NEWS | The Big Idea TV - NZ On Screen: ScreenTalk

Internationally successful Kiwi film producer Finola Dwyer began her career as an editor at the National Film Unit and then moved onto editing and producing at TVNZ. Dwyer migrated over to the film industry and worked as an editor and producer. Read More »

Vivacious actor Nicole Whippy has created some memorable characters on our television screens. She debuted playing a warrior queen on Xena and then appeared in the film Vertical Limit. She made a splash on the drama Jackson’s Wharf before appearing in a slew of TV series such as Mercy Peak, Being Eve, The Strip and Outrageous Fortune. Read More »

Actor Theresa Healey first appeared on screen entertaining a generation of kids on Play School. She became a household name playing the popular character Carmen on Shortland Street for five years. Since then she has been in a range of New Zealand TV dramas including Marlin Bay, Mercy Peak and Go Girls. She has starred in the films Jubilee and Savage Honeymoon. Read More »

Actor Jim Moriarty cut his teeth on the early dramas Pukemanu and Close to Home, then went on to appear in a number of other TV projects such as Inside Straight and City Life. As well as acting, Moriarty has directed in television and theatre, and works with at risk Maori youth. Read More »

Kate Elliott began her life on screen after attending an audition at school. Since winning that role in House of Sticks – Elliott has starred in many of New Zealand’s major television productions including Street Legal, The Insiders Guide to Love, The Cult and Shortland Street. Read More »

Tom Finlayson is a producer, director and writer who has an impressive track record in New Zealand television. He began his TV career as a reporter on Town and Around, but quickly moved on to news producing, and eventually TV drama production. Read More »

Will Hall fell into a screen career by accident after hanging out with filmmakers at Lincoln University – an unlikely scenario given his study towards a commerce degree. Since then, Hall has forged a career both in front of and behind the camera. Read More »

Veteran broadcaster and journalist Ian Johnstone helped pioneer current affairs programming in New Zealand by hosting and reporting on the shows Compass and Close Up in the 1960s. Johnstone was the first host of the regional magazine programme Town and Around and went on to co-host Tonight at Nine after the debut of South Pacific Television. Read More »

Peter Meteherangi Tikao Burger (Ngai Tahu, Rangitane) can thank a childhood lisp for his busy career as a screen director today. Having been sent to speech lessons, he found himself in the wrong class, and discovered the joys of performance in a drama class at a young and impressionable age. Read More »

Martin Devlin’s first screen appearance involved playing a policeman in a film shot in Taranaki – he can’t remember the name of it, but is fairly sure it wasn’t a box office hit. Following success as a radio broadcaster, Devlin made his first foray into television on a rugby panel for Sky TV.
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More than a decade ago Robbie Magasiva gave himself two choices – rugby or acting. Since then, Magasiva has made audiences laugh in Skitz, The Semisis and Sione’s Wedding, and has starred in numerous screen dramas including Shortland Street, Cover Story, Jackson’s Wharf, Doves of War and The Tattooist. Read More »

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. Read More »

Actor Paul Gittins is best known for his portrayal of Dr Michael McKenna, the original clinic director, on the long-running soap opera Shortland Street. He has also acted in a number of feature films, including Other Halves, The End of the Golden Weather, and The Whole of the Moon. Read More »

Tandi Wright spent some of her childhood in the dressing room at Avalon TV Studios – waiting for her actor parents to finish work on Close to Home. But rather than encouraging her to follow suit, Wright insists they were always “realistic about how nearly impossible it is to make a career out of acting”. She agrees – but seems to have pulled off the “impossible” anyway. Read More »

Marcia Russell is an award-winning journalist and TV writer/producer with a long career in New Zealand media. Her first television role was as host of the 1970s talk show Speakeasy. Russell moved on to news and current affairs roles with TVNZ, and helped set up the fledgling TV3 News department in the late 1980s. Read More »

Keith Quinn is part of the fabric of Kiwi TV and sporting history. On hand to commentate and write about many of our key sports moments – rugby and otherwise – over almost four decades, Quinn called his first rugby match for TV in 1973, and is part of the 2011 Rugby World Cup team for Maori Television. Read More »

Acclaimed Director of Photography Leon Narbey has had a hand in many of New Zealand’s best known films. He directed the feature film, Illustrious Energy, in 1987, and has been the DOP on other major film projects such as Desperate Remedies; The Price of Milk; and the smash hit Whale Rider. Read More »

Actor Phillip Gordon began his television acting career playing bad boy Hugh Clifford on the long-running soap Close to Home. He then played small roles in many New Zealand films, before winning the lead role in the TV series Inside Straight. Read More »

In this ScreenTalk interview Tony Holden talks about commissioning at TVNZ, directing comedy, working with Billy T James and the emotions behind producing Billy, the tele-movie.

He also discusses the future of TV, and says content is key.  “No matter what way you receive it people will always want the programme, the idea, the story, the characters - it’s content.” Read More »

Judy Callingham has had a long and varied television career as a reporter, presenter and writer for many NZ classics.

In this ScreenTalk interview Callingham reflects on her career and how she became a writer because she was "appalling" as an actress. Read More »

In this ScreenTalk interview Bill Ralston talks about his long, varied, and sometimes controversial career in the New Zealand media. Read More »

Veteran broadcaster Brian Edwards is an Irish import who made a big impact on New Zealand current affairs television.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Edwards talks about his career and the state of current affairs today. Read More »

Joanna Paul‘s screen career has seen her both in front of and behind the camera, and undertaking some of the most challenging Maori screen projects in New Zealand, including Aroha, the country’s first TV series in Te Reo, and the launch of Maori Television. Read More »

Cinematographer Stuart Dryburgh is the eye behind some of the most iconic images in New Zealand film.

Since shooting The Piano, Dryburgh has been working overseas (he shot Bridget Jones’ Diary, and the Martin Scorsese-directed pilot of Boardwalk Empire), returning only to film In My Father’s Den in 2004. Read More »

Award-winning documentary maker John Bates is a Scotsman who has lived in New Zealand for more than 40 years.

In this ScreenTalk interview Bates talks about his documentaries, abstract art and the making of 50 Years of New Zealand Television. Read More »

At the age of 15 actor and singer Stephanie Tauevihi debuted on TV as a reporter on the youth current affairs show InFocus. She then gained nationwide fame playing Donna Heka on Shortland Street for seven years.

Tauevihi has been in two feature films: Rest for the Wicked and Russian Snark. Read More »

Producer/director Gary Scott has spent time in the newsroom, the museum, and on location. Trained as an historian and journalist, Scott has been producing with Wellington company Gibson Group for a decade and also helps the company develop multi-media experiences for museums. Read More »

Costume designer Barbara Darragh is the creator of Xena’s iconic outfit, Billy T James’ look as the Tainuia Kid in Came a Hot Friday, and has won awards for her work on the feature films The End of the Golden Weather and River Queen. Read More »

With more than 30 years experience in the television industry, Michael Stedman has done just about everything behind the cameras.

He has held senior positions at television networks in New Zealand and Australia, and is currently the Managing Director at Natural History New Zealand. Read More »

Actor, musician and comedian Madeleine Sami has been on our TV screens since the age of 18 when she debuted on Pio! and Shortland Street. Since then she has appeared in a number of TV shows including The Insiders Guide to Happiness, The Jaquie Brown Diaries, Diplomatic Immunity and Super City – a programme of her own creation in which she played five roles. Read More »