Richard Hansen

Richard Hansen’s obsession with sound started early. As a teenager in Christchurch, he got involved in the city’s music scene, singing and playing guitar in local bands. He was equally interested in radio and hosted a show on student station RDU while still a teen. "I was either playing in bands or watching bands," he says. "They were my two big passions: local music and radio."

At Shirley Boys’ High, he learnt how to operate the school's sole VHS video camera, and some basic editing gear. His media teacher pulled some levers and got Hansen a week’s work experience at TVNZ. Hansen aimed to impress, setting himself a goal of learning 10 new things a day. His attitude paid off. At the end of the year Hansen was chosen from 180 applicants for an entry role as a TV assistant (or TVA). "It was a brilliant scheme — we got an incredible appreciation for how studio-based productions worked."

Hansen’s apprenticeship was cut short when he got asked to cover for someone in the sound department who'd fallen ill. He became a full time soundie, part of a "tight knit" crew working across a wide variety of TVNZ shows, including early episodes of What Now? (Hansen would return in 2005, to direct 80 episodes of the show). It’s a genre he admires. "Some great talent came through kids shows. You could take risks and amazing things happened."

By the mid 1980s Hansen had a reputation as a go-to sound guy. He got his first award nomination in 1989 for his work on Funny Business. Then he took his skills to Australia and worked for Channel 10 in Melbourne, including on iconic soap Neighbours. His return home coincided with the launch of new channel TV3 — that’s when his ‘double career’ began. Producer Rex Simpson asked him to manage the sound for some new programmes, so Hansen made an offer — he’d take the work if he could also get a chance to direct. Simpson agreed and in 1991 Hansen earned his first directing credits as part of the team on TV3 kids show The Early Bird Show. "Rex was a real talent spotter. Some really creative people came through then, like Suzy Cato."

Hansen was now working in two distinct parts of the industry at once. In 1992 he was lured away from TV3 when producer Caterina De Nave asked him to lead the sound team on a new project called Shortland Street. Hansen’s time on Neighbours had set him up well. At an early meeting, De Nave asked the production team if any of them had experience in producing two and a half hours of content a week. "Three of us put up our hands — director Brian Lennane, cinematographer Gary Moore, and me. We were well and truly in the trenches with Shortland Street for a couple of years; we had to batten down the hatches because we were getting all kinds of criticism. And then of course it took off."

Hansen’s next big directing break came when Jude Callen asked him to take the reigns on TV3’s new late night music show Frenzy. It drew Hansen back to his roots. "In the early 90s NZ on Air had funded all these cool new music videos, and needed a platform to showcase them. Frenzy was one of the only visual outlets for new music in New Zealand then, and it gave me a chance to stamp my style." Hansen asked the lead singer of Push Push to front the show, sparking Mikey Havoc’s TV career. Hansen was meticulous about sound quality, and often recorded bands performing at live gigs.

In 1995 Hansen directed his first big live entertainment event: the 31st Benson and Hedges Fashion Awards show. It was a last hurrah as New Zealand’s Smoke Free legislation kicked in, and in 1996 Hansen directed the first Smokefree Fashion Awards. These shows upped the ante. "A gap had formed in the market for directors on these big, one-off live events, and I jumped in."

In the late 90s Hansen directed and or produced a range of big, one-off events like the ENZSO concert (1996) Auckland’s Hero Parade (1997 and 1998) and six World Of Wearable Art Awards (including this one, which was named Best Entertainment Programme at the 1999 NZ TV Awards). The 1998 Hero Parade was memorable; it was one of Hansen’s first big live specials and it "rained buckets" throughout. Hansen’s task on such live productions was to capture as much of the excitement as possible, and ad-lib when things didn't go to plan. 

By far the most challenging event of all was directing and producing the New Zealand end of 2000 Today — a live millennium spectacular involving 83 countries. The team spent nine months preparing for 30 hours of coverage, with the BBC tapping in to take live feeds from selected events. Hansen was in charge of units across Aotearoa. "I was managing eight live events concurrently, all of them outside and at the mercy of the weather." The crowning moment was set to be at midnight on New Year's Eve, when a massive fireworks display over the Sky Tower marked the new millennium. Only visibility was awful. Hansen was sweating it in the studio. In the lead up to the crucial international feed, camera after camera cut out. 

"At least I had the helicopter to do a wide shot, and capture the fireworks. We were counting down to a live audience of hundreds of millions of people. On top of that the BBC wanted us to seek out the first baby of the millennium." Five minutes before midnight, Hansen felt a tap on his shoulder; executive producer Logan Brewer had bad news. "Police had grounded our chopper. We had to ad-lib the whole thing. Afterwards was the first and only time I got a standing ovation in the control room." 

There were moments of triumph, too. Hansen writes here in detail of overcoming various problems in the lead-up to Dame Kiri Te Kanawa’s dawn performance on a Gisborne beach — including organising a live feed to the world with no opportunity for a proper rehearsal.

Hansen’s work with youth and fashion continued. In 2002 he produced the first of two three-part shows about music contest the Coke Smokefree Rockquest, alongside director Jess Feast. It scored an NZ Television Award for Best Children's Show, and a Qantas Media Award. In the mid 2000s he worked on design series Style Pasifika, ringing in 11 straight years of filming catwalk shows. His awards list also includes a 1998 Emmy nomination, as part of the sound team on fantasy series Young Hercules.

The pressure was on when Hansen directed and co-produced the first New Zealand edition of the blockbuster Idol franchise in 2004. Hansen loves capturing "the diversity and incredible creativity of New Zealanders", but the show got "so much public and network scrutiny. Executive producer Andrew Shaw was great — he created a firewall between us and the press and the TV audience". NZ Idol was the highest rating show that year. In 2008 Hansen helped produce another major franchise series, New Zealand’s Got Talent. 

Then he got a major international directing credit, thanks to BBC reality series Castaway. It proved a surreal experience. "The competitors were transported from the UK, and literally dropped in the water just off the coast of Great Barrier Island," says Hansen. "They had to swim to shore. There was very little contact with the crew". Airing in the UK on Sunday nights, the 12 episodes mixed live and prerecorded material. 

In 2009 Hansen's family relocated to Christchurch, and in 2011 Hansen became a tutor at the Broadcasting School which is part of the Ara Insitute of Canterbury. "I thought education was going to be easy," he says, "but it’s been a whole new kind of challenge."

Hansen feels excited about the new breed of storytellers emerging in Aotearoa, and the range of digital platforms available to them. For close on 12 years he juggled his teaching role with occasional big event directing gigs, including the live finals of The Blockand Survivor before joining the AV team at the launch of Christchurch convention centre Te Pae. He knows directing high stakes TV takes certain skills. "Some people wouldn’t have the stomach for it. You’ve got to be ready to throw the script out when things go wrong."

Profile written by Gabe McDonnell; updated on 15 December 2023

Sources include
Richard Hansen
Unknown writer, 'Dame Kiri and NZSO will perform in Gisborne' (Press release) Beehive website. Loaded 13 August 1999. Accessed 31 May 2022
1998 Hero Parade (Television Programme) Director Richard Hansen (Livingstone Productions, 1998)
1998 Montana New Zealand Wearable Art Awards (Television Programme) Director Richard Hansen (Livingstone Productions, 1998)