Yesterday at the IAWG meetings in Montreal, New Zealand Writers Guild president Allan Baddock and Executive Director Steven Gannaway reported on the state of writing in their jurisdiction. The NZWG has 530 members. They do most of their tv writing for the two major nation-wide broadcasters. Only a portion of their work is covered under a collective agreement. Most tv development and production is government-financed.

New Zealanders love homegrown tv. One of their current hits is a half-hour comedy series about a small-time crime family called Outrageous Fortune. Below is a promo reel for series three (I’ve been told series 1 is must-see).

Recently the state launched a new nation-wide Maori television channel which has proved to be a huge success across the country even with non-Maori speakers. And getting called to do a writing gig on a show for the channel is apparently great because it’s so much fun.