Soap Dispenser
Someone once said to me that The Drama Department had a mystique around it. I’m not too sure about ‘mystique’ but it certainly is a much different atmosphere to work in when compared to other types of productions. In drama everything you see on the screen is created from scratch starting with the script and progressing to an apparently real world made possible with the skills of many specialists who create the settings where the actors can work their magic and be recorded for posterity.
A script arrives on your desk. It is the final draft the one you have to lift off the page and put on the screen. You read it through and as you progress towards the last act your heart is either singing or sinking. Usually the latter because this is “fast turn around” TV and really good scripts are in the minority. Here is an inflexible rule which applies in every case…..”You can’t make a good drama from a bad script but you can make a bad drama from a good script”.
Serendipity rules and good luck is required in abundance. You never know how things will turn out. It is a mystery. However much you plan and attend to every little detail, the final result on screen ofttimes makes you feel like shit. Or alternatively makes you jump for joy at the sheer beauty of the work.
How does the above happen. No one knows. People will talk about it as if they were privy to a secret but they are almost always people who have never made a drama. If you have not had the drama experience it is better that you remain silent. Some might say that is a harsh opinion but it remains true nevertheless. In my time in Drama, I directed and or produced hundreds of scripts and I can only think of about ten or so that were really satisfyingly good. The rest were either complete stinkers or not too foul or, like the curate’s egg, “good in parts”.
But in 1981 when I started work as a director in the TVNZ Drama Dept at Avalon I had no ideas in my head concerning the opinions I have just expressed. I was a mangenue in the dynamics of drama and it’s mysteries. Technically I was very experienced and had no trouble putting it all together in rehearsal and recording. But the ‘other side’ where the heart of the work is, the relationship with the actors, the ideas that flow from a true understanding of the text, the creation of an environment where the actors feel welcome and appreciated, all of that can only be gleaned from experience. I had spent heaps of time in drama in various roles over many years and had picked up some insights and watched directors at work, but there is a limit to that kind of learning. There is no subsitute for being at the coal face and directing drama in your own right.
However, In those times I spent no time at all reflecting on complicated matters. All I wanted to do was get to it and I did. I went straight into Close To Home stone cold and started work on my first two scripts. I had a vague notion that I was regarded by the established senior producers/directors as something of a parvenu but I was unmoved by such silliness, I had the respect of professional crews (after all, I was one of their own) who supported me completely and that’s all I needed to achieve results in the studio and elsewhere. I got by, with a little help from my friends.
And so I commenced on the CTH treadmill. Every three or four weeks(I think that’s right) you started work on a new set of scripts. Someone had the bright idea of increasing the number of scripts to three every four weeks or so and it just so happened that the extra script fell on me each time. I was unfazed, it was a 33 per cent increase in your workload to be achieved in the same time frame, but I saw it as an opportunity to up my skills and sharpen my act.
Another thing I had in my favour was my relationship with the cast whom I had known for some years. I did strain those friendships at times with occasional insensitivity when I was under pressure but mostly things were ok. Tony Currie, Robin Dene, Bill Stalker, Glenis Levestam, Harry Lavington, Dorothy Smith, Geraldine Holmes, Jim Moriarty, Jim Healey, Mildred Woods, Stephen Tozer, Alice Fraser, Deirdre O’Connor, Charles Walker. People who made me feel welcome. Thank you my friends, past and present.
And of course I always had the support of crews. That support is crucial regardless of how good you think you are technically. In my previous two years directing in the Gen & Special Interest Dept. I had learned to curb a bad habit of poking my nose into areas where I had previously worked and suggesting solutions to problems. It was a good learning curve and I had benefited from the experience. Letting other people do their jobs and having confidence in their abilities creates a more harmonious environment. I didn’t get it right every time but almost every time I think. Just tell people what you hope to achieve and let them do it for you. It works just fine.
