John McCready: Television programming and a changing screen industry...

Programmer John McCready has had a significant impact on the television industry in New Zealand. After extended time in music and radio he joined TVNZ in 1989 as Manager of Presentation and Promotion, just as TV3 came on air. The following year McCready became TVNZ's Director of Programming, and revamped both TV1 and TV2 over a four year period. He headed overseas for a while, before returning to New Zealand as Director of Programming and Marketing for Sky TV. Before retiring in 2007, McCready successfully launched The Living Channel and Food TV on Sky.

In this ScreenTalk, McCready talks about:

• Getting into television by accident 
• Taking on fledgling TV3 as Director of Programming for TVNZ, and highlighting the differing branding of TVNZ's channels
• How changing TVNZ into a competitive venture was his biggest challenge
• Overseeing the beginnings of reality TV on New Zealand screens
• Being proud of his part in commissioning Shortland Street, and fighting internal opposition to cover Australian Rugby League
• Having to rethink his mindset when moving to Sky TV
• Why he launched Sky News in New Zealand
• The importance of reality television to the local TV production industry
• Needing public service TV to create good drama shows, and the unfortunate cancellation of the Nothing Trivial series
• What the future of TV is likely to be
• Looking back on a varied and interesting career — and one of his biggest regrets

This video was first uploaded on 28 April 2015, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside