This 2005 documentary tells the story of four New Zealand-born women whose parents come from villages in Samoa, Tonga and Niue. Social worker and photographer Emily Mafile'o, students and mothers Pule Puletaua and Lanni Liuvaie, and playwright Louise Tu’u face the challenges of combining two cultures to forge an identity in Aotearoa — from family, language, food and religion, to flatting and hair cutting rituals. As narrator Sandra Kailali says, "to be true to both is hard work: success in one often comes at a cost to the other." 

Take Home Pay marks the third self-funded feature for writer/director SQS. Three Wise Cousins and Hibiscus and Ruthless both proved popular with audiences and critics. This 'action comedy' focusses on Samoan brothers Popo (Ronnie Taulafo) and Alama (Vito Vito) who ditch the taro fields of home for the promise of big money, picking kiwifruit in Aotearoa. When Popo steals their wages and goes AWOL, Alama calls on his relative, unorthodox private investigator Bob Titilo (ex Laughing Samoan Tofiga Fepulea'i) to help track his brother down. Magnum P.I. he ain't.

Comedians Eteuati Ete and Tofiga Fepulea'i launched their stage act in 2003. For the next 13 years they toured Laughing Samoan shows through Australasia, the Pacific Islands and beyond. Skits lampooned PI life in Niu Sila; subjects ranged from 'island time' to funerals, and included popular characters like Aunty Tala (played by Fepulea'i). The eight-part series was conceived by Aaron Taouma and produced by TVNZ’s Pasifika department. Pairing sketches and interviews with excerpts from a Laughing Samoans theatre tour, it was given an 11pm timeslot on TV2.