Emerging filmmaker wins internship at cutting edge New York production company
Emerging Auckland film-maker Leo Woodhead has been awarded an internship with the New York production house Killer Films, the company that has brought us cutting edge and sometimes controversial independent films including Kids, Happiness, the unorthodox Bob Dylan profile I’m Not There, and the Oscar-nominated Far From Heaven.
Twenty-eight year-old Woodhead made his first short film Cargo last year for a mere eight thousand dollars as part of the MA in Screen Production at University of Auckland. It has
subsequently been invited to screen around the world at major A-list festivals including Venice, London’s BFI, Tribeca, Paris, Prague, Melbourne and Telluride.
The internship selection panel - Fiona Copland, Roger Horrocks and Hone Kouka - described Leo as “a talented
writer/director with great potential.” They added: “His film Cargo is a very sophisticated piece of work for someone
still at an early stage in his career.” The panel was very impressed by the quality of the many applications for the
internship which “show that there is a wealth of fresh talent emerging in the New Zealand film industry.” They see the
internship as important because “the film business is very international and New Zealand screenwriters will benefit a
lot from working in the high-powered environment of a top U.S. independent film company.”
Leo will spend three months as an intern in the script development department of Killer Films. This new internship
scholarship has been organised by Script to Screen, with the generous support of Stella Artois and The Film Investment
Corporation Foundation. Script to Screen is a non-profit trust whose aim is to develop the culture of screenwriting in
New Zealand. Besides internships, it organises visits by overseas writers, script workshops, and a monthly “Writer’s
Room” series of talks and panel discussions. It is affiliated with the Writers’ Guild and receives its core funding from
the New Zealand Film Commission.
See the Script to Screen website for more info: www.script-to-screen.co.nz
ENDS