Screentalk

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.

New Zealander Phil Keoghan has become an internationally-known TV host thanks to his role on Emmy-winning American reality series The Amazing Race. Keoghan began his career as a TVNZ cameraman before moving into presenting on kids show Spot On. He hosted a number of TV shows in New Zealand, such as That's Fairly Interesting, 3:45 LIVE! and Ya Hoo. Keoghan moved to the USA in the 1990s, where he began to get broadcasting work, eventually landing the coveted role as host of The Amazing Race. Keoghan has also produced and presented other international shows including No Opportunity Wasted, After the Climb, and Keoghan’s Heroes.

In this ScreenTalk, Keoghan talks about:

• Loving the chance to perform on the kids show Spot On
• How That's Fairly Interesting helped hone his story-telling skills
• Being mentored by fellow presenter Mark Leishman
• Learning to cope with live TV on 3:45 LIVE!
• An embarrassing moment with Milli Vanilli on set
• Fighting with actor Kevin Smith on Gloss
• How his kiwi accent lost him the presenter’s role on Survivor
• Faking an American accent to host The Amazing Race
• Believing the show opens up world culture to an American audience
• The challenges of making 'feel good' series No Opportunity Wasted
• How his documentary The Ride  has become his favourite ever TV project
• Being proud of the show earning $1 million for multiple sclerosis

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

Lindsay Shelton's career testifies to his love of communicating, and his love of film. After working in newspapers he began a decade programming the Wellington Film Festival, while working in television news. In 1979 he joined the New Zealand Film Commission: over the next 22 years he was an enthusiastic promoter and salesman for New Zealand film around the globe. 

In this ScreenTalk interview, Shelton talks about:

• Getting pulled into the new medium of television, from a globetrotting newspaper career
• Campaigning to sell films for the New Zealand Film Commission
• The golden days of Kiwi movies first breaking into overseas markets: Goodbye Pork Pie, then selling Sleeping Dogs and Smash Palace to the United States
• How the world was discovering New Zealand as a hothouse of new and exciting talent
• Shelton's longheldbelief that the best way to promote New Zealand films is by country rather than genre
• How without the NZ Film Commission there would be no local film industry
• The "wonderful" but stressful story of how Shelton persuaded Jane Campion to turn An Angel at My Table into a movie
• Stunned reactions to the first international screening of Once Were Warriors, at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival

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