ScreenTalk

Bill Ralston has had a long, varied, and sometimes controversial career in New Zealand media. He joined South Pacific Television as a news reporter in 1979 and went on to become political correspondent for TVNZ in the era of Muldoon and Lange. Moving to TV3, Ralston was the channel’s Political Editor and hosted a current affairs slot on their nightly news bulletin. Ralston joined the Nightline team and later hosted the popular panel discussion show The Ralston Group, then the arts/media series Backch@t. In 2003 he became Head of News and Current Affairs for TVNZ.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Ralston talks about:

• Reporting from the midst of a riot during the Springbok Tour of 1981
• Learning how to tackle former PM Rob Muldoon in press conferences
• The drama of covering the split between former PM David Lange and Roger Douglas
• How The Ralston Group was successfully modeled on a similar show in the US
• Bringing politics to the art world in the show Backch@t
• How a fight with TV executives brought about the demise of the show
• Finding it hard going, becoming the Head of TVNZ News and Current Affairs
• Being flummoxed by the furore over newsreader Judy Bailey’s salary
• Acknowledging that there is no true objectivity in the media

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

Veteran broadcaster Brian Edwards is an Irish import who made a big impact on New Zealand current affairs television. He was first seen on the 1960s regional programme Town and Around, but soon made a name for himself as a no-nonsense interviewer on Gallery. It was on that show he helped bring about the end of a union dispute with the Post Office while live on air. His bi-weekly TV show Edwards on Saturday followed, and after a controversial start, was a ratings hit. Later, Edwards helped start up the long-running consumer rights TV show Fair Go, and hosted the popular Top of the Morning on Radio New Zealand.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Edwards talks about:

• How being on Town and Around saved him from being a miserable academic
• Getting a reputation for being an ‘aggressive interviewer’ on Gallery
• Creating a political spat after naming SIS agents on the programme
• Having a pivotal role in solving the infamous Post Office strike
• Insulting just about every sector of society in the first episode of Edwards on Saturday
• How Fair Go changed the rules of television by naming and shaming ‘baddies’
• Why he thinks the new look Fair Go has lost its community appeal
• Not enjoying doing the live show Edwards at Large
• Great current affairs now being marginalised on television

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

Paolo Rotondo spent his first years in Italy. Born in Naples, he left in 1982 at the age of 11 to arrive in NZ with an elementary grasp of English. Rotondo later returned to Italy to study arts before returning to NZ to complete a Bachelor of Arts at Auckland University and launch his career in film and television.

In 1997 Rotondo starred in local feature The Ugly winning praise from Variety and The Times, and awards at Rome’s Fantastic Film Festival. Following TV appearances in Street Legal and Jackson’s Wharf, he went on to star in urban underbelly feature Stickmen, before writing and directing short film The Freezer.

Rotondo returned to the small screen as Dr Andrew Solomon in Kiwi soap Shortland Street, and also appeared as Tim in The Insiders Guide to Happiness. His work as director and writer of Dead Letters won him Best Short Screenplay at the 2006 NZ Screen Awards.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Rotondo reveals:

• Why his family came to NZ in 1982
• What he put himself through to get into character for The Ugly
• How he landed his leading role in Stickmen, after not initially being considered for the film
• The sensitivities around storing a dead Kuia in a chest freezer
• Insights into the anal retention of Shortland Street’s Andrew Solomon
• The thinking behind “big little” film Dead Letters
• His plans for a NZ Italian film

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

Director Sima Urale discusses being a South Pacific filmmaker with NZ On Screen’s Clare O’Leary: from the immigrant experience in Aotearoa (O Tamaiti, Apron Strings) to dusky maidens in velvet paintings (Velvet Dreams). Samoan-born, New Zealand-raised Urale is Samoa’s first female feature filmmaker.

Find out more about Sima Urale.

This interview is available on YouTube to distribute and share: Part One and Part Two.

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

Before launching her own clothing label, designer Liz Mitchell began her career creating costumes for stage and screen (including Front Lawn classic Walkshort,and cult movie Angel Mine). In this ScreenTalk interview she turns her attention to costume-heavy 80s soap Gloss.

Liz talks about

• the “fantastic” experience of working on Gloss over three seasons
• designing the “over-the-top” costumes for the series, complete with shoulder pads and loud prints
• how the fashion industry pitched in to help
• working on forgotten TV show Seekers, starring Jennifer Ward-Lealand and Temuera Morrison
• participating in the Benson & Hedges Fashion awards – both behind the scenes, and on the awards podium

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