TVNZ’s Terry Teo remake is a return to form for New Zealand family programming, says Ethan Sills, and a shining example of what our local television should be. What will it take for the rest of the industry to take note? When you’re a kid, nothing seems impossible. You have the whole world ahead of … Read more
New Zealand On Air has signalled a transformation of the way it funds media – the biggest such change in the public body’s 27-year history. What will the new approach look like? The draft funding strategy published this morning sets out the plan for a single, contestable media fund as part of NZ On Air’s … Read more
The second big-budget local drama of the year debuted last night. Duncan Greive watches and finds some promise buried under very familiar problems – and one serious lapse of judgement. When a brand new company was awarded $15m in NZ on Air funding for two brand new shows within a matter of months, it sent shockwaves … Read more
Westside has finished for another year, but the good news is there could be at least 23 more seasons to go. Calum Henderson previews some highlights coming up between now and 2039. Season two of Westside concluded on Sunday night with the West family right in the thick of the 1981 Springbok tour. The Outrageous Fortune … Read more
New research from NZ On Air has confirmed that television audiences have moved aggressively toward online platforms. So why are we still waiting for the funding to catch up? “Where are the audiences?”, asked a new piece of research commissioned by NZ On Air and published late last month. It’s arguably the signal question of our … Read more
Patrick Hunn fondly remembers shambolic local young adult series The Tribe. The things you read, watch, play or listen to when you’re a kid stick with you, because kids are dumb and have brains made of a pliable grey paste. These squawking, colourful things leave marks that are baked into your memory by the general, … Read more
Calum Henderson asks why our taxpayer money continues to fund rose-tinted documentaries about the sexist hellhole known as Gloriavale. Our annual visit to Gloriavale is becoming a weird New Zealand television tradition. Every winter for the past three years we’ve been offered another rare glimpse inside the controversial West Coast Christian community, through a series of … Read more
NZ On Air announced this week that a second season of TV2 drama Filthy Rich has received funding to the tune of $6,896,419 – a baffling decision if you look at the first season’s ratings, writes Duncan Greive. On Monday, with little fanfare, NZ on Air announced the renewal of Filthy Rich, TV2’s soapy inheritance … Read more
Terry Teo was taxpayer-funded to the tune of $1.3m, helmed by a director fresh off a hit film and has been raved about by critics. TVNZ’s appalling treatment of the show will come back to haunt them, writes Duncan Greive. Update: TVNZ have announced that Terry Teo will air in primetime after all A New Zealand show … Read more
Ethan Sills has a radical solution for NZ on Air’s long-running drama problem: letting the public be more involved in choosing which shows get funded. Public funding hasn’t had a great few years here in New Zealand. Since the end of Outrageous Fortune and the cast swap on Go Girls, many local dramas this decade have more-or-less failed, … Read more
New Zealand is rightly proud of the multi-cultural society it’s growing into. But why are there still minimal Māori, Pacific and Asian populations in prime time? And why does cultural representation in the film industry remain light years ahead of television? In the second part of a two-part series, Sonia Gray tries to find out. … Read more
Stop blaming TV commissioners for the quality of our local output, says Chris Hooper, who last year left TVNZ for a role at the BBC. It’s time to hold the Government’s feet to the fire. Part of an ongoing series assessing our publicly funded television. Read part one, covering the role of commissioners, here. People look upon … Read more
Inspired by more recent NZ On Air funding controversies, Gareth Shute revisits the 1976 historical epic The Governor, and argues why it remains our finest example of a funding furore. Julie Christie recently made headlines for complaining in an email to NZ On Air head, Miriam Dean, that her integrity had been questioned by managers at the funding body. … Read more
NZ On Air has released its 2015 annual report. José Barbosa pulls up some things to applaud and some things to question. Such is the current media environment the release of NZ On Air’s state-of-its-work report feels a bit like a message in bottle chucked into a chum bucket and fed to Jaws. The funding body … Read more
In three minutes you could make yourself a bowl of two minute noodles (prep time + meditation included), look through someone’s ‘Bali 2009’ album on Facebook, or watch some incredible short kiwi documentaries on TVNZ Ondemand. Part of the Loading Docs initiative, filmmakers are given the opportunity to produce three-minute documentaries across a wide range … Read more