ScreenTalk » director

Paul Gittins – from doctor to director

Screen Talker — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 20:51:09 +0000

Actor Paul Gittins is best known for his portrayal of Dr Michael McKenna, the original clinic director, on the long-running soap opera Shortland Street. He has also acted in a number of feature films, including Other Halves, The End of the Golden Weather, and The Whole of the Moon. Gittins’ love of history led to the creation of two popular docu-drama series Epitaph and Shipwreck, which he hosted and sometimes directed.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Gittins talks about:

How a novice actor inspired him on the set of Other Halves
Learning lessons about life in Ian Mune’s The End of the Golden Weather
Initially struggling to adapt to the face-paced shooting schedule on Shortland Street
How Epitaph gave him a unique sense of New Zealand history
Learning how to research, write, and direct television by doing the show
Finding a solution to his seasickness while shooting Shipwreck
Loving the process of ‘getting into someone else’s head’ when acting

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

Tony Holden – Kiwi comedy veteran

Screen Talker — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 16:42:18 +0000

Tony Holden has produced and directed hundreds of hours of NZ television from A Week Of It, Radio with Pictures and Gliding On to Shortland Street, City Life and Dancing with the Stars. Holden’s roles over his 40 year screen career include Head of Production at South Pacific Pictures, General Manager of Commissioning and Production at TVNZ, and CEO of Comedia Pictures.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Holden talks about:

Auditioning and casting Karyn Hay for Radio with Pictures
Learning the art of comic timing
How Gliding On struck a chord with New Zealanders
Shooting live to tape on A Week Of It
The early days working with Billy T James
His emotions producing Billy, the tele-movie about Billy T James
Commissioning at TVNZ
The future of NZ television

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

John Bates – documenting NZ

Screen Talker — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 02:14:24 +0000

Award-winning documentary maker John Bates is a Scotsman who has lived in New Zealand for over 40 years. His documentaries have covered a range of genres from art: The Dutchman, The Making of an Opera; Sense of Place, Robin Morrison, Photographer; Reflections, Gretchen Albrecht, to social issues: New Faces, Old Fears; Crime and Punishment, to historical: Banned, 100 Years of Censorship in New Zealand; 1951. In 2010, Bates produced and directed the acclaimed series 50 Years of New Zealand Television.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Bates talks about:

Initially being told he couldn’t direct his documentary Sense of Place
How the subject of the documentary Robin Morrison passed away while filming was still in progress
Learning about abstract art through the doco Reflections – Gretchen Albrecht
How copyright issues mean that Banned – A History of Censorship will never be re-screened
How his documentary 1951 told the suppressed history of the waterside lock out
The making of 50 Years of New Zealand Television and why it was better for being produced for Prime

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

Gary Scott – from Kiwi culture to cults

Screen Talker — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:27:26 +0000

Producer/director Gary Scott has spent time in the newsroom, the museum, and on location. Trained as an historian and journalist, Scott has been producing with Wellington company Gibson Group for a decade – though he began his screen career as an assignment editor, in the stressful world of primetime TV news. Alongside his TV work at Gibson Group, Scott also helps the company develop multi-media experiences for museums.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Scott talks about:

How TV producing involves mediating between art and commerce
Starting off
Working on one of his earliest directing projects, documentary Flight 703: about a 1995 air crash in which survivor William McGrory played a key role in guiding emergency services to the downed plane
“Career highlight” Here to Stay, and how the show explored stories about NZ’s social history, including the roots of Kiwi humour and stoicism
Working as part of the producing team on a trio of police shows: Undercover (about undercover police), Line of Fire (the armed offenders squad), and NZ Detectives, soon to begin its second series.
How the stresses of producing can be a sign you have got something wrong in the mix
Dealing with the Church of Scientology for doco How to Spot a Cult
The differences between producing and directing for TV

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

Rachel Jean – living and laughing

Screen Talker — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 00:35:37 +0000

Rachel Jean has produced and/or directed over 40 documentaries, made award-winning drama and film, and set up and run production company Isola Productions. Jean has recently moved from producing and directing to the role of Head of Drama and Comedy at TV3 and C4.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Jean reveals:

Details of her early work at Frame Up Films
How feature film Memory and Desire was conceived
Hilarious and embarrassing moments during filming of Love Mussel
The joys of spending her pregnancy on the floor and laughing while helping write Secret Agent Men
How The Market came about, and its intriguing production philosophy
An insight into the making of her documentary Life, Death and a Lung Transplant about her husband’s Cystic Fibrosis and lung transplant
Her most satisfying achievements so far as Head of Drama and Comedy at TV3 and C4

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

Chris Bailey – producing TV classics

Screen Talker — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 09:07:53 +0000

