Philip Smith (producer)
Philip Smith is a New Zealand film and television writer and producer. He is the founder and owner of Australasian media company, Great Southern Television,[1] with offices in Sydney, Auckland and Queenstown.[2]
Smith was awarded the Independent Producer of the Year Award by the Screen Production and Development Association.[3] In 2018 he was named New Zealand Drama Writer of the Year, for the telemovie Why Does Love at the NZTV Awards. In 2020, he co-created the NZ drama, One Lane Bridge, which screens in 28 countries, including AMC in the USA and Arte in France. It won Best Drama in NZ in 2021.[citation needed]
According to IMDB Smith has created or co-created 70 television series in New Zealand and Australia, making him Australasia's leading television creative. He was previously a journalist at the New Zealand Herald. He left to join the Financial Times where he worked as a foreign correspondent from war-plagued nations including Burundi and Rwanda .[4] He was the Financial Times correspondent based in Tanzania, East Africa.[5]
Smith was later a journalist at TVNZ and broke the "Bad Blood Scandal" - an award-winning news investigation.[citation needed] He was the presenter of the Wednesday Wire at Auckland's student radio station BFM for three years.[citation needed] He worked for TVNZ in London and covered the Romanian revolution and also reported from Hungary.[citation needed] He won a New York Film and Television Award for his reporting on the Vulcan volcano eruption in Papua New Guinea.[6]
He was the bass player in alternative band This Nations Dreaming which won single of the year in 1990.[citation needed]
Smith formed his first television company Uplink Sport with sports presenter Phillip Leishman. He sold the company to UK based sports marketing company Sportsworld Media.[7] He started up a second television production company, Great Southern Television in 2002 with retailer Sir David Levene.[8] The company produces drama, factual and entertainment shows globally.
Personal life
[edit]As of 2006, Smith lived in Queenstown with his wife, Leanne Malcolm, a radio and television broadcaster, and their son.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ "Company". Great Southern Television. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
- ^ "Contact". Great Southern Television. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
- ^ "SPADA Conference: Key Industry Awards Presented". Scoop. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
- ^ "Philip Smith". NZ On Screen. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
- ^ "Philip Smith - Great Southern Producer Interview". NZ On Screen. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
- ^ "The new heroes of New Zealand TV". Idealog. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
- ^ "Sportsworld Acquires New Zealand Presence". Scoop. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
- ^ "Philip Smith - Great Southern Producer Interview". NZ On Screen. Retrieved 2016-02-29.
- ^ "The new heroes of New Zealand TV". Idealog. Archived from the original on 7 July 2018. Retrieved 2016-02-29.