Budding writers are being sought for a project to put local television drama back on New Zealand screens.
''Ten Minute Theatre'' is an initiative to develop regional television in Dunedin by producing stories by local writers.
''We're after writing possibilities from people who haven't written for television before,'' Firsthand producer Richard Thomas said yesterday.
''We want locally written, locally produced drama and we hope to get a whole variety of stories. We're saying you can write whatever you want and any genre you want. The only condition is they have to be two-handers [i.e. two actors], contemporary and set at a table,'' he said.
''It's something that can be done very simply and shot very simply. It depends on the cleverness of the script and interest of the characters and what is going to happen in the 10 minutes.''
The collaboration between Dunedin Television and Channel North in Whangarei will see each station broadcast 10 10-minute dramas.
''I want Dunedin to have a thriving fiction film and television industry. It's already got a factual film industry, through Natural History and Animation Research. But for things to really thrive, we need to have all sorts of these things going on.''
Firsthand Productions also collaborated with Dunedin television, writers and actors on ''The Table Plays'' short drama series in 2007.
The final day for script submission ideas is August 26 and scripts selected for production will be announced on August 30. Filming would take place at the end of October.
