ScreenTalk » South Pacific Pictures

Tony Holden – Kiwi comedy veteran

Screen Talker — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 16:42:18 +0000

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

A chat with Tim Balme

Screen Talker — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 19:47:36 +0000

Actor and writer Tim Balme has played an integral part in the NZ film and television scene for longer than he chooses to remember, having portrayed good guys, bad guys, the guy next door, creepy guys, dopey guys, lovable guys, clever guys and almost every other guy in between. Lately, Balme has diversified his portfolio and is currently Head of Development at South Pacific Pictures.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Balme reveals:

His early theatre aspirations – still never realised
What it was like amongst the gore on the set of Braindead
His thoughts on playing Jack Brown Genius in the feature film
One of the defining and more risque moments from feature film Via Satellite
His take on NZ cinema audiences
How he became a writer on Outrageous Fortune
Thoughts on the successful formula behind Outrageous Fortune
Scoring an acting role in the new South Pacific Pictures series The Almighty Johnsons

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

James Griffin gets serious about Kiwi comedy

Screen Talker — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:24:31 +0000

Scriptwriter, playwright and columnist James Griffin has been writing for most of his life. Since becoming a scriptwriter in the 1980s Griffin has written many of New Zealand’s most well known and best loved TV shows as well as the feature film Sione’s Wedding.

In this interview, he discusses

His love of writing from an early age but his desire to be a TV director
Getting “side-tracked” in to script editing and learning the mechanics of how a script works
The popularity of Gloss and blending comedy and drama
His surprise that the TV drama City Life flopped
The rollercoaster ride that is Outrageous Fortune and when its run should end
Criticism of NZ comedy
What it takes to make a “hit” TV show

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

Credits: Interview, Camera & Editing – Andrew Whiteside

Producer John Barnett reflects

Screen Talker — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:20:20 +0000

It is hard to imagine a credit roll for the New Zealand film and television industry without the name John Barnett being high on the titles.

Since the 1970′s John Barnett has been key in bringing a host of uniquely Kiwi stories to local and international screens, from Fred Dagg to Footrot Flats, from Whale Rider to Sione’s Wedding and What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted?, from iconic soap Shortland Street to the wildly successful Westie family drama, Outrageous Fortune.

Barnett talks to NZ On Screen’s Clare O’Leary about his 30+ years as a driving force in New Zealand television and film:

his beginnings in the television and film industry in the seventies, from working on children’s series The Games Affair, and the Endeavour Productions’ documentary series on Janet Frame, Ngaio Marsh and Sylvia Aston-Warner, to managing John Clarke (aka Fred Dagg)
branching out into feature film production with Dagg Day Afternoon, Middle Aged Spread and Beyond Reasonable Doubt
on his motivation: making films that “people understand immediately” and telling universal stories (Whale Rider, Sione’s Wedding)
being involved in lobbying for the formation of the New Zealand Film Commission.
heading South Pacific Pictures, New Zealand’s largest film and television production company and developing programmes (Shortland Street, Outrageous Fortune) that “reflect the way we [New Zealanders] see ourselves.”
on his favourite production: “They’re all my children … I love everything we’ve made … we have a kind of mantra here [at SPP] : we’re not going to get involved unless we love it … I like stories in which people challenge the system and win: beating the odds is something that everybody understands.”

For more clips and background information, and profiles of cast and crew from the film and television titles produced by Barnett and South Pacific Pictures, see NZ On Screen.

This interview is available for download and distribution on YouTube as Part 1 and Part 2.

Credits: Direction and Interview – Clare O’Leary, Camera and Editing – Leo Guerchmann