Screentalk

This ScreenTalk marks the 21st birthday of Shortland St on May 25. Produced by South Pacific Pictures for TVNZ, the serial drama has screened five nights a week on TV2 since its inception. It has won awards, sold internationally and become a part of our national landscape and pop culture. A who's who of New Zealand acting talent, writers, directors and producers have worked on the soap.

In this special edition of ScreenTalk, some of the show's stalwarts reflect on their Shortland St days, and on the programme's importance to NZ and our screen industry.

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.

Suzanne Paul made a splash on our TV screens as the Queen of Infomercials in the 1980s. She soon had her own TV show called Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?, followed by a range of other popular primetime programmes. Despite breaking a rib in the final episode, Paul won the third season of Dancing with the Stars.

In this ScreenTalk, Paul talks about: 

• Transferring her selling skills from malls to infomercials
• Learning to accept having the mickey taken out of her
• Creating the concept for Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
• Running out of celebrities for the show
• Finding out the title of Garage Sale was not literal
• Getting a role on How’s Life? despite being flippant
• How her episode of Intrepid Journeys changed her life
• Believing she was the comic relief on Dancing with the Stars
• Breaking a rib on live television but carrying on with the show
• How a bottle of port lead to the creation of the novelty song and music video The Blue Monkey

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.

Ngila Dickson is an Academy Award-winning costume designer who has been involved in some of our biggest film and TV projects. Her first film experience was on User Friendly and since then she has designed for Jack Be Nimble, Heavenly Creatures, Crush and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. In television, she made a name for herself designing costumes for Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Dickson has also worked on a range of international movies.

In this ScreenTalk, Dickson talks about: 

• Creating costumes for acclaimed period piece Heavenly Creatures
• Learning a life lesson from Peter Jackson on the film
• How Xena: Warrior Princess provided her greatest learning curve ever
• Avoiding an obsession with Tolkien on the Lord of the Rings trilogy
• Creating specific design features for each of the story elements
• How winning an Oscar for Lord of the Rings has given her traction in the American film industry
• Trying to achieve perfection on the set of The Last Samurai
• Learning the limits of CGI technology on movie Green Lantern
• The frustration of working on a lot of films that never get made

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.

Ray Waru has had a long and distinguished career as a producer and director in both television and radio. He began his TV career working on factual series such as Country Calendar, Fair Go, People Like Us and Tomorrow’s World. In 1980 he established the Māori television production unit at TVNZ, and launched the first regular Māori primetime show Koha. Waru went on to work on major documentary series Our People Our Century and Frontier of Dreams. 

In this ScreenTalk, Waru talks about:

• Discovering an infamous wine while directing Country Calendar
• Having the freedom to be creative on People Like Us
• Introducing Sharon Crosbie to the world on Tomorrow’s World
• The ideological problems of the first regular Māori primetime programme Koha
• Making New Zealand history popular on Our People Our Century
• How Frontier of Dreams tried to make history fun and exciting
• Making deals to get the international footage for the series

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.

Actor and director John Callen has a voice that is hard to forget. Callen has appeared in a number of TV shows and films including Close to Home, The Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and, most recently, The Hobbit. His directing credits include Shortland Street, and the documentary series Epitaph and Taonga.

In this ScreenTalk, Callen talks about:

• Why The Hobbit has been his most extraordinary job
• Still enjoying a good fight despite being older than his contemporaries
• How costuming proved to be a big hassle on the set, and a light moment with co-star Billy Connolly
• How playing a murderer on Close to Home appealed to autograph hounds
• The excitement of directing actors on Shortland Street
• Enjoying directing 'real' stories for Epitaph
• Learning about Māori history on the series Taonga
• The challenge of re-writing scripts on war documentary The Kiwi Who Saved Britain

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.

Simon Bennett's extensive CV includes producing and directing episodes of long-running successes Shortland Street and Outrageous Fortune. He has also spent time in executive roles at South Pacific Pictures, the production house behind these shows, and directed SPP feature film Sione's 2: Unfinished Business.

In this ScreenTalk, Bennett talks about:

• Having to clean up horse manure for his first TV directing job on Riding High
• Learning to direct fast-turnaround TV drama on Shortland Street
• Being told off by the actors when directing Mercy Peak
• Taking up the reigns as Head of Drama at South Pacific Pictures
• How fantastic writing and acting made Outrageous Fortune a hit
• The unlikely premise of The Almighty Johnsons
• The challenges of making a sequel to a successful film, with Sione's 2: Unfinished Business
• Being intrigued by the scripts of The Blue Rose
• Enjoying the fast-paced nature of the show

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.