With more than 30 years in the television industry under his belt, veteran drama producer and director Chris Bailey has made a significant contribution to New Zealand’s screen heritage. His many TV credits include Gloss, Mortimer’s Patch, Under the Mountain, Burying Brian, Marlin Bay, City Life, and Greenstone. He was also the first executive producer on Shortland Street. Bailey was a co-founder of production company ScreenWorks which made the popular legal drama Street Legal.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Bailey talks about:

The fun and challenges of making the kidult TV series Under the Mountain
Creating a mechanical means of teleportation before the use of CGI technology
Directing the ‘bitchy’ women on uber-soap Gloss
Having to be careful casting characters in the historical mini-series Fallout
Getting the soap Shortland Street up and running
Casting Jay Laga’aia in the gritty legal drama Street Legal
The challenge of making sure Go Girls stood up against overseas shows on TV2
Feeling lucky to have had a challenging yet rewarding and fun career

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

Frank Torley – on and off the farm

Screen Talker — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 20:34:21 +0000

Frank Torley is a Kiwi television legend. Forever known as that Country Calendar guy – he has variously narrated, directed, produced, and reported for the show, over a period of more than 40 years. But Torley hasn’t always been Mr Rural. He has also spent time as a newsreader, Top Town presenter, documentary maker (including an early doco on Aids), and spent time in religious programmes.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Torley talks about:

breaking into radio as a rural broadcaster, during his Mark III Zephyr/slouch hat period
the joys of producing Country Calendar (starting in 1982), and offering a front window into farming for the common man
the origins of Country Calendar’s spoofs, and contributions by cartoonist Burton Silver
the early Country Calendar producer who kept offending those being interviewed
the nail-biting dog versus sheep tension that was A Dog’s Show, thanks to host John Gordon – plus the show’s premature death
being compared to a startled rabbit, while newsreading for the newly reborn TV One
handling birth scenes for documentary From Here to Maternity
the days when ratings weren’t so important
to retire – or not to retire

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

David Blyth – pushing boundaries

Screen Talker — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 01:13:08 +0000

Director David Blyth has created some of New Zealand’s most graphic and challenging movies dealing with horror, sexuality, and the sub-conscious mind. His career began as an assistant director on the film Solo, but it was his first feature Angel Mine which showed his interests in pushing the boundaries of film making. In his time, Blyth has made a number of documentary features, directed episodes of Close to Home and created New Zealand’s first horror film Death Warmed Up and more recently dark tale Wound.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Blyth talks about:

Being the first director to get interim Film Commission funding for Angel Mine
How the film predicted the rise of social media and viagra
How his confidence as a director was knocked by critics of the film
Why, despite being a cult horror film overseas Death Warmed Up failed in NZ
Having no original copy of the film because it was burned
Filming his grandfather for the First World War doco Our Oldest Soldier
How initially no one was interested in the story
Making Wound as an antidote to feeling his career was over; the film explores how abuse in the family can lead to dramatic consequences
How the film has reinvigorated his passion for filmmaking
How his career has been about looking at the horror in the everyday

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

Brendan Donovan on Hopes and Dreams

Screen Talker — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 21:30:23 +0000

Award-winning director Brendan Donovan cast Lee Majors in his debut short film. It was a success. Then after eight years working in New York, the Howick native returned to New Zealand, where he has directed and written for television and cinema both here and in Australia, most recently crafting feature film The Hopes and Dreams of Gazza Snell.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Donovan talks about:

How he cast Lee Majors (The Six Million Dollar Man) in his debut short film Here
Details from the making of short film Grasp
His initial reaction to scripts for The Insiders Guide to Happiness
Details on how The Insiders Guide to Happiness footage was captured and techniques used to achieve visual effects
Delightful insights into working with Australian actor Bryan Brown on the Aussie TV series Two Twisted
Behind-the-scenes details of special effects used in tele-feature Aftershock
How feature film The Hopes and Dreams of Gazza Snell was created

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

Michael Bennett on directing and cow whispering

Screen Talker — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 21:03:57 +0000

Film and television writer/director Michael Bennett has been involved with some of New Zealand’s favourite TV dramas, including Street Legal, Mercy Peak and Outrageous Fortune. He has written and directed two acclaimed short films – Cow and Kerosene Creek, and penned the feature film Jubilee. In 2010 he directed his first feature – Matariki.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Bennett talks about:

Exploring communication without dialogue in the short film Cow
Borrowing a wet set and props from Xena for the film
Using a ‘cow whisperer’ on set to control a floating bovine
Exploring childhood grief in the short film Kerosene Creek
Using the metaphor of transcendence in the film Matariki
Managing eight lead characters in an ensemble cast
Shooting the first scene in one take with two young inexperienced actors
Learning from every filmic experience and moving on to the next project

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