ScreenTalk

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.

With more than 30 years in the television industry under his belt, veteran drama producer and director Chris Bailey has made a significant contribution to New Zealand’s screen heritage. His many TV credits include Gloss, Mortimer’s Patch, Under the Mountain, Burying Brian, Marlin Bay, City Life, and Greenstone. He was also the first executive producer on Shortland Street. Bailey was a co-founder of production company ScreenWorks which made the popular legal drama Street Legal.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Bailey talks about:

• The fun and challenges of making the kidult TV series Under the Mountain
• Creating a mechanical means of teleportation before the use of CGI technology
• Directing the ‘bitchy’ women on uber-soap Gloss
• Having to be careful casting characters in the historical mini-series Fallout
• Getting the soap Shortland Street up and running
• Casting Jay Laga’aia in the gritty legal drama Street Legal
• The challenge of making sure Go Girls stood up against overseas shows on TV2
• Feeling lucky to have had a challenging yet rewarding and fun career

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

Film producer Don “Scrubbs” Blakeney came from a background in finance. Returning from working overseas in the 1970s, he met pioneering filmmakers Grahame McLean and John Barnett. Blakeney had become disillusioned with the corporate world, and ended up drifting into the film industry as unit caterer on Sleeping Dogs. In 1979, his background in both finance and film made Blakeney the ideal first Executive Director of the newly-established New Zealand Film Commission. He later produced Geoff Murphy’s classic Maori western Utu.

In this special ScreenTalk interview, with veteran producer and industry colleague John Barnett, Blakeney talks about:

• How he got the Film Commission’s first Executive Director job
• How the Commission got going
• The early filmmakers the Commission nurtured and funding philosophies back then
• The importance of marketing New Zealand films
• Producing Utu for Geoff Murphy
• How luck went against Utu with both its NZ and international releases
• How early Film Commission optimism is reflected in some of today’s NZ feature film releases

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

Rachel Gardner has worked in the media since 1991, and at the forefront of NZ television production for the past decade.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Gardner reveals:

• An hilarious story about a disastrous academic interview
• How she started out in the film and television industry
• What it was like working on international success story Lion Man
• How she juggled family, a new baby and a grueling work schedule to produce The Pretender
• Her experiences producing successful short films Truant and Fog
• Why feature film Apron Strings worked so well for her
• Behind-the-scenes dramas on TV series The Cult
• How Million Dollar Catch came about

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

Peter Hayden has one of the best known faces and voices in New Zealand, having presented and voiced hundreds of nature documentaries on television. His many documentary series include the hugely successful Wild South and Latitude 45. Hayden is also a successful actor and has appeared in range of dramas including: The Fire-Raiser, Footrot Flats and Beyond Reasonable Doubt.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Peter talks about:

• Being a story teller for both documentary and drama productions
• How Wild South mirrored the growth in conservation in New Zealand
• Creating Moa’s Ark with famous conservationist David Bellamy
• The delight of making Latitude 45 and sailing on a reed boat on Lake Te Anau
• Acting a small role in The Governor and riding a terrified horse in a battle scene
• Playing the “dupe” who finds the bullet cartridge in Beyond Reasonable Doubt
• Breaking the jaw of a fellow actor in The Fire-Raiser

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

Janice Finn is a television writer/producer who has also spent time in front of the camera. Her acting roles have included parts in Close to Home, and The Strip. Finn produced the high camp 80s soap Gloss and 90s drama Marlin Bay, and has written extensively for Shortland Street. She has also produced reality series such as Changing Rooms for Touchdown Productions. Lately Finn has been producing documentaries for Natural History New Zealand.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Finn talks about:

• Playing ‘mad Jane’ in the first season of Close to Home
• How the show was made as though live, and any mistakes led to an entire re-shoot
• How her love of fashion and humour lead to the creation of Gloss
• Story-lining the entire series on a huge piece of paper with James Griffin
• Being shocked by male media commentators hatred of Gloss
• Making reality TV with Julie Christie of Touchdown Productions
• How making Changing Rooms was a complete shambles
• Having fun playing a loony character on The Strip, despite being very self-conscious

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

Producer Philip Smith comes from a family of entrepreneurs, so it’s always been in his nature to pursue opportunities. Currently working as head of the production company he created, Great Southern Television, Smith also had an eventful career in journalism before moving into producing. He was once expelled out of Tanzania while working as a print journalist, and sold his first production company for several million dollars while still in his early 30s.

