ScreenTalk

Petra Bagust grew up in Christchurch, studied fine arts at Canterbury University and waited tables before being lured into regional TV station Cry TV.

And so began a screen career during which she has hosted many of NZ’s most popular shows, including madcap youth series Ice TV from 1996, and its sequel Ice As, travel show Travel.co.nz, real estate series Hot Property in 2003, the feel-good Dreams Come True, game show Snatch our Booty with Oscar Kightley and Nathan Rarere in 2005, Sing Like a Superstar (2005), and The Perfect Age (2006).

Fronting big live shows like Christmas In The Park and Fight for Life (2001, 2004), Bagust became a regular live anchor for TV3. More recently Bagust fronted daily news satire show @Seven, as well as the factual series What’s Really In Our Food, for which she was nominated for a 2009 Qantas Best Presenter award.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Bagust talks about:

• Considering a TV career over a career as a painter
• Her first experiences at regional station Cry TV
• How she landed her initial audition for Ice TV, and what it was like working on the show
• One of the golden rules of doing travel shows
• Hosting big live shows like Christmas in the Park
• Making What’s Really In Our Food, and the follow up show to come
• Her love of NZ design

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via a Creative Commons licence
Credits:  Interview, Camera & Editing – James Coleman. Sound – Cicadas.

A generation of Kiwi kids grew up watching Jason Gunn on television. At the same time Gunn grew up on television himself. Beginning in children’s TV, Gunn hosted Jase TV, Son of a Gunn Show, After School, and What Now? Through many of these shows his co-star was a hugely popular life size puppet named Thingee. Gunn moved on to other programmes such as Young Entertainers and Small Talk.

In recent years Gunn has starred in a host of top-rating primetime entertainment and game shows including Wheel of Fortune, The Rich List and the incredibly popular Dancing with the Stars. As well as his hosting duties, Gunn has appeared as himself on Celebrity Treasure Island.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Gunn talks about:

• Learning the skills of presenting from ‘old hands’ in the industry
• How he grew up on TV hosting Son of a Gunn Show
• Being best mates with a puppet named Thingee
• His love for making children’s TV and how it is the best of all genres
• How his comedic inspiration comes from his everyday life
• The tough path of learning to play piano and sing
• Just being himself on Celebrity Treasure Island
• The drama and excitement of Dancing with the Stars
• Why hosting game shows will lead to new things

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

Credits:  Interview, Camera & Editing – Andrew Whiteside

Jeremy Wells made his broadcasting debut on student radio station 95bFM, reading the news on Mikey Havoc’s breakfast show. The pair teamed up again for Havoc, a talk and music show on the fledgling MTV, before hosting travelogue/social commentary shows Havoc and Newsboy’s Sell-Out Tour, and Havoc’s Luxury Suites and Conference Facility on TVNZ.

Wells then worked with producer/director Paul Casserly to produce seven seasons of the media satire show Eating Media Lunch, which won Best Comedy Programme at the Qantas Film and Television Awards in 2008. He also presented the satirical series The Unauthorised History Of New Zealand in 2005, and an episode of Intrepid Journeys in 2007.

In this ScreenTalk Interview, Wells discusses:

• Being sent to boarding school for possessing marijuana
• Being expelled from boarding school for possessing marijuana
• Starting out as a newsreader on 95bFM
• The fun he had working on the Havoc shows
• The ideas behind The Unauthorised History of New Zealand
• The challenges of making seven seasons of Eating Media Lunch
• His experiences in Libya on Intrepid Journeys
• How the Birdland series came about and observations on the birding community
• His career path
• TVNZ

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

Credits:  Interview, Camera & Editing – James Coleman

Rock’n'roll couple Karyn Hay and Andrew Fagan have both had long and varied careers in New Zealand music and media. They are currently night-time hosts on Radio Live, but Fagan spent many years as the lead singer of pop band The Mockers, and Hay was the long-time host of iconic music show Radio with Pictures. Hay and Fagan are also both published authors.

In this ScreenTalk interview, the pair talk to James Coleman about:

• The trials and tribulations of getting a music video made in NZ in the 80s through TVNZ’s “sausage factory”
• Radio with Pictures and the decision to play the forbidden video – AFFCO by The Skeptics
• Hay’s work on her favourite music video of all those she has directed – Hey Judith by The Dribbling Darts Of Love in the 90s
• Fagan’s cameo appearance in the Hey Judith video

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

Credits: Interview by James Coleman, Camera and Editing by Leo Guerchmann.