On this occasion of my return to CTH after being away for two years I did notice a certain casual attitude from some crew people. The show was now about to enter it’s seventh year of production and a lot of inexperienced crew were working in the studio. It had always been accepted that a number of less experienced people would be attached to the various disciplines so that a constant stream of trained staff were available for productions. I myself had learned camerawork that way. But I had always three other very experienced operators on the other three cameras ready to step in if I was screwing up, as was quite often the case in those early days. Now it was sometimes three out of the four cameras being operated by not very accomplished people. When I commented on this, someone remarked that CTH was a ‘training’ programme and that was that. I think I probably half choked on my cafeteria sandwich (not an unknown thing at the best of times) when this globule of wisdom issued forth. Not so, I protested with emphasis. “It is a programme on which people may be trained” and of course that is an entirely different kettle of kai moana. The old saw ‘familiarity breeds etc’ was very evident. The show had become part of the fabric of everyday life at Avalon. The actors ate in the cafe five days each week and had somehow become a commonplace. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. No blame could be attached but I found it a teeny bit depressing. The glory days had certainly passed when the actors could tour the country staging plays etc in community halls and theatres. That was how celebrated they had become. Ross Jennings (Producer and director in the dept) was the ringmaster on those tours, both directing and playing roles in the shows. Ross himself was experienced in theatre as an actor. I wasn’t in a position to say anything about the current state of the show, being way down the food chain. And in any case all of the experienced Producers and Directors had moved on to bigger projects over the previous three years or so and no longer worked on the production. A bit sad I think.
But no worries mate. I just carried right on enjoying myself immensely doing what I loved albeit in a green way. Still in my salad days of drama directing. Sometimes I got a script that wasn’t too foul but mostly there seemed to be a lack of script oversight and no one to talk to. In those two years and a bit I don’t ever recall having a discussion with a script editor on matters of script. In fact I never saw a script editor. Maybe they were working from home! But their names were there on the script. I will go further and say that I recieved no words of advice or help from any senior people in the dept. Sometimes there was a bit of carping or snide remarks about things like a lack of energy or pace in my episodes, but no actual suggestions as to how I might improve in that area. But, dear readers, as you may have noted, I tend to thrive on adversity and I ALWAYS made programmes for myself and never for anyone else. Actually that bit about ‘thriving on adversity’ is not strictly true. There have been times when I have gone home put the light out got into bed and drew the duvet over my head after reading a review which rubbished my work. But it was a creative endeavour and that is a personal journey that begins in the heart with no thought to potential approval from outside sources. I did get some things right and felt a thrill of satisfaction on those occasions. Someone (there goes that someone again) once said to me that if you get just one thing right in a play then you have had success and there is no gainsaying of that. But I am not made of stone (far from it) and I would probably have liked the odd word of praise, if it were warranted. However, with a hey and a ho and a hey nonny no, I pursued my own agenda and secretely thought that SOME of my colleagues were a right bunch of anagrammatic scandinavian monarchs.
In those two and a bit years I spent directing CTH I made somewhere in the region of 70 to 80 episodes and did no other productions. I was feeling a bit doolally at the end of it all. But there was some good work in there. I can recall at least two episodes which I thought were a bit of all right and a few more that weren’t terrible. And I had learned something about pace and energy on screen and intensity of performance from the cast. One thing that could not be faulted was my ability to get the show in the can and looking good with it. Technically I was streets ahead of most. That seems to me to be a reasonable outcome.
We produced about 780 episodes of the show between 1975 and 1983 and there was some sadness when the new Head of Drama John McRae announced it’s axing. Tony Isaac and Ross Jennings had returned to the show in late 1983 to attempt an updating of it’s style and content. Michael Noonan the original creator and writer also returned with Keith Aberdein but to no avail. It was gone by lunchtime.
