Richard Driver
Chairman of company Greenstone TV, Richard Driver first broke into television as host of music show Radio with Pictures. After directing documentary Hokonui Todd, the ex singer ran production company Visionary TV and produced music series Give it a Whirl and award-winner Love, Speed and Loss. He went on to create and programme Sky TV's Documentary Channel for four years, before selling it to the BBC.
Bryan Shaw
Multi award-winning editor Bryan Shaw has helped forge documentaries about strikes, artists and the sinking of the Wahine. In recent years he has added drama work to his CV, including episodes of Outrageous Fortune, Westside, The Almighty Johnsons and feature comedy The Devil Dared Me To.
Steven Orsbourn
Producer Steven Orsbourn has 30+ years of screen industry experience. As a cameraman, he shot everything from travel to sport (he was embedded with the All Blacks and David Tua), and was nominated for four NZ TV Awards. After producing high profile rugby films (including Qantas Media award-winner The Test), he shifted platforms to digital, leading content production at the NZ Herald online and Culture.
John Gilbert
John Gilbert has edited images of hobbits, disabled lovers, and heroic conscientious objectors. Along the way he has done time at TVNZ, edited over 20 feature films, and cut a clutch of classic short films. In 2017 Gilbert won his first Academy Award — for Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge — after having been previously nominated for The Fellowship of the Ring.
David Blyth
David Blyth cemented his place in the Kiwi filmmaking renaissance with two films that left social realism far behind: 1978 experimental feature Angel Mine, and 1984's Death Warmed Up, New Zealand's first homegrown horror movie. Since then Blyth's work has included family friendly vampire film Moonrise, a number of documentaries on war, and varied works exploring sexuality.
Rob Gillies
During his career as a production designer, Rob Gillies has drafted plans for subterranean caverns (Under the Mountain), 60s era Kiwi garages (The World's Fastest Indian) and a slew of palaces, forts and magical kingdoms. Along the way he has won awards for a number of productions, including Fastest Indian and Xena: Warrior Princess.
Ted (Edwin) Coubray
Ted Coubray was one of Aotearoa's earliest filmmakers to sustain a full-time career. In the 1920s he began filming local events for screenings in town halls around the Manawatū. He went on to shoot a number of feature films, including his own hit Carbine's Heritage. When sound hit the film industry in the late 20s, the inventive Coubray pioneered his own sound on film system, Coubray-Tone. He died on 10 December 1997. Image credit: taken from Geoff Steven documentary Adventures in Māoriland
Alan Smythe
Alan Smythe is the impresario behind long-running family concert Coca-Cola Christmas in the Park. His diverse CV includes being founding editor of the London Review of Books, playing cello for the Paris Opera, and hosting TV talent quest The Big Time. Behind the scenes, he adapted short stories for pioneering drama series Winners & Losers and About Face, and worked with director Roger Donaldson on some of his earliest films — including co-directing a film with him about motorcycle racer Geoff Perry. In 2001 Smythe became the founding head of Auckland University’s School of Creative and Performing Arts.
Claire Chitham
Claire Chitham’s eight years playing Shortland Street receptionist Waverley Wilson made her one of the show’s longest-serving castmembers to date, as well as one of the most popular. She went on to a memorable role as gang girl Aurora Bay in Outrageous Fortune and won an NZ Screen Award for her work in Interrogation.
James Bartle
James Bartle left his native Australia to work in New Zealand in the 1970s. Bartle made a stylish big-screen debut in 1982 with gothic tale The Scarecrow. His work ranges from shooting psychological drama (Heart of the Stag) to splatter movies (Death Warmed Up). In 1987 Bartle won a NZ Film and TV award for his work on end-of-the-world saga The Quiet Earth. Since then he has worked largely on US tele-movies.