Gavin Wood: The reality of making primetime television…

Television producer Gavin Wood has worked on some of New Zealand’s biggest game shows and live events. His first producing role saw him bring Sale of the Century to our screens, which was soon joined by Wheel of Fortune. His career path led him from TVNZ to TV3, then offshore working for FremantleMedia. Returning to New Zealand, Wood turned his producing talents to the third season of New Zealand Idol, TV coverage of the state funeral of Sir Paul Reeves, and the Pike River and Christchurch earthquake memorial services.

In this ScreenTalk, Wood talks about:

• Working with a team of 120 on game show Sale of the Century
• Which of the show's hosts was quicker to get dressed — Jude Dobson or Steve Parr
• How Wheel of Fortune provided the best lead-in a news programme could have
• The truth behind David Tua's infamous ‘O for awesome’ moment
• Being brought in to oversee the third season of New Zealand Idol
• Why Howard Morrison’s tribute concert To Sir with Love was a career highlight
• The emotional challenges of working on the live Pike River memorial service
• Filming 40 waka on Waitematā Harbour for the 2011 Rugby World Cup opening ceremony
• The moment Wood realised he had done his time in reality television

This video was first uploaded on 7 February 2017, 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