Another blow was the erasing of all but 50 episodes of the programme with the excuse given that it was to save on videotapes. In my opinion it was a case of cultural vandalism with some murky agendas lurking around. I was still very junior at that time but have always regretted not intervening. Where were the senior producers during all of this? Asleep at the wheel? But of course I could be wrong. Maybe there were impassioned pleas to the Head of Drama and the Director-General, maybe meetings were held to discuss what action to take. I was so wrapped up in myself that I didn’t notice. Anyway, in these times of strict archival rules and statutes related to the preservation of cultural history it would not happen. It seems appalling to me that one person could issue such an edict and not be questioned by anyone. In France or Germany an individual or group could end up in prison for destroyjng cultural artefacts. There, it is considered to be a major social crime. And it is of course such a crime. (It is also fair to say that some wags thought WE should be locked up for making the damned thing at all) The callous disregard for the work and efforts of hundreds of specialists pursuing their craft over eght years, quite takes away ones breath. A pox on them that did it I say! And one on those who let it happen.
I do know that at least one of my episodes was saved. But it was one which I would probably rather forget. In 1982 we produced the wedding of Gavin and Gale and I had the job of directing it. The episode was made in conjunction with The New Zealand Women’s Weekly! Gasp. As you can guess it was a rather soppy affair in line with the Woman’s Weekly style. Done completely for real without a trace of irony or a nod to modern sensibilities. It was all in the script.
But the script was well written. Jane Galletley was the author and she delivered the script that the Producer had asked for. Jane was an experienced writer here and overseas and knew a thing or two about the business. The two leads who played the happy couple wanted to make it real for it’s intended audience and I was more than happy to go along.
On the night the wedding episode appeared on TV1 it gained a large audience and was no.2 in the ratings. No.1 was THE MUPPETS. So popularity does not necessarily imply quality.
We were not alone in the practice of erasing tapes. The BBC, that alleged paragon of excellence, was just as guilty. Dr.WHO, which has become a cultural icon in our times, was put to the sword in it’s early days by some fool with a penchant for fucking up.
In it’s early years CTH was enormously popular. It regularily attracted over one million viewers (at least a third of the population in those days) and often was in the top three most watched shows. A cultural phenomenon in other words. But when it was dismantled and sent down river to the scrap yards in 1983 it was a sad sight. Rusty and unloved. Farewelled by no one. Forgotten. I personally owed it a great deal. It had taught me so much about drama production. But I was ready to let go. Two years of relentless directing had drained me of energy and I wanted to move on. I had spent six of the previous eight years working on the show in three different roles. In fact before production proper started we had made an abridged version of the first episode consisting of about seven scenes totalling 15 minutes in duration directed by the originating producer Tony Isaac. That compilation was shown on April 1 1975 at the TVONE Avalon opening ceremony which was a grand studio production presented by Dougal Stevenson. I was a (still nervous) cameraman on that show.
However, the curtain did not stay down for long.
Shortly thereafter the producer of CTH made an appearance alongside the Head of Drama John McRae to announce the soon to be produced replacement for CTH. The producer had been absent for some months before CTH was canned. On a Winstone Churchill Fellowship no less to the UK where he ‘studied’ TV drama, particularily of the soap variety. He was supposed to be away for about six weeks I think but in fact stayed away for longer with the blessing one presumes of the Head of Department. So effectively the show was without it’s producer for about four months maybe five. I’m not entirely sure about my time line but I think it is reasonably accurate. We never knew where he had been after his official trip had finished but when he reappeared he had a written script for a pilot which was made in quite quick order. All with the blessing of the HOD. Draw your own conclusions.
I was too naive at that time to have figured all that out. I just knew that there was a bad smell about the whole thing. In retrospect it all seems to make sense.
I had no involvement in the making of the pilot, thank god, but the bad news…? I was assigned to the forthcoming production as a sort of de facto associate producer minus the title. My job was to set up the first seven episodes for the directors before shooting started and direct one of them myself then join the roster of assigned and contract directors for the remainder of the series. Another two years of soap. FFS.
The new show was a medical drama (how original) in the style of the old BBC soap Dr. Finlay’s Casebook. Set in the South Island in a rural district. Cue bucolic goings on, and on, ad nauseam.
