Pana Hema-Taylor: How acting can be enlightening...
Pana Hema-Taylor plays one of the petty criminals in hit TV show Westside. His other roles include based on a true story TV movie Resolve, The Brokenwood Mysteries, hit movie Boy, and road drama The Most Fun You Can Have Dying.
ScreenTalk Short: Pua Magasiva
Actor Pua Magasiva was best known in New Zealand for playing nurse Vinnie Kruse on Shortland Street. Magasiva passed away in May 2019.
Pua Magasiva: On small but perfectly formed roles…
Samoan-born actor Pua Magasiva was inspired by his older brother Robbie Magasiva to get into show business. Best known for playing nurse Vinnie Kruse in Shortland Street, he also had roles in TV productions Power Rangers, Outrageous Fortune and Diplomatic Immunity. He also appeared in films Sione's Wedding (as Sione), 30 Days of Night, and Matariki. Magasiva passed away in May 2019.
Vincent Ward: A very original filmmaker...
Vincent Ward has won an international reputation as one of New Zealand's most original and visionary filmmakers. Vigil and The Navigator played in competition at the Cannes Film Festival (the first Kiwi films to do so). In Hollywood, Ward made Robin Williams afterlife drama What Dreams May Come. Urewera-set docu-drama Rain of the Children in 2008 revisited characters from Ward's 1980 documentary In Spring One Plants Alone.
Bridget Ikin: A champion for diversity and authenticity…
Producer Bridget Ikin has long been a champion for women in the screen industry. Working on both sides of the Tasman, she has collaborated with many influential creatives including Jane Campion, Alison Maclean, Stewart Main, Australian director Sarah Watt, and writers Eleanor Catton and Emily Perkins.
Close to Home: New Zealand’s first TV soap opera…
Close to Home first screened on TV One in May 1975 and ran for eight years. The popular and ground-breaking series was New Zealand television's first soap opera. It was based in Wellington and centred around the trials and tribulations of the Hearte family. At its peak in 1977, Close to Home attracted a twice weekly audience of one million viewers.
Ben Hurley - Funny As Interview
Stand-up comedian Ben Hurley began in the hotbed of Wellington comedy.
Paul Horan - Funny As Interview
Comedian turned producer Paul Horan interviewed more than 100 people for the Funny As series. In the 100th interview for the show, he finds himself in the hot seat. Horan ranges across Kiwi comedy history as well as his own, including: How making John Clarke laugh was like qualifying for the Olympics — and how the distinctive voice of Clarke's character Fred Dagg was influenced by horse racing commentator Peter Kelly His theory that David Lange's beloved "smell the uranium" joke from 1985 may have influenced New Zealand's emerging comedians How comedy festivals provided a valuable education for Kiwi stand-up talents — from talking with visiting comedians after a show, to witnessing Bill Bailey spin "an extraordinary routine out of the most absurd idea" How Facial DBX (Horan was a member) transformed "from a group of stupid students, through to performers, through to people who ran a venue" (Auckland's Classic Comedy Club) Feeling "extraordinarily proud" to be part of the Kiwi comedy tradition — an art form that forged its own path and thrived despite criticism and a lack of government support
Jeremy Corbett - Funny As Interview
In his third interview for Funny As, comedian and 7 Days presenter Jeremy Corbett discusses more singular comedic pursuits, including his extensive career in radio and TV. On top of mentioning how his university degree ran a “distant third” to DJing on Radio Massey and the capping revue, he talks about: Being part of the team that established Energy FM in New Plymouth — including Steven Joyce in his pre-MP days — and being the only one to leave early and miss out on becoming a millionaire Spending 18 years as breakfast host on More FM, then losing interest when radio became homogenised: the “oh I put the coloureds in with the whites in the washing machine, have you ever done that? Text us” moment The awkward moment where he played a tasteless parody song to singer John Mayer in a radio interview Memories of a comedy pilot with Paul Holmes and Mike Hosking, which turned into “a pissing contest between the two of them to be either the most knowledgeable or funniest” 7 Days being his "dream show”, the importance of the writers' room, and getting goosebumps watching the first show go to air Changing a te reo comedy routine on The Project, after taking on board feedback that the routine was “not particularly woke” — and the challenge of delivering the routine in Māori Jeremy Corbett can also be seen in these Funny As interviews with his brother Nigel, and as part of comedy group Facial DBX.
ScreenTalk Short: Colin McRae
The career of producer/director Colin McRae spans 40 years, much of it in current affairs and documentary (plus time as Three's Head of Sport).