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Equity New Zealand is thrilled to announce that Ken Blackburn ONZM is the recipient of the 2017 Equity Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Ryman Healthcare.

In an impressively wide-ranging career spanning more than 40 years Ken has worked in film, television, radio and theatre. 

Ken has appeared in many of New Zealand’s most iconic TV shows including Xena: Warrior Princess, Farscape, Close To Home, Gliding On and Shortland Street.  His film credits include pioneering feature Skin Deep, The Frighteners, King Kong and Rest for the Wicked. Ken’s stage credits are also extensive. In 1999 his performance as Vladimir in Waiting for Godot earned him the Best Actor award at the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards. In 2005 he was awarded the Queen's Birthday Honours List for Services to the Performing Arts. Ken most recently performed in Circa Theatre’s 2017 production of Three Days in the Country. As well as his successful career as an actor in New Zealand, the UK and Australia, Ken has also directed stage, film, television and radio productions. His autobiographical book Blitz Kids was published by the BBC in 1995.

Equity President Jennifer Ward-Lealand says: “I cannot think of a more worthy recipient for this award than Ken Blackburn. Since the 1970s Ken has been gracing our screens and stages, delivering countless moving and memorable performances.  Ken’s name has come up time and time again during the nomination and section process for the Lifetime Achievement Award because he is such a beloved and respected member of our performer community.”

Ken was nominated by New Zealand performers and selected by the board of Equity New Zealand.

Since its inception, the Equity New Zealand Lifetime Achievement Award has been made possible with the generous support of Ryman Healthcare. Previous recipients include Elizabeth McRae and Dame Kate Harcourt.

Ryman Healthcare chief executive Gordon MacLeod said it was great to see Ken rewarded for his many years of hard work and dedication to acting. “We’re delighted to see Ken achieve this recognition. His many characters – hapless, bumbling and sometimes downright sinister - have delighted generations of New Zealanders and he has made a huge contribution to TV, film and theatre in New Zealand. Congratulations Ken!’’

Ken will be honoured at an awards ceremony in Auckland in November. 

Is there someone you feel is a talented performer but also a great mentor and a supporter of the next generation?

Part of what makes this award so special it is that it is nominated by performers. Please take a few minutes to submit your nomination here.

Nominations close on Sunday, September 17, 2017. The final decision will be made by the Equity New Zealand Board.

The Equity Foundation’s hugely popular Casting Hothouse will return to Australia and New Zealand in September and October 2017.

We are thrilled to welcome aboard our new sponsors, Screen Queensland, which will see the Hothouse visit Brisbane for the first time, as well as our friends at the New Zealand Film Commission, who have generously helped us bring the Hothouse to Auckland since 2012.

This is a unique opportunity to work on your audition, accent and acting techniques in a series of intensive workshops with leading casting directors.

The Casting Hothouse is designed to give Equity members every opportunity to succeed in the local and international market.

The 2017 Casting Hothouse will feature: 
US feature film casting director Kerry Barden (Still Alice, Dallas Buyers Club, The Help, Girl on the Train, Pitch Perfect 3)
US TV casting executive Matt Skrobalak (The Good Wife, NCIS, Jane the Virgin)
AND:
Local casting directors to be announced.

Please read the application instructions carefully – your bio and headshot must be submitted as ONE PDF document.

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND 
September 26 – 28, 2017
Applications close August 1, 2017
APPLY HERE 

A unique opportunity for 12 Equity members to unlock Shakespearean text through rigorous textual and dramatic analysis, while drawing on improvisation and play to liberate the actor’s body and imagination, with Central School of Speech and Drama tutor and theatre director Ben Naylor. His work concentrates on the psycho-dramatic structures the playwright embeds in his form and language, and on the intimate and truthful relationship between actor and audience.

Preparation:
All successful applicants need to prepare a scene with a partner from a Shakespearean play written after 1595, that is approximately five minutes long. The scene needs to be ready to work on the floor and off-book at the workshop. Equity will liaise with the successful applicants to pair them up prior to the masterclass.

*This masterclass is geared to the experienced actor who has either completed an acting degree or has worked professionally for at least three years.

Bio of host:
Faculty member University of London, Central School of Speech and Drama. Studied at Durham University, Magdalen College Oxford, and Drama Centre London. Ben has taught acting at Shakespeare's Globe, the Shakespeare Centre, the Method Studio, LAMDA, ASAD, Cambridge University, Queen Mary and Westfield, Kingston University, Birkbeck College, at Berlin’s Forum fur Filmschauspiel, and in the US, New Zealand, Israel and Greece; he also currently teaches for Florida State University’s Theatre Academy London. He has led workshops and readings at Shakespeare's Globe, the Old Vic, Young Vic, King’s Head, Gatehouse, and the Salon des Arts; and was a founder member of the Young Vic Genesisprogramme and the Caird Company.

