Pamela Meekings-Stewart
Though Pamela Meekings-Stewart's work as a producer and director ranges widely, she has often been drawn to documentaries involving women and the arts. Her Feltex award-winning series Pioneer Women dramatised the lives of six women, from Princess Te Puea to Ettie Rout. These days she runs retreats from her farm in Pukerua Bay. Meekings-Stewart is sometimes credited as Pamela Jones.
Leanne Pooley
Canadian-born New Zealand director Leanne Pooley has won a raft of awards for her work as a documentary filmmaker. The 2011 Arts Laureate's films include hit Topp Twins movie Untouchable Girls, 3D Everest first ascent saga Beyond the Edge, and euthanasia exploration The Promise. In 2015 her film 25 April, an animated feature about Gallipoli, was selected for the Toronto International Film Festival.
Robert Sarkies
Robert Sarkies made his first film at age 10. His feature debut was 1999 hit Scarfies, followed by Out of the Blue, an acclaimed dramatisation of the Aramoana murders. Sarkies followed it with TV's This is Not My Life and black comedy Two Little Boys, based on a novel by his brother Duncan. Since then he has directed Moa-nominated TV movie Consent, and multi award-winning Jean Batten biopic Jean.
Paula Boock
Paula Boock — who runs production company Lippy Pictures with Donna Malane — has won awards both for her scripts and her novels for young adults. Boock’s screenwriting resume includes The Strip, innovative drama The Insiders Guide to Happiness, plus award-winning tele-movies Jean, Bloodlines and Until Proven Innocent.
Justin Pemberton
Justin Pemberton's work for the screen can be split roughly into two. His eclectic and award-winning run of documentaries includes motor-racing story Love, Speed and Loss and acclaimed Olympic saga The Golden Hour. He has also worked on many music projects, from music videos to documentaries about Anika Moa and the NZ Symphony Orchestra.
Donna Malane
Donna Malane, who runs company Lippy Pictures with writer Paula Boock, is an award-winning producer and screenwriter. She has written a wide variety of television including drama, fantasy, children’s drama, sketch comedy and documentary. Malane is also the author of a number of books, including acclaimed crime novel Surrender.
Philly de Lacey
Philly de Lacey heads company Screentime New Zealand. De Lacey began in television in 1999. By 2003 she was producing the company’s newly-launched show Police Ten 7; three years later she became managing director at Screentime NZ. The company’s staple of shows ranges across drama (Underbelly: Land of the Long Green Cloud, Siege), and various long-running actuality series (Beyond the Darklands, Marae DIY).
Pip Hall
Pip Hall has written for television and theatre, and won awards in both mediums. She started her screen career writing for sketch shows like Skitz and Telly Laughs, and enjoyed a long working relationship with soap Shortland Street. She went on to work on the scripts for Kiwi TV movies Why Does Love? and Runaway Millionaires, miniseries Jonah (about Jonah Lomu) and crime show One Lane Bridge.
Tom Scott
Catapulted to fame after tousles with Prime Minister Robert Muldoon, Tom Scott originally trained to be a vet. He ended up helping Murray Ball turn Footrot Flats into a hit movie. The celebrated humourist and cartoonist has also told the story of Kiwi legends Edmund Hillary and David Lange, in both TV documentaries and dramas. Scott also co-wrote Rage, a TV movie about the 1981 Springbok tour.
Calvin Tuteao
Local blockbuster Once Were Warriors launched Calvin Tuteao's screen career in 1994. Although a small role – he was paid $800 over two days, to play gang leader Taka – Tuteao found unexpected fame when his heavily tattooed face featured in the film's promotional posters. More widely recognised as Doctor Victor Kahu from a four year stint in the core cast of Shortland Street, Tuteao went on to play New Zealand Natives rugby legend Joe Warbrick in award-winning short film Warbrick, and star in the 2010 telemovie dramatisation of Witi Ihimaera's novel Nights in the Garden of Spain.