PISA Writers' Room - Story Creation and Loglines.

PISA WRITER'S ROOM 2024

Our successful PISA Writer's Room returns for 2024! With a greater focus on topics our members have requested and an depth approach to refining your screenwriting craft.

Our first Writer's Room for 2024 will be in Te Whanganui a Tara (Wellington) led by accomplished academic and filmmaker Marina McCartney (Milk & Honey, Vai, My Life is Murder).

The topic of focus for this Writer's Room will be: Story Creation and Loglines.

With an eye towards Short Films - Marina will discuss and work with participants through a process of choosing a story idea and the appropriate format (short film, feature film or television) along with how to create the all important logline and refining it as your script progresses.

There will also be opportunities for personal writing time and to have one-to-one discussions.

A light lunch and snacks will be provided because we are PISA.

Date: 16 March 2024

Time: 1000 - 1600 NZST

Location: Tawa Community Centre, 5 Cambridge Street, Tawa, Wellington 5028, New Zealand

Sign Up now as places are limited.

Online Zoom will also be available for those unable to attend in person.

Also note there will be three full day Writer's Rooms in 2024 - here are the other dates so be sure to make the most of these opportunities

11 May - Christchurch

6 July - Auckland 

MARINA ALOFAGIA MCCARTNEY (Samoa, English, Romani) is an award-winning filmmaker and scholar. Her films have featured in festivals, including Palm Springs ShortFest, NZ’s Best Short Film in the NZ International Film Festival and ImagineNATIVE. Marina wrote and directed the Samoan piece for Vai, which opened the NATIVe section at the 2019 Berlinale, and has screened at SXSW, Edinburgh Film Festival and Melbourne International Film Festival. Marina is an experienced assessor completing hundreds of assessments across short and feature films, longform projects for the NZFC, NZWG, GSTV and Script to Screen. She created the first incubator for Moana Pasifika women writers, to develop their feature films through WIFT. Marina was selected for the 2019 DEAGNZ Women Directors’ Incubator Programme, Script to Screen’s 2022 FilmUp programme and completed a writers’ room placement in 2023 for showrunner Dr Vanessa Alexander on a Big Story Company (Australia)/Playground Entertainment (UK) co-production. Her latest script, an episode for TVNZ’s My Life is Murder with Lucy Lawless, features its first Moana family and storyline and is currently in post-production. Marina is completing a Doctor of Philosophy specialising in Moana Pasifika filmmaking and has an upcoming publication on Moana Pasifika women filmmakers in the Routledge Handbook of Indigenous Film. Her NZFC Catalyst short film The Return is in post-production and she is developing her next feature Dusky.