New Zealand funding body NZ On Air lays out $11.8m in latest funding round

Blue Murder Motel has been funded for a return season

New Zealand funding body NZ On Air has funded $20m (US$11.8m) in new and returning scripted, non-fiction, children’s and music content projects, in a contested round which saw requests for funding reach $52m.

NZ On Air chief executive Cameron Harland said: “As is increasingly the case, there were many amazing applications that we simply could not afford to fund and our commiserations go to those that were not successful in this round.”

In scripted funding, a total of NZ$8m was granted to four projects led by Great Southern Television’s TVNZ series Blue Murder Motel which has been funded for a return season for NZ$3.2m.

Production company The Heartbeaters 6×30’ series Not Where I Thought I’d Be, commissioned by Three, was awarded $3.1m while six-part series Hoons from Tai Huri Films commissioned by Māori+ attracted $1.7m in funding.

Digital series Music with Michal 3 from Michael Studios also received funding for distribution via YouTube.

The non-fiction category attracted 38 applications with 18 projects sharing funding of NZ$10.7m.

In highlights, Australian-developed format Muster Dogs from Ambience Entertainment has attracted funding for the NZ version, Muster Dogs NZ, produced by The Downlow Concept for Sky Open, SkyGo and ThreeNow.

Pango Pictures’ four-part sports series, The Greatest Rivalry, was also funded and commissioned for TVNZ+ and The David Lomas Breakthrough series was funded for a second season, produced by Warner Bros. International Television Production New Zealand for Three.