ScreenTalk

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

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

Bill Ralston has had a long, varied, and sometimes controversial career in New Zealand media. He joined South Pacific Television as a news reporter in 1979 and went on to become political correspondent for TVNZ in the era of Muldoon and Lange. Moving to TV3, Ralston was the channel’s Political Editor and hosted a current affairs slot on their nightly news bulletin. Ralston joined the Nightline team and later hosted the popular panel discussion show The Ralston Group, then the arts/media series Backch@t. In 2003 he became Head of News and Current Affairs for TVNZ.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Ralston talks about:

• Reporting from the midst of a riot during the Springbok Tour of 1981
• Learning how to tackle former PM Rob Muldoon in press conferences
• The drama of covering the split between former PM David Lange and Roger Douglas
• How The Ralston Group was successfully modeled on a similar show in the US
• Bringing politics to the art world in the show Backch@t
• How a fight with TV executives brought about the demise of the show
• Finding it hard going, becoming the Head of TVNZ News and Current Affairs
• Being flummoxed by the furore over newsreader Judy Bailey’s salary
• Acknowledging that there is no true objectivity in the media

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

Thedownlowconcept is an Auckland based production company run by Ryan Hutchings, Jarrod Holt and Nigel McCulloch. Their first TV production was the music quiz show Pop Goes the Weasel. They cemented their TV comedy credentials with the hit show 7 Days, and followed it up with the ‘science for blokes’ series Bigger Better Faster Stronger. In 2011 they will debut their sitcom Hounds. As well as television, thedownlowconcept have made a number of short films for the 48 Hour Film Festival including the award-winning short Only Son.

In this ScreenTalk interview, the team talks about:

• Becoming best friends at AUT and starting a production company
• Being appalled at their first attempts at creating TV props
• Not really knowing what they were doing producing Pop Goes the Weasel
• How not having much of a budget meant they had to do multiple roles
• That the hit show 7 Days nearly didn’t make it on-screen
• How the press bagged the show before it even screened
• How the genesis of Bigger Better Faster Stronger began with the host’s hoarding ability
• Being disappointed in the ratings for the show, but still loving it
• Their new sitcom Hounds and how it taught them a lot about the TV industry

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

Rachel Jean has produced and/or directed over 40 documentaries, made award-winning drama and film, and set up and run production company Isola Productions. Jean has recently moved from producing and directing to the role of Head of Drama and Comedy at TV3 and C4.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Jean reveals:

• Details of her early work at Frame Up Films
• How feature film Memory and Desire was conceived
• Hilarious and embarrassing moments during filming of Love Mussel
• The joys of spending her pregnancy on the floor and laughing while helping write Secret Agent Men
• How The Market came about, and its intriguing production philosophy
• An insight into the making of her documentary Life, Death and a Lung Transplant about her husband’s Cystic Fibrosis and lung transplant
• Her most satisfying achievements so far as Head of Drama and Comedy at TV3 and C4

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

New Zealand inherited 15-year-old Jaquie Brown from England. Following a stint at Auckland’s 95bFM in her late teens, Brown soon became ensconced in the intriguing world of New Zealand television. Her first TV role was as co-host of youth culture show Space with Dominic Bowden in 2000, before becoming one of the two main anchors on burgeoning music channel C4.

From there, Brown moved into “grown up” TV with John Campbell and Carol Hirschfeld, in the series A Queen’s Tour, before becoming a reporter on the current affairs show Campbell Live.

Brown then stepped into the challenging realm of programme-making, forming her own production company with Gerard Johnstone. One season later and The Jaquie Brown Diaries is a hit with critics and viewers, and was named Best Comedy at the 2009 Qantas Film and Television Awards. The series was released on DVD, played on SBS in Australia and is part of Air New Zealand’s in-flight entertainment.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Brown reveals:

• how she looked as a 15-year-old
• how she handled her first live broadcast
• how a shocking night club revelation helped secure her role on the TV show Space
• the joys of live TV, working with Clark Gayford, and the subsequent trials of being mistaken for Jackie Clarke… before beating her up
• what it’s like working with John Campbell
• which of her character’s mortifying experiences in The Jaquie Brown Diaries actually happened
• some of the behind-the-scenes challenges of making TV

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

Credits:  Interview, Camera & Editing – James Coleman