ScreenTalk Legends - John Barnett

Interview – 2024

John Barnett hit the ground running with his first screen job, helping produce 1974 kidult series The Games Affair. In 1988 he became Managing Director of production house South Pacific Pictures, home of iconic soap Shortland Street. Over 25 years he produced a long list of high-rating TV dramas and comedies, including Go Girls, The Almighty Johnsons and the wildly successful Outrageous Fortune. Barnett has produced or executive produced four of the seven top grossing Kiwi films; literary adaptations Whale Rider and What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted?, and comedies Footrot Flats and Sione's Wedding.

In this extended ScreenTalk Legends interview, Barnett discusses:

How sceptical New Zealand audiences were about early local films (4 minutes in)
Starting a graphic design business while studying commerce at Victoria University, even though he couldn't "draw a straight line" (6 minutes in)
Negative reaction from local radio stations to Dave Dobbyn and Herbs' Footrot Flats song 'Slice of Heaven', and their sudden about-turn (11 minutes)
The vital question every producer needs to ask early on about a prospective project (12 minutes)
How Aotearoa needs fewer film students and more industry mentors (16 minutes)
What he's learnt from international co-productions (17 minutes)
Recognising filmmaker Roseanne Liang's potential from her autobiographical documentary Banana In a Nutshell (18 minutes)
His advice for aspiring film and television producers (26 minutes)
The critical role state funding plays in supporting New Zealand film and TV content (29 minutes)

Interview Rosie Howells. Director/Camera Chris Terpstra/Rocket Rentals. Sound Recordist Cody Wilcox. Editor Tom Field. Producer Fran Carney. Exec Producer Kathryn Quirk.

If I talk about a film like Whale Rider, that's a story that it doesn't matter where you are in the world, you understand that story. There isn't a culture where women have had a ride to the top . . . that's been easy. And that's what Whale Rider is: it's everybody's story . . . basically the stories that have worked from here are stories that are universal stories.
– John Barnett on how the best New Zealand films tell universal stories

John's Full Profile