About South Pacific Pictures

South Pacific Pictures has an international reputation for producing world-class television and film. The company celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2008 and to date has produced around 3000 hours of programming. Drama series and serials, feature films, and more recently, entertainment, reality programming and documentaries are all part of the programming mix. The current slate includes work for New Zealand, Australian, Canadian and UK broadcasters.

South Pacific Pictures’ most recent feature film, We’re Here to Help, was released New Zealand-wide in late 2007. It tells a David and Goliath tale, based on the true story of a businessman who had a titanic run-in with the tax department…and won. The film stars Erik Thomson in the lead role of Dave Henderson and was written and directed by Jonothan Cullinane. 

In 2006, South Pacific Pictures' feature film Sione’s Wedding, won critical acclaim and broke box office records when it opened in cinemas throughout New Zealand in March 2006. It was New Zealand’s top-selling DVD on release that year. It is a contemporary, urban, romantic comedy set in Auckland’s smart-talking, street-savvy Polynesian community. Titled Samoan Wedding outside of New Zealand, the film is represented internationally by Hanway Films.

The company’s other major feature film credits include the internationally acclaimed and Oscar-nominated picture Whale Rider and What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?, the hit sequel to the renowned New Zealand film Once Were Warriors. 

The company’s cornerstone production is the primetime nightly serial drama Shortland Street. It consistently wins its 7pm timeslot and regularly attracts over 50% share of the key 15-39 demographic. The programme has been seen in 20 countries and over 3,750 episodes have screened on New Zealand television. 2007 marked Shortland Street’s 15th anniversary on air; an achievement celebrated with the return of some well known faces from the past and the dramatic exits of some of Shortland Street’s best loved cast members. 2008 continues to deliver some of the most gripping episodes ever written for New Zealand’s favourite serial drama. 

A fourth series of award-winning primetime drama Outrageous Fortune is currently in production. The success of Series 1 (13 x 1 hour), 2 (16 x 1 hour plus 1 x 2 hour telemovie) and 3 (22 x 1 hour) cemented the show as New Zealand’s stand-out drama, winning the acclaim of critics and audiences around the world as well as a swag of awards. 

Outrageous Fortune took out six major awards at the 2007 Air New Zealand Screen Awards and five at the 2007 Qantas Television Awards including Best Drama, Best Actress (Robyn Malcolm), Best Actor (Antony Starr) and Best Script at both ceremonies. 

The series also received Best Performance by a Supporting Actor (Frank Whitten) and Achievement in Directing (Simon Bennett) at the Air New Zealand Screen Awards and Best Editing at the Qantas Television Awards. 

Outrageous Fortune has screened on the Nine Network in Australia, TV3 in Ireland and Living TV (UK). A UK version of the series has been produced by Greenlit Rights for ITV1. Titled Honest, the six-part series stars Amanda Redman in the lead role and is due to air in 2008. Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars, Cupid) is also developing the US version of the series for ABC. 

With Film Australia, December Films and Ferns TV, South Pacific Pictures produced Captain Cook – Obsession and Discovery, a major documentary series based on Vanessa Collingridge’s book Cook - Obsession And Betrayal In The New World. The international co-production which was shot in the UK, Canada, Tahiti, Australia and New Zealand. 

In 2007, UK company Greenlit Rights Ltd and South Pacific Pictures produced The Man Who Lost His Head, a telefeature for ITV (UK) and TV One (NZ). Well-known British actor Martin Clunes stars as Ian Bennet, a repressed British museum curator whose life is turned upside down when he is sent across the world to return an ancient Maori carving to the small fictional New Zealand town of Otakataka.The telemovie was a ratings winner when it screened in the UK and New Zealand in August 2007.

SLR Productions

Based in Sydney, Australia, SLR Productions specialises in the creative development and production of high-quality children's entertainment programmes.

