ScreenTalk

Internationally successful Kiwi film producer Finola Dwyer began her career as an editor at the National Film Unit and then moved onto editing and producing at TVNZ. Dwyer migrated over to the film industry and worked as an editor and producer. Some of the memorable New Zealand films she worked on include Came a Hot Friday, Starlight Hotel, and The Quiet Earth. In the 90s, Dwyer moved to the UK where she has made a name for herself producing films such as Backbeat, An Education and Dean Spanley. Her latest project is Quartet, a film directed by Dustin Hoffman.

In this ScreenTalk, Dwyer talks about:

• Learning to edit film at the National Film Unit
• Editing the classic short film Score with director Arthur Everard
• How editing Country Calendar for TV was more stressful than NFU editing
• How an unplanned visit to the beach led to Raglan by the Sea
• Creating the quirky chat show McCormick Country
• Having to re-record the dialogue and soundtrack for The Quiet Earth
• How her first producing job on Queen City Rocker was a baptism by fire
• Overcoming fear by producing the Beatles biopic Backbeat
• Being proud of the film Dean Spanley and its cast and crew
• Sharing teenage dating stories while co-producing An Education
• How the film struck controversy due to its subject matter
• Feeling blessed to be working and continuing to learn in the film industry

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

Tom Finlayson is a producer, director and writer who has an impressive track record in New Zealand television. He began his TV career as a reporter on Town and Around, but quickly moved on to news producing, and eventually TV drama production. Finlayson produced the highly acclaimed kidult show Under the Mountain and the successful police drama Mortimer’s Patch, as well as the films Other Halves and The Grasscutter.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Finlayson talks about:

• His excitement and naivety upon becoming a reporter on Town and Around
• The cynicism behind the wholesome family show Stars on Sunday
• How producing the TV series Under the Mountain was one of his best experiences
• Using mirrors to create in camera effects for the show
• The real reason for shooting Mortimer’s Patch in the countryside
• The courage of director John Laing in picking street kids to act in Other Halves
• The challenge of casting The Grasscutter in Belfast with director Ian Mune

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.

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

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.

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

With over 30 years experience in the television industry, Michael Stedman has done just about everything behind the cameras. He began as an editor and moved on to directing and producing for TVNZ. While there he produced shows such as Beauty and the Beast, University Challenge and numerous sport and news programmes. He has held senior positions at television networks in New Zealand and Australia, and is currently the Managing Director at Natural History New Zealand.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Stedman talks about:

• Becoming an editor at TVNZ despite having his sights set on producing
• Producing the iconic advice show Beauty and the Beast
• Being saddened at the cancellation of kids nature show Wildtrack
• Alerting the country to the plight of our endangered species in Wild South
• Working with the quirky David Bellamy in Moa’s Ark
• How Fox Television has transformed Natural History NZ

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.

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.

Drama producer Chris Hampson has worked in film and television for nearly 30 years. During that time, he has seen many commissioners, programmers, policies and Governments come and go, while negotiating the sometimes treacherous landscape of TV and film production, along the way delivering films and TV shows such as Illustrious Energy, Marlin Bay, Doves of War and Kaitangata Twitch.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Hampson reveals:

• How he started out in television
• Some of the processes involved in making Footrot Flats: The Dog’s (Tail) Tale
• The joys and challenges of making feature film Illustrious Energy
• Details of the creation of South Pacific Pictures, and making Marlin Bay
• Camera techniques used on Cover Story
• An insight into the way Street Legal was shot
• The guerilla tactics used to shoot some of Doves of War
• The story behind the rise and fall of Orange Roughies
• How feature film Under the Mountain came about
• Behind-the-scenes details on the making of Kaitangata Twitch

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