ScreenTalk

Judy Callingham has had a long and varied television career as a reporter, presenter, and writer. She first appeared on our screens as a continuity announcer, but then moved on to reporting on the 1960s regional programme Town and Around. Callingham then developed her skills as a television drama writer on shows such as Close to Home, Gloss, Shark in the Park and Shortland Street.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Callingham talks about:

• How a friendly rivalry with a co-reporter on Town and Around forced her to confront a fear of heights
• Loving being a show runner on Close to Home
• How the show led to complaints that it didn’t represent real New Zealanders
• Why writing for Gloss made her a better person to live with
• That the superb cast of the show made the scripts better
• Basing the lead character of her TV play Casualties of Peace on her father
• The ‘organic’ process of writing the scripts for The Billy T James Show
• Doing a writing experiment while creating scene breakdowns for Shortland Street
• Admitting she became a writer because she was appalling at being an actress

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

Playwright and screenwriter Roger Hall has made a significant contribution to New Zealand’s television landscape. Two of his highly successful stage comedies became TV hits – Gliding On and Neighbourhood Watch. Hall wrote three one-off TV plays for the Spotlight series:The Bach, The Reward, and Some People Get All the Luck. As well as his own creations, Hall has also written for Pukemanu and Spin Doctors.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Hall talks about:

• Rolling on the floor laughing while writing for the sitcom Buck House
• Why he took his name off the credits in series two
• How mega-hit Gliding On was initially rejected by TVNZ and why the show became so popular
• The genesis of Middle Age Spread and the complexity of the story
• The joy of writing for the very topical and fast turn-around satire Spin Doctors
• Trying to bribe his way out of a visit to Uganda in Intrepid Journeys
• Getting dumped in the Nile on a rafting trip

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

Aussie import Gavin Strawhan is a screen writer who has had a hand in many of our recent TV drama successes. After assisting with the set up of Shortland Street, Strawhan then teamed with writing colleague Rachel Lang to create the drama series Jackson’s Wharf, Mercy Peak, Lawless, and This is Not My Life. Strawhan has worked on Burying Brian, Go Girls, and Outrageous Fortune; and co-created the kidult drama Being Eve. He also helped develop a number of feature films such as Crooked Earth, Whale Rider, and Jubilee, and in 2010 wrote the screenplay for Matariki.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Strawhan talks about:

• The difficulty in finding experienced writers at the beginning of Shortland Street
• How bringing on writer Rachel Lang made a huge difference to the soap
• How Shortland Street brought real kiwi accents and characters to the small screen
• Realising the impact writers have on a show while writing for Lawless
• Go Girls being a show about kindness and optimism
• How This is Not My Life was partly a critique of capitalism
• How the finished version of Matariki was a lot more serious than the script he worked on
• How a director’s vision differs from a writer’s vision
• Why being a writer involves ‘fraud’

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

David Fane failed comedy at drama school. But since leaving Toi Whakaari, Fane has delighted audiences with his comic performances in Skitz, The Semisis, Tongan Ninja, bro’Town, Sione’s Wedding, Outrageous Fortune, Eagle vs Shark and Radiradirah. Fane has also appeared in the drama series The Market and The Strip, and the feature film The Tattooist.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Fane discusses:

• His feelings about Toi Whakaari
• How he landed his first TV role on Skitz
• What it was like acting with his mates on The Semisis
• How his character’s name came about in Tongan Ninja
• Behind-the-scenes observations from The Strip
• How bro’Town began, and the important messages behind some of the silliness
• The joys of playing Falani in Outrageous Fortune
• Hilarious behind-the-scenes details from Eagle vs Shark
• How performances were worked up in Radiradirah
• An insight into upcoming feature film Love Birds

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

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

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

Ian Mune is a multi-talented and award-winning veteran of the New Zealand film and TV industry. He has been involved in a huge range of projects as an actor (Pukemanu, Moynihan, Erebus: The Aftermath, Fallout); writer (Sleeping Dogs, Gloss, Goodbye Pork Pie) and director (The End of the Golden Weather, Came a Hot Friday, What Becomes of the Broken Hearted). Three of the five films Mune has directed have won awards for New Zealand film of the year.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Mune talks about:

