CharlieHaskell

Charlie Haskell's parents were teachers, and as a result their Ashburton-born son grew up at various points around Southland. That rural upbringing had a hand in Charlie's decision to study property management at Lincoln University. Bachelor of Commerce in hand, he then did some travel before beginning the studies that would feed directly into his screen career. Based at the Christchurch Arts Centre, the one year filmmaking course saw students working in a hands-on environment, often shooting on 16mm (the course was later reborn in Wellington under new owners, run as the NZ Film and Television School).

By the early 90s Haskell had begun a line of assistant director jobs on movies and miniseries. The Piano (1993) was the project that taught him the most, thanks largely to veteran Australian assistant director Mark Turnbull – a "class act" whose attention to detail meant he was "interested in everything and everyone" on-set.

For Haskell The Piano was a watershed movie in other ways – marking an era where New Zealand showed the world it could make quality movies (Once Were Warriors and Heavenly Creatures followed soon after). The following year was another important one, with the launch of a series that gave Haskell (and the industry) intense weekly training in stunt scenes and design-heavy production. First off the bat were five Hercules tele-movies, with Haskell as an assistant director; then a number of television series, including directing duties on Hercules spin-offs Xena: Warrior Princess and Young Hercules, plus Jack of All Trades.

Haskell argues that Hercules marked the moment when locally-staffed second units graduated from being a small crew that mops up scenery and easy pick-up shots, to a fully-fledged film crew in its own right. "We were shooting quite big sequences, and crane shots that the main unit didn't have time to do." The last Hercules tele-movie saw Haskell directing in all but name, although his first official directing credit was later episode 'The Power' (1996).

Haskell went on to direct another 10 instalments of Hercules and Xena, including two episodes from a key story arc in Hercules' fourth season. 'Encounter' and 'When a Man Loves a Woman' saw Hercules battling the villainous Ares (Kevin Smith) for the first time, and star Kevin Sorbo marrying the woman who would later become his real-life partner as well.

2020 New Zealand Television Awards
Nominated for Best Director: Drama: for The Gulf

2014 Rialto Channel NZ Film Awards (The Moas)
Nominated for Best Television Feature: Pirates of the Airwaves