Pictures in Los
Angeles and many, many more.
"These luminaries will complement top New Zealand dignatories including TVNZ's Ian Fraser, TV3's top programming team,
Hon Steve Maharey, Hon Jim Anderton and Matthew Metcalfe, the young producer who, incredibly, raised $6m for his first
feature film," said Wrightson.
"The interest in the New Zealand screen production industry, and in New Zealand itself, is phenomenal", she said.
The conference takes place at the Stamford Plaza Hotel from 15-17 November. Further details are on www.spada.co.nz>
www.spada.co.nz