• Why Pukemanu changed New Zealand television drama
• How Sleeping Dogs only got made because of Roger Donaldson’s determination
• American actor Warren Oates sneaking a script into shot in the film
• Tackling the script for Geoff Murphy’s Goodbye Pork Pie
• How the film led to car thefts up and down the country
• The joy of directing his first feature Came a Hot Friday
• How designer Ron Highfield took advantage of Mune’s colour blindness
• Disappointing audience expectations in directing What Becomes of the Broken Hearted
• Finding it ‘hell on wheels’ when others direct his scripts
• Suspecting that Came a Hot Friday will be seen as his best film
• Still wanting to have fun in the film industry after a long and distinguished career

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

Rachel Lang has been one of the driving forces behind some of New Zealand’s most popular television dramas. Beginning as a story editor on 80s dramas Shark in the Park and Open House, she moved onto Shortland Street as a story-liner and then as the show’s executive producer for a number of years. Lang collaborated with writer Gavin Strawhan to create the South Pacific Pictures dramas Jackson’s Wharf and Mercy Peak. Later she developed the enormously successful Outrageous Fortune, as well as Maddigan’s Quest and Go Girls. In 2010, Lang helped develop another major TV drama – This is Not My Life.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Lang talks about:

• Enjoying her first acting role and learning to march in Marching Girls
• How Shortland Street changed the face of drama on New Zealand television
• How the soap gave voice to the Kiwi accent
• Loving creating Mercy Peak with its subtle approach to drama
• How initial despondency over network responses to the show led to major improvements
• How a spark of creativity in the shower led to Outrageous Fortune
• Wanting to make the show rude enough that people ‘had’ to watch it
• How Sex in the City influenced the home-grown show Go Girls
• Why This is Not My Life proved to be the most difficult show she’s worked on
• The need for a writer to be involved in the process of casting parts

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

From reporting to scriptwriting and acting, Keith Aberdein has been a part of some of New Zealand’s biggest television and film moments. His screen career began as a journalist on Town and Around and Compass. Aberdein has scripted major TV shows such as Pukemanu, Section 7, Moynihan, Close to Home, and the colonial epic The Governor.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Aberdein talks about:

• Why prolonging an interview with a survivor of the Wahine disaster still makes him shudder
• The challenges of making Pukemanu and how the programme changed the face of drama on TV
• The deliberate revisionism of history and Governor Grey in scripting The Governor
• The negative and positive impact the programme had on TV in New Zealand
• How Close to Home won the ratings battle for TV One against SPTV
• Working on the script for Utu with Geoff Murphy
• Writing a scathing script review of Smash Palace and how director Roger Donaldson got his own back when he cast him in the film
• How making a career in TV can be fun, but will lead to tears

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

Comedian and writer Jon Gadsby is an integral part of the television comedy landscape in New Zealand. With his long time friend and colleague David McPhail, Gadsby headlined some of the most iconic comedy shows this country has produced. They first teamed up in the 1970s in the hit sketch show A Week of It. The show took pot-shots at politicians, the news, and everyday life. The pair then moved on to the long-running self-titled comedy show McPhail and Gadsby, which ran for seven seasons. Gadsby penned and starred in two rural based situation comedies – Rabbiter’s Rest and Letter to Blanchy. In his varied career, Gadsby has also appeared in feature films, and hosted episodes of Great NZ River Journeys and Intrepid Journeys.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Gadsby discusses:

• Being the newbie on the ground-breaking comedy show A Week of It
• How mocking religion led to death threats on McPhail and Gadsby
• Why politicians wanted to be on the show and how it captured the public mood
• The origins of the infamous ‘Jeez Wayne’
• How Letter to Blanchy reflected heartland New Zealand and his own upbringing
• Tormenting his cameraman Jacob Bryant on an Intrepid Journeys trip to Myanmar

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