Michael Stedman: Natural History New Zealand boss...

Interview – 2011

With over 30 years experience in the television industry, Michael Stedman did just about everything behind the cameras. He began as an editor and moved on to directing and producing for TVNZ. While there he produced shows such as Beauty and the Beast, University Challenge and numerous sport and news programmes. He held senior positions at television networks in New Zealand and Australia, and is currently the Managing Director at Natural History New Zealand.

Michael Stedman died in July 2022. In this 2011 ScreenTalk interview, he talked about:

Becoming an editor at TVNZ, despite having his sights set on producing
Producing iconic advice show Beauty and the Beast
Being saddened at the cancellation of kids nature show Wildtrack
Alerting the country to the plight of our endangered species in Wild South
Working with the quirky David Bellamy in Moa’s Ark
How Fox Television transformed Natural History New Zealand

This video was first uploaded on 7 June 2011, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Credits: Interview, Camera & Editing – Andrew Whiteside

..editing is the place you learn about structure, you learn about story, you learn about pacing. You learn all of those. That's really for me in many ways the heart of filmmaking.
– Michael Stedman on learning about the craft of storytelling, when he started off as an editor

Michael's Full Profile