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ScreenTalk: Paora Maxwell

21 Mar 2016
Māori Television chief executive Paora Maxwell talks about his career and commitment to Māori broadcasting.

Paora Maxwell is the chief executive of Māori Television, and a former general manager of Māori and Pacific Programmes at TVNZ. He began his TV career as a director on children’s shows Play School and 3:45 LIVE!. Maxwell also ran his own company Te Aratai Productions for 15 years.

In this ScreenTalk, Maxwell talks about:

  • The arduous production schedule on kids show Play School
  • His grandmother’s worries about the way the doll Manu was treated on the show
  • Making maximum use of the resources on 3:45 LIVE! , and discovering a piece of Milli Vanilli's hair
  • How Radio Wha Waho was inspired by real people 
  • Why pre-school show Tikitiki is one of his proudest achievements 
  • Working with entertainer Mika, who reminded him of Graham Norton
  • Being a change agent as Head of Māori and Pacific Programmes at TVNZ
  • Successfully doubling the duration of news show Te Karere
  • Taking the responsibility of being CEO at Māori Television seriously
  • How he deals with public criticism

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via this Creative Commons licence
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