David Stubbs
David Stubbs is co-creator of Emmy-winning web series Reservoir Hill, and three seasons of Girl vs Boy. After starting his screen career as an editor at the National Film Unit, Stubbs began directing an eclectic range of commercials, music videos, documentaries and dramas — including Moa Award-winner Belief and musical Daffodils. In 2009 he set up company KHF Media, with actor turned director Thomas Robins.
Peter Sinclair
For three decades Peter Sinclair was one of New Zealand’s leading TV presenters. A radio announcer by training, he was the face of music television, fronting Let’s Go, C’mon and Happen Inn from 1964 to 1973. He reinvented himself as a quiz show host with Mastermind — and hosted telethons and beauty contests until the mid 90s. Sinclair returned to radio and wrote an online column until his death in August 2001.
Gavin Strawhan
Award-winning scribe Gavin Strawhan is one of the most experienced screenwriters working in New Zealand television. His extended resume includes writing for, and helping create TV shows Nothing Trivial, Filthy Rich, Jackson's Wharf, Mercy Peak, Burying Brian, kidult hit Being Eve, Kaitangata Twitch and futuristic thriller This is Not My Life. He also co-wrote 2010 feature film Matariki.
Janet Roddick
Janet Roddick is a member of Plan 9, a musical collective whose CV includes composing 20+ features and over 130 hours of television. Roddick first sang alongside David Donaldson and Steve Roche in celebrated band Six Volts, before the three formed Plan 9 in the early 90s. Their list of soundtrack awards includes gongs for Predicament, Perfect Strangers, and Saving Grace. Roddick has also acted on stage and screen.
Judy Callingham
After time as a reporter and radio producer, Judy Callingham became one of the first women in New Zealand to make her mark as a television scriptwriter (Close to Home, Gloss, Shortland St, and many more). Her broadcasting career has encompassed stints as a presenter (Town and Around, Fair Go), journalism tutor, and NZ On Air board member. These days she runs a media training company with husband Brian Edwards.
John Anderson
John Anderson got busy directing a run of television dramas in the 1980s, including award-winning Polynesian road movie Mark ll, and two of the final works by playwright Bruce Mason. The onetime actor reinvented himself as a documentary filmmaker in the 90s, then relocated to Kiribati, where he worked on more than 400 films covering everything from climate change to dance. Anderson died in Kiribati on 19 August 2016.
Allison Webber
Alongside her experience as a journalism tutor and media advisor, Allison Webber has worked on many television documentaries investigating social issues — including as driving force behind then controversial series Expressions of Sexuality.
Kathleen Mantel
Kathleen Mantel began directing television documentaries in the late 90s. Since then she has won awards in the United States for Kiwi-made docos on problem gambling (It's Not a Game), teenage pregnancy (KIDS) and the Exclusive Brethren (Leaving the Exclusive Brethren). In 2012 her doco The Green Chain won the NZ Television Award for Best Popular Documentary.
John Hyde
When John Hyde first sought work in television he was advised to "get into the cutting room". His first job was as an editor at Television New Zealand, but Hyde soon made the jump to directing and producing. Today he reaches huge international audiences, helping command documentaries and reality series that focus on massive architectural structures, and showcase the wonders of the natural world.
Peta Carey
Award-winning documentary maker Peta Carey has framed subjects from a Kiwi buddha to Fiordland waterfalls, Pacific atolls to paragliders. She cut her teeth as a presenter on kids show Spot On, then began directing current affairs. Genetic research examination Lifting of the Makutu won her a 2006 NZ Screen Award. Carey runs Watershed Films, and has written feature stories for North & South and The Listener.