TomFinlayson
- Producer
- Director
Tom Finlayson has worked in television in almost every capacity: as a reporter and producer in the cauldron of daily news, developing and producing classic drama shows (Under the Mountain, Mortimer's Patch) and movies, directing documentaries (The Party's Over) — as well as commissioning programmes, during a three year stint as TVNZ’s Director of Production.
Screenography
Biography
After building his first photographic darkroom at age 13, Tom Finlayson began his long television career by an unusual route, after abandoning engineering studies to become an actor.
Wellington-born, with schooling shared between Nelson and Wellington, Finlayson later quit studies in engineering and science at Canterbury University, in order to follow a stronger interest: theatre. He won a supporting role in a play directed by novelist and theatre addict Ngaio Marsh, and "attended just about every rehearsal, just soaking up what she did and said". Finlayson began directing plays, but plans to study drama in England were abandoned after he successfully auditioned for a new satirical TV show in Auckland.
“Successful productions always have many claimants to their parenthood: failed ones tend to be orphans. There were at least 10 people who claimed parenthood of Shortland Street. But Marlin Bay was a waif!”
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