Following a call for submissions earlier this year, Piki Films has invited two female writers to join its September development sprint. Rose Matafeo and Jessica Hansell (aka Coco Solid) are the chosen ones.
Comedienne and writer Matafeo appears on Jono & Ben at 10 and occasionally on 7 Days, having crossed the divide after starting her onscreen career as a presenter on TVNZ’s youth channel U.
Hansell has an extremely varied resume, an MA in creative writing from Victoria University and wrote animated web series Hook Ups, supported under NZ On Air’s Digital Media Fund and produced by Piki’s Carthew Neal’s Fumes and voiced by actors including another member of the Piki team, Madeleine Sami.
The Piki development sprint will bring Matafeo and Hansell together with Taika Waititi, Oscar Kightley, Louis Sutherland, Tusi Tamasese, & Madeleine Sami. The writers will work together on their next projects fostering a cross fertilisation of creativity in a structured and sustained way led by Taika Waititi and supported by Executive Producers Leanne Saunders and Carthew Neal.
Piki is funded by the New Zealand Film Commission’s He Ara scheme.