Brian Holland
Executive, Programmer
A part-time job at a cinema sparked Brian Holland's screen career. Soon he was managing a multiplex, and working as a film publicist. Holland's film knowledge got him a job programming movies for television. His 12 years at TVNZ included time as TV2's Assistant Programming Manager. In 2005 Holland left TVNZ and moved into producing television. In 2006 he joined Wellington's Top Shelf Productions, where he has developed programmes and been nominated for two NZ TV Awards in the one year: for the Mike King-presented Nutter's Club and offbeat arts show The Sitting. He is now Top Shelf's Head of Development.
...I hope to be still doing this in 20 years time. The landscape will have changed, and how we make things will have changed, but there'll still be people out there wanting to watch good stuff. Brian Holland
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For My Father's Kingdom
Director Vea Mafile'o's Tongan father Saia drives this deeply personal film. Vea raises thorny questions about the relationship between money and the church in Tongan culture, questions that caused her Kiwi/Tongan family pain. Pensioner Saia Mafile'o's dedication to raising large amounts of money for Misinale (an annual church celebration) upset his children and splintered his marriage. Mafile'o returns to Tonga with her father and siblings, to attend the Misinale and learn why the financial sacrifice matters to him. The documentary debuted at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival.
Islands of the Gulf
Wild Animal Rescue
Heritage Rescue
Loving in Limbo
The Lion Queen
Cook the Books
Making New Zealand
The Naughty Bits
Sachie's Kitchen
Starting Over
Postcard from Afghanistan with Mike King
A Gallery without Walls
The Nutters Club
The Kitchen Job (Series Two, Episode Two)
American-born John Palino made his name as a restaurateur, before two unsuccessful bids to become Auckland's mayor. In this reality series he comes to the aid of struggling eateries around the country, and attempts to set them on the right path. In this episode Invercargill’s Strathern Inn is bleeding money, has a bad rep, and is possibly haunted. With a bit of savvy planning, and help from local mayor Tim Shadbolt, Palino does his best to get the staff trained up and the Inn on the path to success. Unfortunately any success proved shortlived, as the ageing building was later demolished.
The Nutters Club (Martin Crowe Episode)
Aunty Moves In
The Kitchen Job
Presented by restaurateur and two time Auckland mayoral candidate John Palino, Top Shelf’s The Kitchen Job visited restaurants and cafes around New Zealand that were in need of help. Palino is a self-proclaimed “restaurant fixer”, who brings his experience from working in his native New York. From Invercargill to Onehunga, he takes on and comes to the aid of eateries across the country. While a number are cases of investments gone bad and family businesses on the line, not all the problems are quite so ordinary; as evidenced by one haunted restaurant down south.
What's Really in our Food?
Media7/ Media3/ Media Take
Weekly media commentary show Media Take focussed on the week's news and new media developments. Frontman Russell Brown and a team of panellists analysed how certain issues were presented. In front of a live studio audience they covered traditional outlets (TV, radio and newspapers) and also looked at the internet, advertising, PR and new technology. The show began life as Media7 on digital channel TVNZ 7; it shifted networks to TV3 after TVNZ-7's 2012 shut down, and was reborn on Māori Television in 2014 for four seasons as Media Take.
The Sitting
Cool Kids Cooking
The Pretender
In this mockumentary series, hapless property developer turned politican Dennis Plant (played by Bob Maclaren) campaigns to win a fictional Queenstown seat, then later launches party Future New Zealand. Made by Great Southern, the first season screened on TV3. A second season on TV One coincided with the 2008 election; it was thrice nominated at the 2009 Qantas NZ Film and TV Awards (Best Comedy, plus Actor and Supporting Actor, for Maclaren and Andrew King respectively). Reality met fiction when Plant's 2008 election blog appeared on the NZ Herald website.