The Directors and Editors Guild of New Zealand is a screen-sector guild that represents the interests of directors and editors within New Zealand's Screen and Motion Picture Industry. Initially known as the Screen Directors Guild of New Zealand, it was founded in 1995 when 18 New Zealand directors gathered together at an annual industry conference in Wellington to discuss directors' conditions of work and the need for an organization to represent their interests independent of the Screen Production and Development Association, which had evolved from the original concept of a guild that represented both producers & directors.
Overview
The Directors and Editors Guild of New Zealand operates as a registered Incorporated society that seeks to maintain a forum where directors and editors can define, defend and further their professional industry. The Guild has a membership of approximately 200 directors and editors, many of whom are internationally recognized New Zealand Directors. Sir Peter Robert Jackson has been a member since 1999. Key initiatives and responsibilities of the Guild include lobbying for improved labour standards within the New Zealand screen and motion picture industry and the organization of training programs for Guild members to engage with directors/editors and mentors within the industry. DEGNZ also provides networking opportunities, legal advice, services and concessions, and immigration advice for its members and practitioners in the wider industry. The Guild was not always representative of editors in New Zealand. However, in 2009 an emergence of editors identified the need for representation and were welcomed as members. DEGNZ operates from an office headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand but hosts initiatives and events in other major cities around New Zealand.
Unionization
The Directors and Editors Guild of New Zealand is not a union. Consideration of whether or not the Guild was to become a craft union was discussed in 2000 when the Labour Government passed the Employment Relations Act making collective bargaining possible. However, because the majority of Guild members continued to see themselves as freelance operators, there was never unified support for unionization.
For a period of some years the Guild regularly published a quarterly magazine, Take, featuring news, interviews, events, and humor of particular interest to the New Zealand screen and motion picture industry.
Presidents of the Screen Directors Guild of New Zealand
