Though not a household name himself, Tony Williams has directed some of the most iconic TV commercials in New Zealand. These include: The Great Crunchie Train Robbery, Dear John, SPOT and the infamous Bugger commercials.

Williams' career has spanned five decades. He began working with noted film producer John O’Shea at Pacific Films in the 1960s and shot two features, and directed nine documentary films.

In the 1970s he directed his first feature film Solo, and a series of documentaries including Getting Together, The Day We Landed on the Most Perfect Planet in the Universe, Take Three Passions, Rally, and Lost in the Garden of the World.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Williams discusses:

• Working for Pacific Films in the early days

• Learning to be a D.O.P. on the film Runaway

• Technical nightmares with the feature film Solo

• The real story behind the memorable Crunchie ad

• “Borrowing” items to set dress the Dear John commercial for BASF

• Finding the furry star of the SPOT Telecom commercials

• How a car commercial changed the nation’s vocabulary

• Being proud of commercials that have won the public’s heart

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

NZ On Screen: Interview, Camera & Editing – Andrew Whiteside