CAMERON HARLAND Funding our creativity
supporting local content on TV, radio and digital platforms. It received an extra $25m to be spread over four years to support vital public media in the wake of Covid-19.
In May the Government gave a further $7.1 million to boost NZ On Air’s new music programmes.
These days, the pot of gold distributed by NZ On Air has to go a lot further with digital platforms, like and
banging on the funding doors. That’s a departure from five years ago, says Harland.
‘‘We have definitely embraced a future that is beyond linear TV and radio. But we have a finite amount of money and an increasing need for that money.
‘‘The issue has always been that the money has to be stretched further and further. That was true before Covid. Post-Covid we are seeing all levels of media – TV, commercial, newspapers – anything that was ad-funded has immediately fallen into stress. No question.’’
‘‘What Stuff does . . . is vitally important to a democratic nation, so we have to look at what our role is with that but within that we have to try and work out how to manage this finite budget.’’
Harland, 48, beat a commercial path to his new job.
He was chief executive of Park Road Post Production and remains on its board and that of Weta Workshop. He has served on the New Zealand Film Commission board and, until recently, was on the board of TVNZ.
Harland was also credited with breathing life back into CricHQ, a cricket scoring platform.
But it all started with his love of film. The eldest of three growing up in the Wellington suburb of Tawa, where his father built the home they lived in, Harland got an after-school job at a video store.
He watched hundreds of hours of movies at various stores right up till he left university. ‘‘I pretty much watched everything from around the 80s and 90s that came out of Hollywood, but also everything that we produced here – Utu, Goodbye Pork Pie, Once Were Warriors, Brain Dead.
‘‘I loved the escapism, but also the craft and learning about the stories behind the stories. Like the fact the animatronic shark in didn’t work very well so the score from John Williams was emphasised to create tension.’’
He graduated with degrees in law and history from Victoria University.
‘‘I wanted to get a degree that meant I would be qualified to actually do something. But three-quarters of the way through it, I determined that wasn’t what I wanted to do.’’
He came out of university and scored a job with the ANZ Bank and was dispatched to Hawke’s Bay.
He worked in a branch, serving customers, to get to know the business.
While working at the bank he read a book about the changes going on in New Zealand rugby as it moved from amateur to professional.
He thought it would be a fascinating environment to be working in so wrote to the CEO of New Zealand Rugby, David Moffett, asking for a job.
Long story short, he got hired as special projects manager – a more or less made-up job to get him on board.
At the age of 22 he was in Ireland negotiating a million-pound deal with BSkyB for the All Blacks to play an extra test match.
This led to his entry into advertising. Saatchi & Saatchi was hired to work on the marriage between NZ Rugby and adidas and through his connections with management Harland ended up working for Saatchi in London for four years.
Returning to Aotearoa, he went on to run Park Road Post Production in Miramar, Wellington, creating and mixing the sound for films.
Harland, who lives in Wellington with his wife Janelle and their two boys aged 12 and 14, says the level of creative brilliance that went into the work there was amazing.
‘‘I’m hugely respectful of creative people and I have been privileged to work with many over the years. For me, it’s less about the commercial aspect of how you can make a buck and more about the brilliance of seeing an idea on a page turned into something amazing.’’
‘‘I loved the escapism, but also the craft and learning about the stories behind the stories.’’