ScreenTalk

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 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

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

Joanna Paul‘s screen career has seen her both in front of and behind the camera, and undertaking some of the most challenging Māori screen projects in New Zealand, including Aroha, the country’s first TV series in Te Reo, and the launch of Maori Television.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Paul reveals:

• The challenges she faced starting out in broadcasting
• Her thoughts on some of the many TV projects she has been involved in, including acting on Loose Enz drama The Protestors.
• Details of her early film career in Wellington
• Her insights into the early days of news and current affairs at TV3
• Her experiences fronting the first Nightline on TV3 and why the format was successful
• Thoughts on news and current affairs television today
• Insights into the establishment of Maori Television
• The state of Māori broadcasting today

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

At the age of 15 actor and singer Stephanie Tauevihi debuted on TV as a reporter on the youth current affairs show InFocus. She gained nationwide fame playing Donna Heka on Shortland Street for seven years. Tauevihi has been in two feature films: Rest for the Wicked and Russian Snark. She won Best Supporting Actress at the 2010 Qantas Awards for her role in the latter film.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Tauevihi talks about:

• Being a presenter on the teen-focused current affairs show InFocus
• The terror of an autocue failing on her first live TV experience
• The ‘surreal’ experience of acting on Shortland Street
• Overcoming ‘intimacy issues’ with Blair Strang on the soap
• Never truly getting away from the role of Donna Heka
• Her amazing trip to India for Intrepid Journeys
• Acting with thespian legends and ‘wiping their bums’ in the film Rest for the Wicked
• How playing Rosanna in the film Russian Snark enabled her to develop her acting further

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

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

Actor, musician and comedian Madeleine Sami has been on our TV screens since the age of 18 when she debuted on Pio! and Shortland Street. Since then she has appeared in a number of TV shows including The Insiders Guide to Happiness, The Jaquie Brown Diaries, and Diplomatic Immunity. Sami has also graced the big screen in Sione’s Wedding, Under the Mountain, and in 2012 a sequel to Sione’s Wedding. Her most recent TV appearance was in Super City – a programme of her own creation in which she played five roles.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Sami talks about:

• Having to be taught continuity on the set of Shortland Street
• Learning a lot from her more experienced co-stars on the soap
• The fun and chaos on the set of the feature film Sione’s Wedding
• How action in her most memorable scene was not actually in the script
• Being in the most blood-thirsty episode of Xena
• Loving her role as the comic patsy opposite the lead in The Jaquie Brown Diaries
• Wanting to create a different type of comedy in Super City
• Mixed reactions to the show – from confusion to a cultural icon
• Not realising how much work was involved in playing five lead characters
• Being taken by surprise by the news of a sequel to Sione’s Wedding

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

Thedownlowconcept is an Auckland based production company run by Ryan Hutchings, Jarrod Holt and Nigel McCulloch. Their first TV production was the music quiz show Pop Goes the Weasel. They cemented their TV comedy credentials with the hit show 7 Days, and followed it up with the ‘science for blokes’ series Bigger Better Faster Stronger. In 2011 they will debut their sitcom Hounds. As well as television, thedownlowconcept have made a number of short films for the 48 Hour Film Festival including the award-winning short Only Son.

In this ScreenTalk interview, the team talks about:

• Becoming best friends at AUT and starting a production company
• Being appalled at their first attempts at creating TV props
• Not really knowing what they were doing producing Pop Goes the Weasel
• How not having much of a budget meant they had to do multiple roles
• That the hit show 7 Days nearly didn’t make it on-screen
• How the press bagged the show before it even screened
• How the genesis of Bigger Better Faster Stronger began with the host’s hoarding ability
• Being disappointed in the ratings for the show, but still loving it
• Their new sitcom Hounds and how it taught them a lot about the TV industry

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

Stacey Daniels Morrison began her television career as a part-timer on What Now?, presenting a cooking segment each week while still at high school.

After moving to Auckland and missing out on a role at Ice TV to Petra Bagust, she took a job on the Maori affairs series Marae, which took her on a professional and personal journey as she discovered her Māori heritage.

From Marae she moved to fledgling music show Mai Time, where she found herself at the forefront of a change to the way Māori culture was portrayed on screen.

Morrison has moved between presenting and working behind-the-scenes, with a diverse range of shows under her belt, everything from Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner to Sports Cafe.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Morrison reveals:

• How theatresports at school got her her first gig
• How Peter Hayden helped correct her Māori pronunciation
• Why Mai Time came along at the right time
• Why she finds the buzz of live TV so addictive
• And that she can’t believe she gets paid for making It’s in the Bag

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

John Harris is the owner of one of New Zealand’s biggest production companies: Greenstone Pictures. He began his television career at TVNZ working in news and current affairs and helped launch Top Half. Moving into the private sector he produced a number of TV shows including That’s Fairly Interesting and Heroes.

In 1994 he created Greenstone Pictures, and went on to produce a huge range of TV shows such as The Zoo; Epitaph; Motorway Patrol; and Neighbours at War. In 2010 Greenstone acquired the production company Cream Media.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Harris talks about:

• Becoming the Programme Editor on Top Half in 1980
• ‘Marrying’ John Hawkesby and Judy Bailey on the show
• How a pack of dogs ruined the set
• Producing That’s Fairly Interesting for Communicado
• How the show Heroes showed the better side of human nature
• Setting up Greenstone Pictures
• How Epitaph showed a unique side of New Zealand history
• Expanding his business by purchasing Cream
• The ‘privilege’ of telling other people’s stories on TV

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