Our thanks to Ben Naylor and Pop Up Globe for their support of Equity New Zealand.

Register here.

Spend a day workshopping with director Sima Urale – framing for performance and the power of composition and framing. Ever wondered what these film directors are up to and why? Explore the frame and it’s relation to character and dynamics within a scene. Why the saying ‘A picture says a thousand words’ still applies to moving image.

Bio of host:
Bio of host: Sima Urale has worked in the creative industry from theatre to film and television for a total of 24 years, initially as a professional actor in theatre, and then in the last 20 years as a freelance filmmaker. A graduate of Toi Whakaari - NZ Drama School, the Victorian College of the Arts film and Television School in Australia, Sima Urale is an award winning filmmaker with extensive experience in drama and acting, writing and developing screenplays; to directing numerous films from drama to documentary, TV commercials, music videos, and corporate videos; mentoring emerging filmmakers; to teaching as a Senior Lecturer in film at Unitec and as Head tutor at the NZ Film & TV School from 2012 to 2015. She is currently in development with two feature films whilst spending time with her elderly mother.

Auckland 4th March, Registration here.

Wellingotn 18th March, Registration here.

AUDITIONING

• No simulated sex scene in any audition or screen test.
• No nudity or semi-nudity in the first audition or screen test. (You may be asked to audition in swimwear if the audition is for a swimwear commercial but you will be informed in advance).
• Nudity and semi-nudity is allowed in recalls but the producer must provide you with the script 72 hours in advance so that you can consult Equity. Equity must also be advised at the time of the booking.
• If you are nude or semi-nude in a recall, you may bring a support person to be with you throughout the shoot.
• The only other people allowed to be present in the audition room will be the Casting Director and/or Director/Producer, and the Reader.
• You will sign a written agreement with the Casting Director that any recording of a nude or semi-nude audition will be confidential. All material recorded must be protected, non-downloadable, only for the purpose of showing decision makers and should be destroyed once the role has been cast.
  

YOUR CONTRACT

• The standard Equity contract for screen productions allows you to agree, or disagree, to performing nude and to performing simulated sex and choose the type of nudity you are willing to do (e.g. buttocks only, or full frontal).

• Actors sometimes accept a role in which their character will be semi-nude, only to find later that additional scenes have been written into the script which include sim full frontal nudity and simulated sex. Therefore, do not sign up a contract for full frontal nudity and simulated sex if you are only prepared to go semi-nude.

• After agreeing to nudity and/or simulated sex, please inform your agent that once on stage or set, you want a discussion with the director about every nude scene and a summary of agreed scenes in writing.

• Don’t do low budget, no budget or independent films without a contract – especially if they have nude or simulated sex scenes. If the production is not professional enough to give performers a contract, it won’t be professional enough to allow you to control how much nudity and simulated sex scenes you do.

PERFORMING

• If you agree in a contract to do full frontal nudity and simulated sex some directors may ask for nude scenes that you were not expecting. Even if you have signed an agreement to do a nude scene, a good director will never force you to do it.
• Set up a practice where you discuss every nude scene with the director before you perform it.
• Ideally, directors should describe the detail of every nude shot to the performer before getting the performer’s written consent.
• You should be covered up in robes until the moment the shoot starts and then again once the camera stops rolling. There is no standing around naked. Non-actors need to stay out of the way of the actors in nude scenes. They should not position themselves so that nude actors have to brush past them. Crew may not enter the room during a nude shoot.
• No nudity under pressure – for example, if you are asked to do nude scenes that you are uncomfortable just before you need to complete your film, just say no.

BODY DOUBLES 

• Don’t give blanket consent to a body double to perform whatever nudity and simulated sex the producers want. Everyone will think the body double is you, so you must approve each and every doubles scene in writing.

MODESTY CLOTHING OR PATCHES

• Never do a nude or simulated sex scene without modesty clothing or patches: strapless skin-coloured bras and underpants or a modesty patch to cover both male and female genitalia.
• Before doing a nude scene, get the wardrobe department to show you how modesty clothing works and try it on. Don’t wait till the day of the shoot.
• Actresses can place band aids in an X across their nipples so that if the strapless bra slips, the footage of your nipples is not useable.

GENITALIA and KISSING

• No nudity with genitals touching. There must always be a barrier such as a nudity patch or a g-string. Extra underwear can be digitally removed during editing (if you agree). So there is no reason for two performers to shoot simulated sex completely nude with your genitals touching.
• Never use your tongue in kissing scenes on stage. When rehearsing a steamy stage kiss, start off by giving each other a peck. There is no need to do the whole kiss on the first rehearsal. 

• On screen, you don’t need to use tongue in a kiss unless both actors and the director want it. If only the director wants it, but not the performers, say no.

Issued by Equity New Zealand, October 2015