| FTV Staff |
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Allie Simpson | Ben Jones | Bernadette Kelly | Dennis Brooks | Haare Williams | Jenny Stark | Ken Mason | Mike Westgate | Paula Jones | Santo Giuliano | Sean Rundle
Gerben Cath - FTV Course Director
 Gerben joined the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation (NZBC) in 1966 where he trained as a set designer. He then became Design Supervisor at CHTV3 during the Commonwealth Games in 1974, which coincided with the changeover to colour television in New Zealand.
After being awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Arts Council grant to study overseas, Gerben graduated from the Nederlands Film Academy in 1979 and went on to work for the British, Belgian, Dutch and American film industries. He then returned to work in NZ as a director.
After initially directing documentaries for South Pacific Television, Gerben formed his own production company. Arcadian Films produced more than 200 commercials and promotional videos.
Gerben's other NZ directing credits include the action adventure series Skycrane and Flying Kiwi and the successful children’s series Space Knights and The Early Bird Show. From 1999-2001 he was Executive Producer for three series of Suzy’s World children’s science programmes for TV3.
Allie Simpson - Art Department Tutor
 Allie is a qualified Adult Tutor and Assessor with a certificate in Commercial Art. She began her career in 1995 working in the art department on quick turn around television productions and commercials. She also worked on such productions as Shortland Street and Sale of the Century, comedy productions and mainstream commercials.
Allie runs her own design business and has designed product launches, national campaigns and live shows for corporate clients including New Zealand Lotteries Commission and L’Oreal New Zealand.
In conjunction with her television career she has taught to diploma level in subjects including design for special effects and conceptual design, holding the position of Head of Department for Special Effects Make Up and Production Make Up.
Allie joined SouthSeas in 2003 to establish and run the Art Department.
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.jpg) Ben Jones – Camera, Lighting & Audio Tutor
After graduating from South Seas in 1999, Ben worked in the industry for more than ten years before returning for his latest stint as tutor in the CLA department.
During Ben’s career he has worked professionally in all major areas of camera, lighting and audio. He has worked on feature films, television series, commercials, music videos, corporate videos, short films, reality shows, news and sports.
Keeping up to date with developments in technology is one of Ben’s major challenges as a tutor. He aims to keep the students informed about all the recent advances, while also ensuring they are familiar with any older technology they may encounter in the course of their work.
Ben is continuing to work in the film and television industry while tutoring at South Seas – a combination that means he is always improving his own skills and knowledge so he can give the best training to his students.
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Bernadette Kelly - Post Production Tutor
 Bernadette Kelly has extensive professional industry experience in all aspects of Post Production editing. After initially cutting television news and documentaries she moved into TV drama programmes and then to editing feature films in Hollywood for various prominent directors including David Cronenberg, Peter Bogdanovich, Michael Anderson and Sam Pillsbury.
As a Canadian who has worked extensively in her own country before establishing herself in the USA, Bernadette brings to South Seas not only an important industry editing and training experience but her positive personality and a total commitment to teaching editing.
While tutoring at the Los Angles Film School Bernadette gained a strong reputation as a supportive tutor who developed a real rapport with her students. As one student summed it up, “Bernadette was definitely a beacon of motivation and knowledge at the Los Angeles Film School. She was always the last to leave at the end of the day, having worked hard with many students far past her obligations. She always succeeded at making each student completely comfortable with the projects they were working on and made sure she gave all the input possible in order to help create a better project.”
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Dennis Brooks - Screenwriting & Drama Directing Tutor
Dennis developed his love for theatre while earning his BA in English Literature from the prestigious Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts and his love for film while obtaining his MFA at UCLA's School of Theatre, Film and TV.
He began his career in the industry as an actor and has appeared in more than thirty stage plays. He was also the lead in Louis Meza’s Staccato Purr which premiered at Sundance.
After that, Dennis focused on writing and sold scripts through some of the top agencies in Los Angeles, including CAA, APA and William Morris. He has sold a TV pilot to Fox Network, a feature screenplay to 20th Century Fox and he was a staff writer on the comedy/variety TV show House of Buggin starring John Leguizamo.
In 2004 Dennis wrote, produced and directed a feature film titled Goodnight Joseph Parker starring Debi Mazar, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Paul Sorvino and legendary indie actor Richard Edson. He has also ghost-written several Hollywood features.
When not teaching at South Seas, Dennis is either writing is own projects or working as a freelance script doctor in Auckland, New York and Hollywood.
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Haare Williams - Mahi a Rongo Leader
 Coming out of teaching and into the radio broadcasting, television news and current affairs arena, Haare Williams pioneered Maori Radio as the General Manager of Aotearoa Radio.
He has worked closely with iwi claimant communities collecting and preparing oral testimonies for presentation before the Waitangi Tribunal and this in turn led to his work as a facilitator in oral histories working with iwi groups and for NZ Libraries.
Haare has published his poetry, was a judge for the Watties Book Awards, and has held five solo art exhibitions. He has worked with the former Race Relations Office to deal with issues of cultural sensitivity, was a two-term city councillor in Papakura and a member of the Board of Governors for Queen Victoria School.
He was an Executive Director of the New Zealand 1990 Commission especially responsible for waka construction and assembly at Waitangi in 1990, and is currently the Chairperson of ProMa, the Maori advisory committee to ProCare.
For five years, Haare held the position of Pae Arahi, "The first in the country," as he put it, at Auckland’s UNITEC. Now an independent consultant in Maori aspects of education, health, business, art and the media, he is the Course Leader of South Seas' Mahi a Rongo – Maori Film & Television Broadcasting course.