Great Southern has produced Lion Man, Eating Media Lunch, The Unauthorised History of NZ and The Cult.

Smith lives in both Auckland and Queenstown, where he does a lot of brainstorming out in his woolshed.

In this Screentalk interview, Smith talks about:

• Working as a print journalist, police reporter for the NZ Herald under Susan Wood
• Being expelled as a journalist from Tanzania
• Working to deadline each night as a Line Producer on Holmes
• Not realising that the guys in the boardroom he was meeting actually just wanted to buy his production company
• How his young son helped come up with the idea for Lion Man
• How reading a Ben Elton book led to Eating Media Lunch
• Developing The Unauthorised History of NZ
• Getting Jeremy Wells into primetime television with Birdland
• Finding unexpected inspiration for The Cult, from his crazy neighbours

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

Producer Grahame McLean was one of the pioneers of the New Zealand feature film industry. In his long career, he was worked in many roles – props manager, assistant director, production manager, line producer, director, scriptwriter and producer. His first job in the screen industry was on the early 70s independent TV drama The Games Affair, and he went on to produce films including Sons for the Return Home, A Woman of Good Character, and Should I be Good? In this special ScreenTalk interview at his Queenstown home, with veteran producer and colleague John Barnett, McLean talks about:

• His first screen industry job as line producer on The Games Affair
• Working as props manager on TV drama Hunter’s Gold, shot near where he now lives in Queenstown
• How Roger Donaldson’s Sleeping Dogs kickstarted the NZ feature film industry
• The delights of shooting Sons for the Return Home in Samoa
• Working with director David Blyth on A Woman of Good Character
• Worzel Gummidge Downunder and working with a young Fran Walsh and Peter Jackson

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

TV producer Claudette Hauiti (Ngāti Porou, Ngāpuhi) began her career as a sports journalist on radio before moving to television news. In later years, her production company Front of the Box has made ground-breaking Māori series such as Eye to Eye and Takatāpui, as well as the award-winning documentaries Gang Girls and Children of the Revolution.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Hauiti talks about:

• How some gang connections led to the documentary Gang Girls and how it validated the lives of the women interviewed
• How strong support from Maori TV for Takatāpui helped get the series on air despite some misgivings from the Māori community
• The cancellation of Eye to Eye
• How she likes Front of the Box shows to challenge audiences
• How Maori Television has created a huge mind shift in attitudes to Māori and assisted in making New Zealand more multi-cultural
• The challenges of being an independent television producer in New Zealand

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

Whai Ngata (Ngāti Porou, Whānau ā Apanui) has had a long and distinguished career in print, television and radio. Beginning as a Māori reporter for the Auckland Star, Ngata moved on to Radio New Zealand in 1975 and over the next few years covered such important Māori stories such as the 1975 Land March led by Dame Whina Cooper, and the Bastion Point occupation and evictions in 1978.

Ngata joined Television New Zealand in 1983, working for Network News. He began reading the news in Māori on Te Karere, and while doing so traveled to the USA to cover the Te Maori exhibition.

Along with Ernie Leonard, Ngata helped set up the Māori Programmes department at TVNZ, and became a pivotal member of the team at Waka Huia. Eventually Ngata became head of the Māori department and was instrumental in creating popular and long-running Māori programmes such as Marae and Mai Time. In his long career, Ngata attended 30 years of Waitangi Day celebrations.

In 2007 Ngata became on Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to broadcasting and television.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Ngata discusses:

• The controversy surrounding the launch of Te Karere in the early 80s
• Encountering gang members in the Hokianga along with fellow Te Karere newsreader Derek Fox
• How saving the Māori language was not the rationale behind the news in Māori
• The huge impact the Te Māori exhibition had in America
• The difficulty of shooting the sacred exhibits
• How Waitangi Day changed in 30 years of covering the event
• How he thinks journalists should report on protests
• Making the best of not having Māori programming in primetime
• The huge success of The New Zealand Wars documentary series
• The importance of Māori programming and language to New Zealand

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