The old doctor has died and his place will be taken by a young buck, dashingly handsome, and heartthrobby. There is a widow, a daughter, a son who is something of a rebel, a smashing looking nurse, a vicar, (C of E), his daughter (naughty), a policeman and his wife, and sundry others. Got the picture?
A village was built in Whiteman’s valley (or White Man’s valley if you like) in the northern Hutt Valley about ten minute’s drive from Avalon. There was a narrow river to pass over to access the site and the producer had somehow persuaded the MOW to build a Bailey bridge over it to take our vehicles, including the enormous outside broadcast van which would serve as the control room for directors and crew. A Cecil B de Mille job indeed. I visited the site with the producer before the bridge went in and we crossed the river in bare feet in freezing cold water straight off the Remutakas. A right pair of unprepared townies were we. I told him that he was mad and wanted his head read. But he was right and I was wrong as it turned out.
The title of the new show was ‘COUNTRY GP’
In spite of my scepticism around the new production it eventually turned out ok, thanks to great ensemble work from the cast and some good writing. The actors formed a tight working group and supported each other sometimes in the face of indifference and sometimes hostility. Harsh words but I did witness it with my own eyes.
The biggest change with the new drama was the duration of the stories. Each episode was now a commercial hour which at that time (1986) was about 53 mins. Whereas CTH was a commercial half hour, about 24/25 mins.
Directing a longer form drama was new to me and much more satisfying. The stories were stand alone dramas with continuing serial elements.
A few years ago when I was working at ‘the film archive’ I was given a tape to digitise which contained two episodes of Country GP which had been directed by me. The episodes were almost 30 years old and I was not looking forward to seeing them. But, I was surprised at how well they had held up. The actors were all brilliant I thought. I realised then how much I had loved working on the show and what a great spirit existed between the cast members. It absolutely showed on the screen, the enthusiasm, the energy and the belief in what they were doing. At the time I didn’t really twig to the same degree as I was now experiencing. Seeing it with fresh eyes was revelatory.
The show ran from late 1983 to the middle of 1985 and I think we shot about 74 episodes.
Please indulge me whilst I write down the names of the core cast.
Glenis Levestam, Lani Tupu, Bruce Philips, Michael Haigh, Alice Fraser, Patrick Smythe, David Copeland, Donna Akersten, Roy Wesney, Adele Chapman, Helen Moulder, Sarah Davidson, May Lloyd, Duncan Smith.
I salute each and everyone for your artistry and professionalism. Seems like a golden age from this standpoint. It’s so painfully true that you don’t always appreciate what is happening around you until it is all gone. Put up a parking lot?
My scepticism in those days was a manifestation of my insecurity. I was still at the stage in my progress where I had to give myself permission to do the work I loved. The feeling of being an outsider still nagged at me. I was overcompensating in ways I wasn’t myself aware of. But I displayed a bollocky confidence which SEEMED to impress people. However, I was never going to quit. Come too far for that nonsense. Chinese culture has a saying ‘biting through’ which is a coping mechanism for overcoming difficulties. So, on we go me hearties and damn the torpedoes.
The next two years were enjoyable. A certain togetherness developed brtween actors and crew. We had bought a bus for transporting actors and others to Whiteman’s Valley. But the bus also played a role in the drama, being the school bus for the area. I fondly remember the bus arriving on set each morning and seeing the cast coming off wearing their costumes and already looking completely in character. A great spirit existed between the core actors. Possibly the happiest lot I had worked with. Their solidarity was largely created as a result of the offhand way they were treated by the production. The Production Manager Ruth Franks was their saviour in many ways. She shielded them and looked after their interests.
Several good writers worked on GP. I specially remember Renee who had just had a tremendous success at Downstage Theatre with her play Wednesday To Come. That was in 1984 the same year she wrote for GP. I had the opportunity to direct her episode and worked closely with her. I invited her to sit in the control room for the studio based scenes. Not something I liked doing normally but she was such a modest person that you hardly noticed her presence. Modest, yet confident and strong in her own skin. Humility, when it is of the right stamp is a wondrous thing to behold. Not the bullshit variety so often peddled in the media but a representation of inner wisdom made real.
I recall reading a story some years ago about some person who wrote to a famous philosopher to say, “After reading your book on humility, I have become so humble you would hardly believe it”.
Our paths crossed again a couple of years later when I was producing a major drama series out of Avalon and she had not changed one whit. Still strong and confident but retaining that special self awareness. I heard a report recently that she is about to present her latest play in Auckland. At 94 years that is quite the achievement.
Good on you Renee, you are an inspiration.
Some months before the end of the GP series the Producer (same as before) told me that he was going away somewhere(?) And he wanted me to take over the production for three months or so until he returned. Deja vu, anyone? I had recently been ‘elevated’ to Producer, something which I had tried to resist. But a job was advertised in the staff circular for a newly created vacancy and I was told by The Head of Drama at a meeting with one other present that it had been created for me and I should apply. In spite of my misgivings and reluctance they prevailed.
Several other people from other departments also had applied. Some people would kill to score a drama producer job. Whereas, I could not have cared less. I never saw the attraction in the position. All about status I presume. All of the other applicants were people I knew and I swear that at least two of them became my mortal enemies judging by the snarky looks they shot my way from that time on. The only ‘status’ I ever desired was that of a successful and confident film and TV drama director who had practised his craft for many years until he had cracked it. I still had a way to go.
When a Head of Department decides who they want as their producers, that is the end of the matter and there is no appeal. It was all very farcical but that is how TV worked. And no doubt that is how many systems operate. Nothing to see here! Move right along.
And so, I was the Producer of GP for a few months. It wasn’t too bad. I never thought of insisting on a Producer credit and it was not offered. That gives you a pretty good handle on the calibre of the main parties. But I was only ‘riding shotgun’ on the production and was not bothered.
Did the producer return? No! By Jupiter. He did not. This time he went completely awol and could not be contacted. Somewhere overseas I think.
At that point I insisted that I be allowed back to directing. A crisis situation had arisen over the looming expiry of some of the actor’s contracts. I handled it ok but enough was enough. Couldn’t understand how the former producer could leave all that up in the air and just walk away, leaving others to clean up his mess.
But no worries, I was back on set where my heart was. Away from all the office crap and nonsense.
Soon I was directing my last episode which was the penultimate one of the series. And it was a beauty. A great script which contained the death of a principal character. It should have been the final episode since it had that absolute terminal point in the death of a main character. End of an era as it were.
And I do think it was one of the best episodes of drama I had done up to that point. I had learned heaps from GP over the preceding two and a bit years. During the making of that episode I really started to get a handle on the emotional state of the actors as they mourned for the loss of a loved one in character and the loss of a loved colleague from the cast. Also of course for the loss brought on by the impending end of the production and the farewells to come with the end of close relationships with all the cast and crew.
The emotions were quite raw at times and did show on the screen. As a director you have to recognise that your work was made to look better by the pain of others.
Thank you to all the lovely friends I knew in those times.
Well, I was tired. Five years of almost non stop directing in fast turn around mode. Just get me home so I can crash and blob out. Catch up with my wife Teresa. My sons were all established in Australia by now. Two up in the remote forests of Northern NSW and one in Sydney. Chris in Sydney had tried the forest but went back to Sydney where he still lives. A town boy like myself. He will be 62 this year.
Anyway, a few days after my break started I got a phone call from a friend at Avalon. He wanted me to get involved in a production…….
A couple of weeks later I was in the Producer’s seat of a drama to be shot on film.
Next time, I will let you know how that turned out.
My apologies to everyone for my delay in getting this post published. Teresa and myself have been hit by a tummy buggy fluey something which laid us low. Teresa much worse than me. We have had our triple booster and flu jab and that may have contributed to our rotten luck.
Adios