ScreenTalk

Catherine Saunders has had a long career in both broadcasting and PR. She began her media career as a radio announcer in 1961 and produced a number of radio documentaries before crossing over to television as a continuity announcer. In the mid 60s, Saunders was a reporter on the current affairs programme Town and Around. She was also a panelist on Beauty and the Beast for 12 years, and co-hosted the chat show Saunders and Sinclair. In the 90s, Saunders hosted 50 Forward with Gordon McLauchlan – a show aimed at older viewers.

In this ScreenTalk, Saunders talks about:

• Doing ‘silly’ stories on the current affairs show Town and Around
• Working with intelligent articulate women
• How female presenters today have thin waists and perky breasts
• Shooting three weeks of shows in a day on Beauty and the Beast
• Tackling controversial topics on the show and offering serious advice
• How the audience didn’t want advice from men on the show
• Working with the genius that was host Selwyn Toogood
• Being surprised by a mass protest on the chat show Saunders and Sinclair
• The reason co-host Geoff Sinclair left the show
• Having fun at a gym with Gordon McLauchlan on 50 Forward

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

Martin Devlin’s first screen appearance involved playing a policeman in a film shot in Taranaki – he can’t remember the name of it, but is fairly sure it wasn’t a box office hit. Following success as a radio broadcaster, Devlin made his first foray into television on a rugby panel for Sky TV, before hosting sports show House of Football. Since then Devlin has been a familiar face on NZ television, as part of mad cap game show A Game of Two Halves, triumphantly beating Peter Urlich to finish second to last on Dancing with the Stars, and hosting both the Football World Cup and Rugby World Cup 2011 coverage for TV ONE.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Devlin talks about:

• His first TV appearance
• His favourite memories from House of Football
• Why he chose to compete on Dancing with the Stars
• His experiences on the show
• Behind-the-scenes antics on A Game of Two Halves
• How he landed the job hosting coverage of the Football World Cup
• His impressions of his role hosting Rugby World Cup 2011 coverage for TV ONE

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

Carol Hirschfeld attributes some of her career path to her father, “a big newspaper man”. As a sub-editor at Eyewitness News in the late 80s, Hirschfeld was convinced she preferred to work behind the camera, with no interest at all in appearing in front of it. Since then, Hirschfeld has reported for and hosted many prime-time television productions including Fair Go, Crimewatch, 3 News and Campbell Live, as well as producing and directing hours of New Zealand television such as Frontline’s Winebox enquiry, Home Truths, A Queen’s Tour and Campbell Live. More recently Hirschfeld has worked as Head of Programing at Maori Television, and is currently General Manager of Production.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Hirschfeld talks about:

• Starting out in TV news and current affairs
• Working with Ian Johnstone on Crimewatch
• The intricacies and challenges of working on the Winebox investigation at Frontline
• The beginnings of her role on 3 News, and the resignation of John Hawkesby
• Producing Home Truths
• Her approach to producing TV series A Queen’s Tour and how she would do it differently in hindsight
• The joys of appearing as herself in bro’Town
• Her reasons for leaving TV3
• Her aspirations for the Maori Television Service

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Pio Terei is an actor, singer and comedian, who has been involved in a wide range of TV shows such as: Issues, Pete and Pio, Big Night In and Tangaroa with Pio. He also had a small role in the feature film No. 2 and a dramatic role in Mataku. In 2009 Terei began hosting iconic quiz show It’s in the Bag for Maori Television.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Terei talks about:

• Being a little scared joining legends of comedy on Issues
• Adopting an arrogant persona to impersonate Winston Peters on the show
• Working with mentor Peter Rowley on the comedy show Pete and Pio
• How ‘taking the piss’ out of Pākehā in The Life and Times of Te Tutu raised hackles
• Being inspired by his co-stars in the feature film No. 2
• Loving the unique sense of New Zealand in game show It’s in the Bag
• How winning a booby prize meant so much to one contestant

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