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Kiwi filmmaker Alex Liu has received a two-step Guild minimum contract with MGM and The Black List.
Auckland-based filmmaker Alex Liu is the third recipient of a two-stage Guild minimum open script deal with MGM and the Black List, as part of their two-year feature film script-writing partnership.
For Liu, who has wanted to write and make films since childhood, the deal was “overwhelming.”
“[After] seven years of rejection and failure, it was a relief to feel that wasn’t a waste,” he said.
Liu, who works in stuff‘s visuals team, originally submitted his recent script God Bless You, Mr Kopu to the website The Black List. It is a site that connects writers and filmmakers worldwide and is “pretty big in Hollywood circles”.
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When he received positive reviews from an American perspective, he included the script in his collaboration agreement submission.
That entry resulted in interviews with The Black List founder Franklin Leonard and screenwriter Scott Silver (8 Mile, The Fighter) in early July. The first took place at midnight when Liu was in “the middle of nowhere” in Croatia.
The internet crashed at the start of the Zoom meeting and while Liu managed to reconnect, he left the short interview thinking he was “totally f…..that on”.
But after the second interview and more than a week of “constantly checking my phone,” Liu received the congratulatory email at 12:30 p.m. on his 30th birthday.
“This is what I’ve been working towards for the past six or seven years. It was overwhelming.”
And now Liu is preparing to write a script for MGM. Exactly what the new movie will be is still in the planning stages, but in a perfect world, Liu’s involvement wouldn’t stop with writing the script.
“I would prefer to direct it,” he says.
“It’s my dream to write and direct, but it’s their property once it’s written, so it’s up to them to do what they want with it — as much as I love being a part of the process.”
Carissa Corlett
Alex Liu directs the cast of SMOG.
The partnership between Black List and MGM aims to discover new voices from historically underrepresented communities around the world. As a Tongan New Zealander, Liu says his stance is “I think it’s quite unique”.
Liu’s most recent short film SMOG, a “domestic drama within the facade of a dystopian thriller” won this year’s Best Picture award. Nga Whanaunga Māori Pasifika Shorts Competition.
As for the script that got Liu the deal, God Bless You, Mr Kopu is in development with Ant Timpson as executive director Liu will direct the film. The two are currently “trying to get money to make it”.
Although Liu has been aware of the MGM and Black List deal since July, it took two months to sign contracts and join the Writers Guild of America. It was a nervous wait for the filmmaker.
“It took so long for it to be legally official,” he said.
“I was desperate for the press release to come out…they can’t refuse anything now.”