Screentalk

Simon Bennett's extensive CV includes producing and directing episodes of long-running successes Shortland Street and Outrageous Fortune. He has also spent time in executive roles at South Pacific Pictures, the production house behind these shows, and directed SPP feature film Sione's 2: Unfinished Business.

In this ScreenTalk, Bennett talks about:

• Having to clean up horse manure for his first TV directing job on Riding High
• Learning to direct fast-turnaround TV drama on Shortland Street
• Being told off by the actors when directing Mercy Peak
• Taking up the reigns as Head of Drama at South Pacific Pictures
• How fantastic writing and acting made Outrageous Fortune a hit
• The unlikely premise of The Almighty Johnsons
• The challenges of making a sequel to a successful film, with Sione's 2: Unfinished Business
• Being intrigued by the scripts of The Blue Rose
• Enjoying the fast-paced nature of the show

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

Bruce Morrison's career as a producer, director and writer has brought some memorable New Zealand stories to the screen. He has been involved in a number of arts shows such as Kaleidoscope and Profiles, as well as poetry documentaries The Roaring 40's Tour and The Road to Jerusalem. Morrison directed the feature films Constance, Shaker Run and Queen City Rocker, and was a long-time director on Gary McCormick's iconic Heartland documentary series.

In this ScreenTalk, Morrison talks about: 

• Getting funding for his Profiles series of art documentaries
• How a collection of old liquor bottles lead to the film Constance
• Learning to direct action films from the car chase scenes on Shaker Run
• Making Queen City Rocker a musical film without ‘breaking into song’
• Having an initially low opinion of Raglan by the Sea
• Creating a fake living room for McCormick Country
• How the show Heartland gave rural life a voice
• Bringing poetry and imagery together in The Roaring 40's Tour
• His favourite moment in The Roaring 40's documentary
• How being appalled by settler history lead to Bastion Point — An Untold Story

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

Producer Ric Salizzo started out as a sports reporter and newsreader on the radio. In his early television days, he was criticised for frowning during news bulletins, and he freely admits that conventional sports broadcasting was not his forte. Salizzo found his production niche with the ground-breaking rugby documentaries The Good, the Bad and the Rugby and Blood, Sweat and Touring. He was also producer and co-host of long-running sports entertainment show Sportscafe, and is currently executive producer of The Crowd Goes Wild. In this ScreenTalk, Salizzo talks about:

• Believing he was terrible as a sports newsreader on One Network News
• Having his face compared to a rubber tyre by a TV reviewer
• Showing the ‘human’ face of the All Blacks in The Good, the Bad and the Rugby
• How the need to create a job for himself led to Sportscafe
• Lana Coc-Kroft joining the show because Marc Ellis fancied her
• Trashing the set in the final programme - his favourite episode
• Learning a huge lesson from the ‘terrible’ Sugar Shack
• Creating a new twist on sports news with The Crowd Goes Wild
• Coming through the tough times of losing his wife Cathy Campbell, and still wanting to tell good stories

Shortland Street producer Steven Zanoski’s first job in television was as a writer/reporter on the kids programme What Now? He went on to become a storyliner for Shortland Street and eventually the programme’s producer. During his time as a writer on the show, he also penned the screenplay for the one-off TV drama House of Sticks. Zanoski has also had a hand in the development of Outrageous Fortune and executive produced Mataku and Mercy Peak. In this ScreenTalk, Zanoski talks about:

• Getting a job on the kids show What Now? at the age of 19
• The genesis for writing the screenplay of the hour-long TV drama House of Sticks
• How he learnt to write storylines for Shortland Street
• The process of creating story arcs for the soap
• Having over-all control of the show in his role as producer
• Keeping the 20-year-old show fresh by bringing in new creative challenges
• His favourite storyline when the clinic was blown up
• How great storytelling will see Shortland Street into the future

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

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

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

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

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

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