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Jenny Stark - TV Production Tutor
 Jenny joined TVNZ in Dunedin in 1981 as a Producer's Assistant where she worked on a variety of programmes such as Spot On, Viewfinder, The South tonight, University Challenge, World of Sport, kidult drama, and Live Life Be Active - a documentary filmed from Bluff to Cape Reinga.
She went on to become a Production Manager in The Natural History Unit working on Wildtrack, and Wild South documentaries such as Kakapo, Yellow Eyed Penguin, The Black Stilt and many more. Ian Taylor (Taylormade) joined the Unit and began producing adventure documentaries, which Jenny production managed. These included the first filming of Coast to Coast and the award-winning caving documentary Two Days to Soft Rock Cafe. She then followed the journey of the NZ rowing team to the 1984 Olympics in the documentary Pieces of Eight.
Jenny transferred to Auckland in 1987 and joined the Eyewitness News team. She worked on 60 Minutes and Assignment, Marae and Waka Huia before moving into Sport on One where she has worked on most outside broadcasts, World Cup rugby, soccer World Cup, cricket tours, horse racing, netball, basketball, motor racing, Sunday Grandstand, Sports Night and the Olympics. She was Production Manager for the 1990 Commonwealth Games domestic coverage.
In the 1990s Jenny left TVNZ to spend more time with her children and continued to freelance on Backchat, Fair Go, Moro Sports Extra and the Alac Sportsperson of the Year Awards, as well as freelancing for Sky TV, Friday Night Football and Re-Union, Communicado and TV3 children's programme Suzy Cato's World of Science.
Jenny joined South Seas as Production Tutor in 2005.
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Ken Mason - CLA assistant
Ken has been employed by South Seas since 2007 as the school’s right hand man and general help. He also assists in the Camera, Lighting and Audio (CLA) department, issuing equipment and overseeing repairs. Outside work hours Ken is a keen golfer and follows most sports with interest.
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Mike Westgate - Industry Workshop Tutor
Mike is one of New Zealand’s most experienced sound recordists and has worked on a multitude of Kiwi feature films, television documentaries, dramas and commercials.
His credits include Smash Palace, Angel Mine, Starlight Hotel, Soldier’s Tale, Quiet Earth plus more than 60 documentary credits for major TV networks including CBS, NBC, PBS, and the BBC.
He has worked on eight expeditions for The Cousteau Society filmed in New Guinea, Indonesia, Australia, Thailand, Laos, Burma and Cambodia. In recent years, Mike has serviced a large volume of episodic drama shot in New Zealand for North American productions totalling 193 episodes which include 80 episodes of Hercules - The Legendary Journeys.
Mike has been at the forefront of developing the New Zealand use of the latest overseas advances in audio recording technology especially in the field of digital recording techniques, and is the Technical Manager of Sound Techniques; New Zealand’s only dedicated supplier of equipment for the film and television industry.
He has taught both the theoretical and practical aspects of audio recording techniques for numerous courses including Unitec, The ITVA and The Moving Image Centre. Armed with videos of productions that he has serviced, plus an array of sound equipment, he has lectured at South Seas since 1995.
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 Paula Jones - Documentary Development Tutor & Curriculum Advisor
Paula is a trained teacher and Arts graduate with diplomas in Drama, Design and Film Studies. She taught English, Media Studies and Drama to scholarship levels before joining TVNZ in 1989 as location researcher and storyliner for the Holiday series.
She was promoted to Public Relations and during the Commonwealth Games seconded to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation as researcher, production coordinator and storyliner.
Paula joined South Seas in 1994.
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Santo Giuliano - Assistant Tutor - Post Production & IT
 Santo originally trained in Multi-media in the mid-1980s in Canberra, Australia. In 2007 he was ready to make some changes so he decided to upgrade his skills and retrain in Film and Television Production (FTV) at South Seas.
“Back when I started, televisions and computers were totally separate,” he says. “Now there’s a huge overlap between the two. Convergence of technology means they are virtually the same.”
He decided to study in New Zealand because he wanted to go somewhere more exotic than Canberra, but not too exotic. He chose New Zealand because, although it was a different country, the culture is similar enough to Australia’s that he knew he would fit in.
When he had completed his FTV diploma majoring in Post Production, he was invited to stay on at South Seas as an Assistant Tutor.
Santo enjoys Post Production because he gets to use both technical and creative skills. His job at South Seas includes both technical aspects and mentoring students to help them gain the skills they will need in the industry. He says it is very satisfying when the students have learned enough technical skills that they can concentrate on their creativity.
He feels very optimistic about the prospects for South Seas students after they graduate as there is always a demand for talented people.
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Sean Rundle - Industry Workshop Tutor
Sean Rundle is a lighting cameraman with a wide experience in both multi- and single-camera shooting. He has completed assignments both in New Zealand and overseas in documentaries, news gathering, comedy, drama and corporate programme making.
While based in the United Kingdom for two years, Sean completed a wide variety of assignments including jobs for Greenpeace, London Weekend Television, Carlton TV, TF1 and Virgin Vision.
His recent work includes; The Topp Twins TV Special, which was nominated for the 1994 TV awards, That Comedy Show, Clash of the Codes, Shortland Street, Plainclothes, Suzy’s World and Jackson’s Wharf as well as numerous television commercials and corporate videos.
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Student Profile
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JEFFREY RUHA | 2008
In little over a year Jeffrey Ruha went from being a school boy to successfully completing an industry training course and then working as an editor in the NZ television industry.
“As a young Māori boy I worried about making my way in life. Later at school in I used to dream about working in the industry. Now I’m no longer worried and thanks to South Seas I’m enjoying the thrill of living my dream.” |
