Derek Wooster

Derek Kōtuku Totorewa Wooster rose swiftly in television, after making his mark on classic variety show Radio Times. He went on to launch influential Māori current affairs show Marae, and spent eight years as Deputy Head of TVNZ's Māori Programmes Department.

Wooster was born in Ōtorohanga in 1945. After training as a teacher in Hamilton, he worked as a primary school teacher. Wooster also developed a passion for drama, which led to an extended stint acting and directing for the stage, from the late 1960s. He directed Bruce Mason's The Pōhutakawa Tree (for Auckland's New Independent Theatre) and an early, 1977 version of Roger Hall hit Glide Time (at Dunedin's Fortune Theatre).

In 1979, Wooster began in state television as a production trainee at Avalon Studios — back "when television was truly about New Zealanders telling their own stories and it was important to learn your craft".

Wooster quickly began moving up the ladder, after Tom Parkinson invited him on board a new show which celebrated the glory days of radio entertainers. Radio Times was the television launchpad for Billy T James. Wooster started out as a production assistant, but by the show's second season he was directing episodes (and later producing too). Radio Times "helped instil in me a lot of the disciplines required in television — most of the work was actually beforehand; the preplanning".

Within four years of joining state television, Wooster was directing live coverage of Miss Universe New Zealand (in 1983, the year that future Miss Universe Lorraine Downes won). In this 2013 video interview, Wooster recalled being so nervous about taking on the gig that he tried to find an excuse to withdraw.

Throughout the 1980s, Wooster honed his production skills on a range of shows — from Radio Times and Mastermind, hosted by "the very, very astute" Peter Sinclair, to University Challenge, music show Stars on Sunday and the Benson & Hedges Fashion Design Awards. Over his career, he worked as a producer, single and multi-camera director and live-to-air director, writer, reporter and trainer. He would also spend eight years as Television New Zealand's deputy head of the Māori Programmes Department.

After a decade working in the Entertainment Department, TVNZ decided the department was surplus to requirements. Wooster moved into Māori Programmes. There he was given the role of creating, producing and directing a new show. And so, in 1992, Marae was born.

"It sort of took the place of Koha," said Wooster, who would play a major role on the long-running Māori current affairs show for roughly 17 years. Media commentator Colin Peacock argued that Marae was "taken seriously by Māori leaders and Pākehā politicians alike". Wooster felt that Marae found its legs in the mid 1990s, with the arrival of MMP; a specially-commissioned poll of Māori voting preferences was reguarly quoted in mainstream media.

Working with Marae presenters Derek Fox, Shane Taurima and Hone Edwards ranked among the highlights of his career. But Wooster expressed dissatisfaction with the show's Sunday morning screening time. "I was disappointed that the programme schedulers of Television New Zealand never ever gave it a better time slot — I think it really deserved one."

Wooster would join many of the Marae team for a rare plunge into scripted programming. Pioneering bilingual sitcom Radio Wha Waho (1993) was set at a rural iwi radio station.

Wooster counted 1987's Te Māori: Te Hokinga Mai — a two-part chronicle of the return home of the legendary Māori art exhibition — as one of his personal favourites. There were moments where "I couldn't actually see the monitors in the OB van because I was crying". Other highlights included working with longtime musical director Bernie Allen, and performers Prince Tui Teka, Billy T James, Dalvanius Prime and the Yandall Sisters. Many of them featured in Sweet Soul Music, which showcased covers of soul classics.

Wooster also produced and directed coverage of the national biennial kapa haka festival, including live broadcasts of the finals. In 1998 he won an NZ Television Award for Best Multi-Camera Director for his work on the prestigious event.

His shows were a two time finalist for Best Entertainment Programme (Radio Times and Prince Tui Teka), and Best Factual Series (Marae in 1993 and 1996), as well as Best Live to Air Director (Benson & Hedges Fashion Design Awards). Marae was nominated several times for Best Current Affairs Programme. Wooster won Te Ohu Kaimoana Journalism Award in 1996.

In 1991 Wooster was director, producer, and vision switcher for the first Māori Sports Awards broadcast, hosted by Rawiri Paratene. His international experience included executive producing broadcasts from trade forum APEC, in New Zealand (1999) and Brunei (2000).

In 2006, Wooster made documentary Tīaho Pō, a tribute to the Māori Queen, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu. It included excerpts from a concert held at Tūrangawaewae Marae to celebrate 40 years of her leadership of the Māori King Movement.

Three months later, when thousands of mourners made their way to Tūrangawaewae to farewell their leader, Wooster produced and directed live coverage of her tangihanga. Simultaneously screened on Māori Television, throughout the Pacific and on the TVNZ website, the broadcast was viewed by hundreds of thousands. It was nominated for an NZ Screen Award for Best Event Broadcast. He left TVNZ in 2009.

Wooster was a founding member of Ngā Aho Whakaari, the representative body for Māori working in the screen industry in Aotearoa, and a treasurer for the Screen Directors Guild of NZ (now DEGANZ). He also spent time as a television broadcasting tutor for Fiji TV and Auckland University of Technology.

In 2000, Wooster became a trustee for Te Huarahi Tika Trust (originally known as the Māori Charitable Spectrum Trust) which aims to increase the participation of Māori in the technology sector. In 2005, he was made a director of Hautaki Limited — Te Huarahi Tika Trust's commercial arm — and his participation, alongside others, led to the formation of mobile network 2degrees.

A former Tainui representative on the Federation of Māori Authorities, he also chaired a number of Māori incorporations and Ahu Whenua trusts throughout Te Rohe Pōtae (King Country). His aim was "to help develop strategies to ensure the land is a sustainable resource for today and tomorrow".

He then set up his own company, PaddleFeet Productions. Said Wooster: "I very rarely wore shoes to school and Pākehā kids called me paddlefeet because compared to theirs, mine covered an expansive portion of ground!"

Derek Kōtuku Totorewa Wooster passed away on 5 July 2022. He was 77. Dozens of television colleagues paid tribute to the man they described as "lovely" and "a gentleman". 

Moe mai e te rangatira, moe mai. 

Profile updated on 7 July 2022

Sources include
Derek Wooster
'Derek Wooster: Major player in mainstream and Māori broadcasting...'(Video Interview) NZ On Screen website. Director Andrew Whiteside. Loaded 22 July 2013. Accessed 6 July 2022
Robert H Leek, 'John Curry's productions for Auckland's New Independent Theatre' - Art New Zealand 11, Spring 1978
Whai Ngata, 'Marae- A Producer's Perspective' NZ On Screen website. Loaded 10 August 2017. Accessed 6 July 2022
'Wooster, Derek, active 1970s - 1990s' National Library website. Accessed 6 July 2022
'Mayor Max Baxter' Facebook post. Loaded 6 July 2022. Accessed 6 July 2022