Paul Casserly
Paul Casserly won a Qantas TV Award in 2009 for directing upstart satirical show Eating Media Lunch. The show ran for six years on TVNZ. Casserly continued his creative partnership with presenter Jeremy Wells on The Unauthorised History of New Zealand and Birdland. Casserly has also directed music programmes for Neil Finn and Bic Runga, and videos for Greg Johnson, Tim Finn, and his own group Strawpeople.
Jeremy Wells
Jeremy ‘Newsboy' Wells came to fame as sidekick to Mikey Havoc on a series of joyously silly radio and TV shows. In 2003 Wells began presenting seven seasons of satirical show Eating Media Lunch. He later brought his wry presenting style — dial turned to 'deadpan' — to The Unauthorised History of New Zealand and Birdland. In 2018 he joined Hilary Barry as co-host of primetime show Seven Sharp.
John Charles
The varied CV of John Charles includes composing music for classic movies Goodbye Pork Pie, Utu and The Quiet Earth. Charles has worked in television on both sides of the Tasman, including time as head of entertainment for Television One, and directing duties on landmark drama series Pukemanu and comedy Buck House.
Melanie Reid
Whether on air or behind the scenes, award-winning investigative journalist Melanie Reid was a fixture of TV3 current affairs shows for over 25 years. As a reporter on 60 Minutes and 20/20, she went undercover to expose Neville Cooper's community at Gloriavale, and profiled Peter Ellis and David Bain. Reid also fronted 2006 documentary Let Us Spray, on chemical 245T. She now works for website Newsroom.
Jonathan Dennis
Described by author Emma Jean Kelly as a flamboyant "champion of New Zealand culture", Jonathan Dennis was the founding director of The Film Archive in 1981 and led the organisation into a bicultural era. Dennis, who headed the Film Archive for nine years, was praised for making films more accessible. He also made documentaries (Mouth Wide Open, Mana Waka) and presented Radio New Zealand's Film Show.
Dean Cornish
Globetrotting director Dean Cornish's credit reel ranges from Intrepid Journeys to bold buildings, Extreme Tribes to Rachel Hunter, sex trafficking to This Town. Trained at Christchurch's NZ Broadcasting School, Cornish has produced films in more than 90 countries and crafted a reputation as a go-to guy for travel stories. He shared a Best Director gong at the 2011 Aotearoa Film and TV Awards for Making Tracks.
Rob Whitehouse
Rob Whitehouse began his producing career in style with The Scarecrow, the first Kiwi film to win official invitation to the Cannes Film Festival. In tandem with late producing partner Lloyd Phillips, he brought Hollywood down under for Battletruck and big-budget adventure Savage Islands, and made mini-series Heart of the High Country. Since then he has produced and financed films in the US, UK and beyond.
Hilary Barry
Hilary Barry has long experience of reporting and reading the news. In 1993 she began a two decade stint at TV3. In 2005 she became anchor of the channel's primetime news, alongside Mike McRobert. Barry went on to report from the Canterbury quakes, the 2011 royal wedding and the famine in Africa. She left TV3 in 2016, and began co-hosting TVNZ's Breakfast; in 2018 she moved to primetime show Seven Sharp.
James Anderson
After training at Auckland's South Seas Film and Television School in 1999, James Anderson began working on music shows Squeeze and Space, and became a cameraman and editor on both. After arts series The Living Room and time working on music documentaries in the UK, he returned to Aotearoa and set up company Two Heads, with Nick Ward. Anderson went on to direct globe-spanning music show Making Tracks, and a number of high profile commercials. He was also AFTA-nominated for primetime hit Food Truck. These days Anderson is a freelance director in the United States.
David Pumphrey
Television experience with the BBC helped David Pumphrey win a job in Kiwi television, soon after he returned to New Zealand in 1959. He went on to produce children's shows, live broadcasts, and Montage — forerunner to magazine show Town and Around. Pumphrey also worked on the first TV broadcasts by celebrity cook Graham Kerr, and directed for high profile current affairs shows Compass and Gallery.