A series of one-hour Māori plays for television
Kahu And Maia (18 February 1995)
Maia (Vanessa Rare), an artist working on a sculpture for an upcoming exhibition, becomes obsessed with an ancestral love story. Although Maia is happily married to Tama, the traditional story begins to affect her own iife when the stranger Kahu (Cliff Curtis) arrives in town.
Koro's Hat (25/2/1993)
Over the course of Koro's three day tangihanga (funeral), his granddaughter shares her uncomplicated and sincere memories of the old man.
The Visitation (3/3/1993)
Joseph sees what no-one else can see. Only he knows which murdered spirit possesses Moana's young son. Revenge has yet to be exacted. Stars Turei Reedy, Joy Watson, Rena Owen.
IFTM (11/3/1993)
Katerina takes on the hottest Māori radio station in town — In Touch FM. In her job, she clashes ... with the corporate raiders, and seeks lost generations and fine sax players (Final)
Maori plays for heritage, training
The Press, 31 December 1993
A series of one-hour Māori plays for television, "Nga Puna", is not only indigenous drama, but also a training vehicle. NZ on Air has contributed $1.8 million of funding for production of six programmes.
NZ on Air executive director Dr Ruth Harley says, "Public funding for this series is on the basis that it is a quality concept and a quality production team, and that it promotes an important part of our culture and heritage. "The training aspect, which clearly fits well with the structure and working philosophy of the production team, is very much a bonus for the industry."
Three of the programmes have already been shot: Waihoroi Shortland's "In Touch FM", Debra Riwiti's "Koro's Hat", and Karen Sidney's "Kahu and Maia". Television New Zealand is expected to start screening them by the middle of next year.
According to series producer Don Selwyn, it also offers the most advanced and intensive training programme for a wide range of workers within the rapidly expanding television industry. The production team has taken on 16 trainees, each answerable to a "mentor".
Half the trainees were already involved in the industry, and are being geared towards specific positions such as first and second assistant director, director of photography, and assistant producer, says Selwyn. The other half came from a discontinued training course in Whangarei run by the Ngati Wai Trust, with involvement from Don Selwyn and film-makers Merata Mita and Geoff Murphy.
According to Selwyn, the course folded because of inadequate resources, despite the good-will and intentions of the community. Selwyn, who has been involved in film and television industry training for 12 years, was concerned that this beginning should not be wasted.
"I know that training programmes run in the past have undoubtedly helped people get good jobs in the industry. It's great that tertiary education has got into training for television, and it can provide a good introduction. But it is important for me as a producer that training reflects the needs of the industry.
"I believe there's nothing like having a structured, hands-on training programme tied directly into the industry. With four or more one-hour programmes in production, there was an excellent opportunity for us to enhance the training capacity — we couldn't ignore that".
All stages of the production process for "Nga Puna", whether pre-production, script development or scheduling, have a training component built in. Each head of department must give a commitment to taking people on board.
"It's important that you have the time to spend with the trainees and don't throw them in the deep end, which was often the problem with those who came directly out of tertiary training courses into a production unit", says Selwyn.
"All the department heads know they're not on a free ride here — they must be selfless about passing on information. It does take a lot of good-will, but we all know it's important if we are to continue to enhance the reputation of New Zealand film-making".
Within the production schedule, trainees are expected to be able to advance into positions of full responsibility. For example, a former trainee first assistant director is now first assistant director on the programme currently being shot.
"We can test their degree of development by actually giving them a job, under supervision, of course."
Although the Whangarei course was a Maori initiative and the drama series is on Maori themes, the trainees are a mix of both Maori and pakeha, as are their new mentors.
Don Selwyn says Maori programmes — and especially drama — offer a different perspective from the majority of opportunities within the industry. With his team, he is interested in developing "a cross-section of people Who will learn off each other. In the long term, we want to foster a multi-cultural expertise. And that is a philosophy everyone here feels very committed about".
The level of support from both funding organisations and private sponsors of individual trainees is one of the most pleasing aspects of this training development, says Selwyn.
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