Raglan by the Sea
Gary McCormick heads west to Raglan, to ask "What goes on here? Why do people live here? What do they do?". To find out he goes surfing on the famous left-hand point break, hangs with hippies and Dave McArtney, catches Midge Marsden and the Mudsharks at the Harbour View Hotel, and discusses land rights with kaumatua Sam Kereopa. The recipe — McCormick as genial small town anthropologist discovering the locals — earned this a 1989 LIFTA award, and inspired long-running series Heartland. McArtney composed the soundtrack; Finola Dwyer (An Education) produces.
Vincent Burke
Vincent Burke has been producing television programmes for roughly three decades. Since launching company Top Shelf Productions, he has worked on history series Frontier of Dreams, acclaimed NZ movie history Cinema of Unease, and long-running consumer show Target.
Peter Arnett
The long journalism career of Pulitzer-Prize winner Peter Arnett includes interviews with Fidel Castro, General Manuel Noriega, Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin Laden. But he is probably best known for the two month period in 1991 when he reported on the Gulf War for CNN — the only Western journalist then left in Baghdad.
Mario Gaoa
The part-Samoan and fairly talented Mario Gaoa has been a writer, director and the voice of God. Part of the team behind comedy troupe the Naked Samoans and animated show bro’ Town, Gaoa supplied a number of voices for the hit series. These days he runs production company Tikilounge, with his partner Lisa Taouma.