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.
Chris Graham
Chris Graham studied filmmaking in New York before returning to NZ and forging a reputation through distinctive promos for well known Aotearoa musicians (Scribe, Trinity Roots). He made his feature film debut with comedy hit Sione's Wedding (2006), closely followed by horror movie The Ferryman.
Chris Dudman
Kiwi Chris Dudman studied film at Ilam and London’s Royal College of Art; his graduation short was nominated for a student Oscar. After working on arts documentaries in the UK, Dudman returned to NZ in 1995. Since then he has directed drama shows (the high-rating Harry), documentaries (The Day that Changed My Life), attention-grabbing shorts (Choice Night), and a number of high profile ads for his company Robber’s Dog.
Judith Fyfe
Judith Fyfe’s career in broadcasting has placed her before and behind the cameras. A celebrated oral historian, she began her TV career as a reporter, and went on to work on consumer rights show Fair Go and pioneering drama Marching Girls. She was a core element in Gaylene Preston’s respected documentary War Stories, and co-founder of the Oral History Archive at the Alexander Turnbull Library.
Te Radar
Te Radar — also known as Andrew Lumsden — is a writer and presenter who brings a comic touch to documentaries and reality shows. Since starting as a stand-up comedian, his work has spanned everything from intrepid journeys to history shows, to sustainable living hits Radar's Patch and Global Radar.
Ashleigh Seagar
Actor Ashleigh Seagar first appeared on-screen in 1994, playing a pregnant teenager on long-running soap Shortland Street. Five years later she hit the big screen as the young student caught up in dark doings in hit movie Scarfies.
Anna Marbrook
Director Anna Marbrook came to the screen from an extensive theatre background (she co-founded Auckland company Theatre at Large). More than 150 episodes directing on Shortland Street laid the groundwork for a run of factual work, focused on Pacific themes: including food series Real Pasifik, award-winning waka documentary Te Mana o te Moana – The Pacific Voyagers, and reality series Waka Warriors.
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.
Robert Lord
Robert Lord was writing full time at a point when few Kiwi playwrights made a living from their work. In 1988 he turned his play Bert and Maisy into a television series. He also had scriptwriting credits on TV's Peppermint Twist and big screen period drama Pictures. Lord's classic play Joyful and Triumphant was dramatised for television in 1993, soon after his death at age 46.
Jim Mora
With his likeable, easy-going and erudite style, Jim Mora's career has spanned current affairs, entertainment and lifestyle shows. His TV profile alone reaches back more than 30 years and his time in radio stretches even further: from The South Tonight and Holmes, to Mucking In and hosting Radio New Zealand's Afternoons.