Ian Mune and Roger Donaldson on Winners & Losers...

Long before they became veritable Kiwi screen legends, Ian Mune and Roger Donaldson hatched a clever plan: pool their talents, turn some classic short stories into a series, and maybe even get paid for their efforts. The result was landmark 1976 anthology series Winners & Losers, which helped open the door for New Zealand stories on screen.

In this ScreenTalk, Mune (left) and Donaldson talk about:

• the importance of a good story, with a surprising end
• wanting to break the mould of the times, where hardly anyone on screen had a Kiwi accent
• battling bad weather and the ocean, while making episode A Great Day
• How Park Road Post Production have magical abilities when it comes to fixing overcast skies
• Successfully selling Winners & Losers overseas
• The show's legacy in proving that New Zealand stories had value, both at home and abroad
• How the original episodes almost got destroyed in a fire
• How Park Road's restoration of the series has made it look great again
• Seeing the episodes again, for the first time in 40 years

This video was first uploaded on 17 May 2018, 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.

Interview, Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside