ScreenTalk

Jam TV is a boutique production company owned and run by Melanie Rakena and Jane Andrews. The duo met while working at TVNZ and formed the company to make Intrepid Journeys, the long-running TV ONE show that takes local celebrities out of their comfort zones and into challenging locations around the globe. Jam has also produced a range of other well-received factual series including Off the Rails, ICE, South, and Off the Radar, as well as the documentary Our Lost War – Passchendaele.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Rakena and Andrews talk about:

• How working together at TVNZ cemented their working relationship
• Being told it would be impossible to film Intrepid Journeys
• How illness and discomfort create close bonds between presenters and crew
• A near death experience on a mountain in Borneo
• Taking Marcus Lush to the ends of the earth in ICE and the ends of New Zealand in South
• Being mistaken for a true-blue West Coaster in Off the Rails
• Living with Te Radar in a paddock while filming Off the Radar
• And wishing Radar would keep his pants on

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

Food, travel and television are synonymous with Peta Mathias. For 12 years she hosted TVNZ’s Taste New Zealand and its spin-off shows Toast New Zealand, Taste Takes Off and A Taste of Home. Mathias says her toughest TV moment came in Bolivia as part of the Intrepid Journeys series. It was a trip she describes as “pure hell”.

As well as her TV credits, Mathias has written eight books about food and travel, and leads food tours to her favourite gastronomic hot spots around the world. She also recently set up her own production company, Red Head Media, to create cooking DVDs.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Mathias discusses:

• How she was discovered and her first TV audition
• The impact Taste New Zealand had on local cuisine
• How her outrageous outfits were a deliberate strategy
• What she thinks of TV food shows
• Why she ended up cooking on Hudson and Halls’ old stove
• Why her Intrepid Journey to Bolivia was hell on earth
• And the practical reason behind setting up her own production company

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

Credits:  Interview, Camera & Editing – Andrew Whiteside