Don Reynolds: from capturing sounds to producing movies...

Interview – 2015

Sound man turned producer Don Reynolds has had a big impact on the New Zealand film industry. He was a sound recordist and sound mixer on many classic films of the 1980s, and was a producer on The Quiet Earth, Sylvia and River Queen. Reynolds was also one of the main forces behind the launch of long-running TV soap Shortland Street.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Reynolds talks about:

Working with overseas actors for the first time on hit film Beyond Reasonable Doubt
Investing in Goodbye Pork Pie
Driving hundreds of miles a day while making the classic road movie
Being proud of his gunshot-filled sound work on classic Western Utu
Being treated as a second-class citizen on Savage Islands
The pressure of facing a funding deadline to make The Quiet Earth
Delaying the shoot of Illustrious Energy by a year
Facing huge problems with movie River Queen
Being instrumental in Shortland Street being given the time to take off
How lunch breaks are arguably his biggest contribution to the industry

This video was first uploaded on 23 March 2015, 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 and Editing – Andrew Whiteside

First of all, they only wanted to commission 26 episodes, and I said 'No, it's got to be 240 or nothing'.

– Don Reynolds on arguing that TVNZ give Shortland Street a year to find its feet

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