Music is Peter Blake's passion. Blake's career has encompassed jazz, Hendrix covers, keyboards for Hello Sailor – and quite a lot of television. After time at radio station 2ZA he began working on TV music show Grunt Machine, then got the job of musical director, and later producer of the high rating, hit-making Ready to Roll. Soon he was commanding a stable of music shows that included RTR, Radio with Pictures, Heartbeat City, and stereo simulcasts of rock concerts. 

In this ScreenTalk, Blake talks about: 

• Eclectic early music show Grunt Machine
• Abolishing cover versions, when he became producer of Ready to Roll
• Having to look after glam rocker Gary Glitter for a day
• The arrival of music videos, and commissioning videos by both TVNZ staffers and freelancers
• RTR's golden age in the 80s, when it ruled both the TV and music charts
• How he moved into composing soundtracks, with drama series Marching Girls
• Composing for himself, versus composing for the screen

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.

Journalist and academic Paul Norris had a major role in changing the landscape of television news and current affairs in New Zealand. He cut his teeth with the BBC, but moved back to New Zealand to run TVNZ’s News and Current Affairs division in 1987. In that role, he revamped the evening news on TV One, and launched the Holmes show in 1989. Norris left TVNZ in 1996 to head the New Zealand Broadcasting School in Christchurch.

In this ScreenTalk, Norris talks about:

• How a British election set off his career in journalism
• Being lured back to be Head of News and Current Affairs at TVNZ
• The changes brought about by former head of TVNZ Julian Mounter
• Bringing together Richard Long and Judy Bailey on the evening news
• Being criticised for introducing American consultants for the show
• How the Holmes show changed the TV current affairs landscape
• The truth behind the Dennis Conner interview
• Wanting to tell the story behind radical political changes in the 80s, in documentary series Revolution
• Reinventing himself as an academic as Head of the NZ Broadcasting School
• Feeling that TV current affairs is in a rather dire state at the moment
• Changing the landscape of broadcasting

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.

Actor Stelios Yiakmis created a name for himself playing doctor Johnny Marinovich for five years on Shortland Street. He gained further acting credentials in a range of Australian and Kiwi TV shows such as McLeod's Daughters, All Saints, and Underbelly – Land of the Long White Cloud, and the Australian feature film Jindabyne. Yiakmis is currently appearing as bad guy Derek Peterson in crime drama The Blue Rose. 

In this ScreenTalk, Yiakmis talks about:

• Being overawed by his first scene on Shortland Street
• How a fellow actor couldn’t help him adjust to the work schedule
• Loving the polarising nature of his character Johnny Marinovich
• How a role in Street Legal gave him a chance to stretch his acting wings
• Confusing the local population on the set of McLeod's Daughters
• Wanting to punch director Ray Lawrence while filming Jindabyne
• Playing a real life criminal in the Kiwi version of Underbelly
• Relishing the chance to be a 'bastard' in The Blue Rose
• How not knowing the plot in advance made the role harder

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.

Award-winning actor Jennifer Ludlam has played a range of strong female characters in TV shows such as Cover Story, Gloss, and Undercover. She spent time in Australia appearing in a number of dramas including Prisoner and Sons and Daughters. Returning to New Zealand, Ludlam starred in Sima Urale’s feature film Apron Strings. She is currently appearing in TV thriller The Blue Rose.

In this ScreenTalk, Ludlam talks about:

• Playing a country girl in a city pub in A Going Concern
• Lying about her horse riding ability for a role in Radio Waves
• Having trouble singing and dancing in Gather Your Dreams
• Forgetting all about one of her roles in Shark in the Park
• Loving the camaraderie on the set of Prisoner
• Playing a 'toughie' on Sons and Daughters
• Being an embarrassment to Ilona Rodgers in Gloss
• Being cast as a strong and forthright woman in Cover Story
• Enjoying playing a homophobic mother in Shortland Street
• Feeling nervous in her first scene in Apron Strings
• Giving up a theatre tour for a role in The Blue Rose
• Her one last ambition in TV

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence.