Nigel Hutchinson

Thanks to a father who flew Lancaster bombers in the Royal Air Force, Nigel Hutchinson grew up in various parts of England, and did time in Malta. After leaving school he played drums in band The Bo Street Runners. Music legend Mick Fleetwood later took over the sticks, so that Hutchinson could concentrate on a day job as a press officer at the London arm of Walt Disney Productions. He went on to join a company formed by David Hemmings, star of classic swinging 60s movie Blow-Up.

Hutchinson handled publicity on hit comedy Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (1968) and historical epic Cromwell (1970). Involved with distribution and marketing, he also attended a number of film markets, including Cannes.

Hutchinson had studied film at an art school on the edge of London, and was keen to get a more hands-on involvement in filmmaking. After meeting Kiwi cinematographer Graeme Cowley, who was living in London, he learnt that New Zealand television was in a time of expansion. The two hatched a plan. In 1974 they returned to Wellington from London with a bunch of secondhand filmmaking gear, and launched two companies: production company Motion Pictures Limited, and Film Facilities, which rented out lenses and camera mounts.

While working with talented director Geoff Murphy on a commercial on the East Coast, Hutchinson was shown a handwritten screenplay for Goodbye Pork Pie. Impressed, he offered Murphy any help he could. Hutchinson and Cowley did a deal to work on the film, and defer the costs of hiring camera equipment. Co-producing with Murphy, Hutchinson helped bring the road movie in on a tight shooting budget of $450,000 (he also cameos on screen, as a dairy owner in Gore). Meanwhile as camera operator, Cowley found himself dangling off moving vehicles in precarious positions.

Upon release in 1981, Pork Pie became a local blockbuster without precedent, the first movie of the Kiwi film renaissance to recoup its budget in its home territory alone. It also sold to more than 50 territories overseas. Hutchinson talks about the film's success in this interview (see fifth clip).

In 1981 Hutchinson produced Motion Pictures doco Jetstream, an ambitious chronicle of an international jet boat race held down under. Graeme Cowley directed. Later Cowley ran Film Facilities alone, with Hutchinson concentrating on producing and directing commercials through Motion Pictures.

Especially busy through the 1980s, Hutchinson continued to make commercials. Along the way he directed screen talents ranging from Brit imports Dennis Waterman (for Ford), Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal (Arnott's Biscuits) to cricketeer Richard Hadlee (Caltex). He also picked up a number of major advertising awards, including a Gold Lion at Cannes, a Mobius and a coveted Gold Cleo.

Later Hutchinson had hopes of making a multi-million dollar movie based on the life of WWll hero Charles Upham, but it was not to be. 

Hutchinson spent time on the board of Film New Zealand, and chaired the organisation Friends of the New Zealand Film Archive (later Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision).

Hutchinson was a friend to filmmaker Gaylene Preston, and provided a cottage near his Picton home where she could work on the script for her WWll passion project Home by Christmas (2010). Hutchinson later signed on to the film as executive producer, and directed this documentary on the film's making. The opening shot of the movie was taken by him.

Nigel Hutchinson passed away on 23 March 2017. He was 75.

Profile updated on 25 January 2022

Sources include
Nigel Hutchinson
'Nigel Hutchinson - Producer' (Interview) - from Goodbye Pork Pie - Director's Cut (AMA Productions, 2005)
Tom Cardy, '$30m movie to celebrate VC Upham's life' - The Dominion Post, 23 June 2006, page A4
Jane Clifton, 'Pork Pie goes big-time' - The Dominion, 16 April 1981
James Croot, 'Goodbye Pork Pie producer passes away' Stuff website. Loaded 27 March 2017. Accessed 27 March 2017