ScreenTalk

TV executive Andrew Shaw talks candidly to NZ On Screen about more than three decades of experiences in the New Zealand TV industry, from being a teen heartthrob to sitting on top of the heap as network commissioner.

Shaw reflects on:

• early days as a presenter, “fluking” a screentest to get the Hey, Hey, It’s Andy gig
• his anticipation of his “expiry date” and the deal he brokered to train as a multi-camera live broadcast director; working on shows from Billy T James’ Radio Times to punk music docos, to returning to being in front of the camera to host disco show Star Zone.
• his sabbaticals from TVNZ, working for South Pacific Pictures (where he was charged with broadening their slate from drama and film; he introduced the Idol franchise to NZ TV), working as the founding commissioner for Prime TV, and helping launch the Documentary Channel with Richard Driver
• his passionate belief in the resilience and importance of network TV as a “gathering place” in the age of the internet
• his return to TVNZ and the challenge of balancing “god and mammon”  – commercial and public service – that TVNZ has to manage
• “the privilege” of working for the public broadcaster, citing the Edmund Hillary Westminster Abbey memorial service as an example of something he wouldn’t get the opportunity to do elsewhere
• criticism about programming arts docos at 10.30pm at night. Shaw’s response: “stay awake!”

This interview is available for download and distribution on YouTube.

Credits: Direction and Interview – Clare O’Leary, Camera and Editing – Leo Guerchmann

Geoff Steven has been an integral part of the NZ television and film industry since 1975. In this interview Geoff talks to Clare O’Leary about his career in television and film (from art experiments to feature films like Skin Deep), his time as a network commissioner, and his current work with the World Heritage Project.

Find out more about Steven’s career on NZ On Screen: Cowboys of Culture, a documentary giving his personal perspective on the Kiwi cinema renaissance of the 1970s is included in full-length (and covers his early directorial efforts); as well as a biography; and several of the titles that he commissioned as a network executive (such as the Our People Our Century series; the documentaries Getting To Our Place, about the development of Te Papa; and Blokes’N'Sheds).

See this video on YouTube to get embed and share links.

Credits: Direction and Interview – Clare O’Leary, Camera and Editing – Leo Guerchmann