The New Zealand Writers Guild is celebrating 50 years of championing local screenwriters as guild representatives from around the world gather in Auckland.
Every film and television story starts with a blank page. Established in 1976, the New Zealand Writers Guild says it has represented and advocated for the screenwriters who fill that page – the people behind the stories that have made audiences laugh, cry, think, argue and see themselves and their country reflected on screen.
Fifty years on, that appetite for local stories hasn’t dimmed. NZ On Air‘s Where Are the Audiences? 2026 research found 81% of New Zealanders like seeing New Zealand faces and places on television. Those stories carry real economic weight. Research commissioned by Toi Mai Workforce Development Council found the creative sector contributed $12.9 billion to the economy in 2022 (4% of GDP), with creative exports worth $3.6 billion in 2023.
And behind those stories, screenwriters are foundational to that success, says NZWG executive director Alice Shearman.
“For 50 years, NZWG has stood behind the people who write the stories New Zealanders see themselves in,” she says.
“This anniversary is a chance to celebrate the extraordinary body of work our screenwriters have created over five decades, and the writers who made it possible, often achieving far more than the budgets said they ever could.
“It is also about looking forward. The technology and the market keep shifting, and the questions in front of us – fair pay through collective bargaining, protecting human authorship, keeping local voices on our screens – are as urgent as any that the guild has faced in 50 years. But the fundamental thing doesn’t change: great screen stories begin with a writer,” Shearman adds.
A global gathering in Auckland
The guild’s anniversary year culminates this week with the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (IAWG) Conference and AGM in Auckland on October 6 to 7. The event brings together writers’ guild representatives from around the world.
The wider New Zealand screen community can also take part in two public panels on October 7:
Top 10 Writers’ Fights: international guild representatives share industrial war stories, hard-won lessons and some of the battles writers have fought around the world.
Can Stories Save Us?: a conversation on craft, culture and the role writers and storytelling can play in a rapidly changing world.
Recordings from NZWG’s 50th anniversary live panel programme that has run throughout 2026 will also be released as podcasts on October 8, creating an ongoing record of conversations about New Zealand screenwriting past, present and future.
Guild members and friends will raise a glass to 50 years at an anniversary gathering in Auckland on October 8.
Fifty years of advocacy, and counting
The anniversary is a celebration, but the guild’s founding purpose remains relevant today. NZWG became a union in 1976, at a time when there was plenty of screen work but writers were seeking fair pay.
The industrial landscape has changed considerably since then. However, advocating for fair pay, conditions and recognition for screenwriters remains central to the guild’s work. This includes its ongoing push to establish assured minimum rates through collective bargaining under the Screen Industry Workers Act.
Recent growth in guild membership, up 5% across August and September alone, suggests writers still see real value in collective representation.
Former guild president Peter Cox, reflecting on the lessons of the guild’s history, offers this advice to writers navigating difficult times: “Be happy for your fellow travellers and try to love them and encourage one another’s successes… watch yourself and have faith and just try to keep love and optimism at the centre.”