Owner and Executive Producer Suzanne Ryan established SLR as an independent production company in 2003 and, since then, has been sourcing and developing first-class properties for the international children's market. SLR's shows to date include the 13 x 24 minute tween animated series Deadly! (screening on Nine Network Australia); the forthcoming, 52 x 12 minute fast-paced kid's comedy, I Got a Rocket! (Network Ten Australia, Nickelodeon Australia and KI.KA in Germany); GASP - the breathtaking adventures of a fish which is left home alone, 52 x 12 minute series (Network Nine Australia).

With other diverse properties currently in development and plenty more content under consideration, the joint venture between South Pacific Pictures and SLR continues to create hit shows with truly global potential.

SLR Productions
PO Box 582
Coogee
NSW 2034
Australia
Phone: +61-2-9356-4911
Fax: +61-2-9356-4922
suzanne@slrproductions.com
www.slrproductions.com

Satellite Media

Formed in 1998, Satellite Media Ltd has grown into a thriving independent multi-media entertainment company.

The company incorporates Satellite Interactive, Satellite Pictures, Satellite Post and Satellite Print, providing the best independent music and entertainment products on TV, in print and on-line.

Satellite Media is now one of the premier music and entertainment companies in New Zealand.

www.satellitemedia.co.nz


Kura Productions

Kura Productions is a joint venture between South Pacific Pictures and Quinton Hita. It offers a range of programming to the Maori Television Service and other broadcasters in New Zealand.

Quinton Hita manages the joint venture and determines its scope and direction. Hita is of Ngapuhi descent, and has worked in film, radio and televison for over a decade.

Hita presented the Maori youth television shows Pukana (TV3), and Mai Time (TVNZ); was a presenter, producer and writer for radio, including MaiFM, Ruia Mai, Tautoko FM, Kia Ora FM, and Radio Waatea; has acted in the feature films Crooked Earth (Communicado), Aidiko Insane (Kahukura Productions); and was a core cast member on South Pacific Pictures’ leading primetime drama Shortland Street for several years.

A fluent Maori speaker, Hita is also the author of Q's Course in Maori (Harper Collins) and recently finished a five year stint as commissioner on the Maori Language Commission. He has worked as a Maori advisor and Maori script editor on a number of television productions.

John Barnett says: "With his familiarity with the market, his knowledge of television production, expertise in Te Reo and above all his passion for Maori programming, Quinton Hita is uniquely placed for this role. We are delighted to be an investor in Quinton's new venture."

Quinton Hita says: "For me Maori television is the most exciting recent development in the New Zealand television industry. The advent of MTS has made it viable for someone like me, who has come up through the ranks and been committed to Maori programming for over a decade, to set up and manage their own production company.

Kura Productions is an opportunity to focus my skills and experience on the projects I'm most passionate about. I'm delighted at the association with South Pacific Pictures because it gives Kura Productions, and by extension the Maori television industry as a whole, access to resources, expertise and training of the highest standard from one of New Zealand's most outstanding production companies."

Kura Productions' first series, Kupuhuna, a 48 x ½ hour language-based game show, screened on Maori Television in 2005 followed by a second series in 2006 as well as a new children's series Pukoro (50 x ½ hour). Series three of Kupuhuna (75 x ½ hour) is in production for 2007.

In October 2007, Pukoro Productions’ short film Taua  premiered at the 2007 Telecom New Zealand International Film Festival where it won the Friends of the Civic Best Short Film award.

Produced by Quinton Hita and written and directed by Tearepa Kahi, Taua was then invited to play at seven international film festivals; The 2007 61^st Edinburgh International Film Festival (Scotland), the 2007 National Geographic All Roads Film Festival (USA), The 2007 ImagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival (USA), the 2007 Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival, the 2008 International Festival of Audiovisual Programs (FIPA), the 2008 Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and the 2008 Berlinale (Berlin Film Festival).

Adding to its success, Taua won Best Short Film at the 4^th Annual National Geographic All Roads Film Festival as well as an Honourable Mention at the 8^th ImagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival. 

Taua is about a boy who shows compassion amidst rival Maori tribes at war. It’s based on the Maori proverb: Mate atu he tëtë kura, ara mai anö he tëtëkura – In war, leaders fall and leaders rise.

Producing award-winning drama for television and cinema, South Pacific Pictures has worked with a variety of prestigious partners, including: