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LaurieClarke

  • Producer
  • Director
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Laurie Clarke began his career in 1983, as an editor for Australia’s ABC. Back home for the birth of TV3, he later spent nine years directing and producing for news show 20/20. Clarke is currently a company director at Top Shelf Productions; his list of credits includes Target, What's Really in Our Food, Making New Zealand, Heritage Rescue, and long-running media commentary show Media Take.

Biography

Laurie Clarke was a sixth former in Christchurch when he had his first taste of film production. One of his classmates wanted to film a historical reenactment of settlers arriving at Akaroa for a French assignment, and Clarke was among those drafted in as actors. But the whole palaver of camera shots, dinghies and period costume "took bloody ages. I remember thinking if it takes this long to make one simple film, no way am I interested”.

Screenography

Our Country's Shame
2024 Director, Editor Television
2020 Producer, Director, Editor Television
2019 Executive Producer Web
2019 Executive Producer Television
2019 Executive Producer Television

Awards

2024 New Zealand Television Awards / Ngā Taonga Whakaata O Aotearoa
Nominated for Best Director - Documentary/Factual: Our Country's Shame

“The wonderful thing is going into these small towns, and people start telling you stories from New Zealand history that no one has heard before.”

Laurie Clarke, describing 2016 series Heritage Rescue