ScreenTalk

Actor Roy Billing has become “an overnight sensation in my early 60s” playing ‘Aussie Bob’ Trimbole in the hit Australasian TV drama Underbelly. But before that he had a successful 30 year acting career in both Australia (Rabbit Proof Fence, The Dish and Siam Sunset) and New Zealand (Under the Mountain, Inside Straight, Gliding On and Skin and Bone).

In this ScreenTalk interview, Billing talks about:

• His one-line debut in the movie about the Arthur Allan Thomas case – Beyond Reasonable Doubt
• Being mistaken for a taxi driver on the set of Inside Straight
• Getting a taste of fame after marrying Beryl on Gliding On
• Being accused of impersonating a pilot in a bar while shooting Erebus: The Aftermath
• Basing the character of Tupper on his father in Skin and Bone
• Playing a cross-dresser in Mirror Mirror and looking like his mother-in-law Dame Cath Tizard
• Working with Sam Neill in the Australian film The Dish
• Trying to make the audience love drug dealer ‘Aussie Bob’ Trimbole  in Underbelly
• How the drama became the highest rating show ever in Australia and made his career

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

From reporting to scriptwriting and acting, Keith Aberdein has been a part of some of New Zealand’s biggest television and film moments. His screen career began as a journalist on Town and Around and Compass. Aberdein has scripted major TV shows such as Pukemanu, Section 7, Moynihan, Close to Home, and the colonial epic The Governor.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Aberdein talks about:

• Why prolonging an interview with a survivor of the Wahine disaster still makes him shudder
• The challenges of making Pukemanu and how the programme changed the face of drama on TV
• The deliberate revisionism of history and Governor Grey in scripting The Governor
• The negative and positive impact the programme had on TV in New Zealand
• How Close to Home won the ratings battle for TV One against SPTV
• Working on the script for Utu with Geoff Murphy
• Writing a scathing script review of Smash Palace and how director Roger Donaldson got his own back when he cast him in the film
• How making a career in TV can be fun, but will lead to tears

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

Rawiri Paratene (Ngā Puhi) was the first Māori student to graduate from the New Zealand Drama School, and has since made an indelible mark on the NZ screenscape.

Paratene’s small screen career began with a small part on The Governor, and playing Koro in 70s sitcom Joe and Koro. Paratene then hosted daily pre-school show Play School – a role familiar to a generation of Kiwi kids.

He went on to star in the long-running comedy sketch show Issues and won praise for his parodies of politician Winston Peters. Paratene is also an acclaimed writer whose credits include the TV dramas Erua and Dead Certs. The latter earned him a 1989 NZ Television Award.

On the big screen Paratene has created some of this country’s most memorable characters. He played the role of reformed gang memeber Mulla in What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?; but it was his role as Koro in Whale Rider that garnered him international recognition.

Paratene has served as deputy chairman of the New Zealand Film Commission. His latest cinema role is playing a psychiatric patient who believes he is the second son of God in The Insatiable Moon.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Paratene talks about:

• creating a stir by portraying a realistic Māori accent in the 70s sitcom Joe and Koro
• being asked to “reign in” his performance playing a dead body in The Governor
• how hosting the iconic kids show Play School helped to get him a long career
• fighting for Māori language and characters to be included in the show
• how ad-libbing boosted the tiny role of Rangi into a major part in Footrot Flats: The Dog’s (Tail) Tale
• creating the back story behind gang member Mulla in What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?
• causing a public stir by wearing his on-screen tattoos out in public
• loving the ‘honesty’ of his character Koro in Whale Rider
• his most humbling and poignant moment on the set of the film

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

Whai Ngata (Ngāti Porou, Whānau ā Apanui) has had a long and distinguished career in print, television and radio. Beginning as a Māori reporter for the Auckland Star, Ngata moved on to Radio New Zealand in 1975 and over the next few years covered such important Māori stories such as the 1975 Land March led by Dame Whina Cooper, and the Bastion Point occupation and evictions in 1978.

Ngata joined Television New Zealand in 1983, working for Network News. He began reading the news in Māori on Te Karere, and while doing so traveled to the USA to cover the Te Maori exhibition.

Along with Ernie Leonard, Ngata helped set up the Māori Programmes department at TVNZ, and became a pivotal member of the team at Waka Huia. Eventually Ngata became head of the Māori department and was instrumental in creating popular and long-running Māori programmes such as Marae and Mai Time. In his long career, Ngata attended 30 years of Waitangi Day celebrations.

In 2007 Ngata became on Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to broadcasting and television.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Ngata discusses:

• The controversy surrounding the launch of Te Karere in the early 80s
• Encountering gang members in the Hokianga along with fellow Te Karere newsreader Derek Fox
• How saving the Māori language was not the rationale behind the news in Māori
• The huge impact the Te Māori exhibition had in America
• The difficulty of shooting the sacred exhibits
• How Waitangi Day changed in 30 years of covering the event
• How he thinks journalists should report on protests
• Making the best of not having Māori programming in primetime
• The huge success of The New Zealand Wars documentary series
• The importance of Māori programming and language to New Zealand

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