David Haslingden’s newly-acquired stable of production houses — NHNZ (Natural History New Zealand), Singapore-based Beach House Pictures and Northern Pictures — walked away with a slew of awards at the New York Festivals Television and Film Awards this year, gaining four gold and two silver awards.

_{Host Peter Elliott in Primeval New Zealand}

NHNZ took the top prize in the Television Documentary/Information Program Nature & Wildlife category with Primeval New Zealand, produced in association with NHK for TVNZ with funding from NZ on Air. Primeval New Zealand was also a winner at last year’s Asian Television Awards for Best Natural History/Wildlife Programme.

TVNZ commissioner Jude Callen says, “Primeval New Zealand was one of TVNZ’s first local forays back into the natural history genre for many years and we were thrilled that it struck a real chord with our TV ONE audience when we first screened it in January last year. To then go on and get such a strong and positive international response is hugely satisfying especially for a documentary that has such a strong Kiwi accent. Our story about our unique country and the weird and wonderful creatures that made it home has gone global.”

Beach House Pictures’(BHP) Mao’s Cold War series, produced for Discovery Channel Asia, reaped two golds: the China vs India episode gained the top prize for Television – Craft: Program Best Writing, and the China vs USA episode won the Television Documentary/Information Program History & Society category. BHP’s The Great Elephant Gathering, co-produced with Off the Fence for National Geographic Channel, won silver for Television – Documentary/Information Program Nature & Wildlife. 

Northern Pictures, with co-producer Fredbird Entertainment, won two prizes for its Once Upon a Time in Cabramatta series for SBS TV: the Silver World Medal and the United Nations Department of Public Information Gold Award in the Community Portraits category. The series was produced with development and production assistance from Screen Australia, Screen Qld and Screen NSW.

Managing Director of Haslingden’s stable, Sue Clothier, says it’s terrific to have such a close-knit group of production houses doing so well together, and building a great reputation.

“Northern Pictures, NHNZ and BHP are all independent production houses, and we each offer our key broadcast markets something different. But the quality of our work is the same: great stories with strong production values, so that, as a group, we are unstoppable. And results like this just prove the point.”