Career Spotlight: Peter Roberts ANZSE

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After half a century in the film and television industry, Peter has worked across drama, documentary, news, sport, music, commercials, corporates, theatricals, and broadcast. Despite all of the technical and exhibition changes over the years, he observes that the art of storytelling, at its core, remains the same. As an editor, Peter is committed to delivering a director’s vision and strongly believes in both the collaborative nature of filmmaking and that empathy is crucial to the creative act.

In his late teens, not enjoying his work as a soda jerk at Harrods, a girlfriend took Peter to meet her friend Vivien Kubrick at home, where Peter expressed his desire to be a director like her dad, Stanley. Mr Kubrick was between movies and said he couldn’t offer him anything but that it was best to start from the ground up as a gofer. A hundred or so letters to companies listed in the Yellow Pages—noting the great man as a reference—eventually secured Peter a runner’s job at Soho’s Picture Palace Productions. After helping out as a 99th assistant director, location hunter, and casting assistant, Peter realised that directing (or even being on set) wasn’t for him. He gravitated to the basement cutting room and soon found an editor to take him on as an assistant.

As a London freelance assistant and assembly editor, Peter worked on documentaries for Arena, Omnibus, Chronicle, and The South Bank Show, as well as commercials, children’s television, and some short drama. During this period, he learnt his craft from working with London editors, directors and producers, including Roy Baird, Franc Roddam, Alan Parker, Piers Haggard, Molly Dineen and Alan Yentob, among many others.

Peter later married a New Zealander and left the UK. Meanwhile, he travelled across the USA, Mexico, Japan, China, Scandinavia, Russia, Australia, and Aotearoa New Zealand, supporting himself through various odd jobs — photographing for music magazines and travel articles, editing trailers in LA, instructing students in the basics of sound editing at a Mexico City film school, and teaching English behind a bar in Japan.

In Australia, he spent a year cutting for the ABC’s Four Corners, Nationwide, and National News. He also took the opportunity to learn video skills at Sydney’s Channel 7 as the current affairs film editor for their last functioning film crew.

Peter eventually settled in Auckland in December 1985, uncertain whether there was even a film industry to work in. Not even a day later, Alison MacLean rang him and asked him to cut her first television drama, Rud’s Wife (1986). By the middle of 1986, Peter had been offered work with TVNZ as it amalgamated its film and video editing departments. His task was to work across all departments and help people understand that it was perfectly possible to be both a video and a film editor. As a result, he experienced almost every department, including Māori, children’s, sports, promos, drama, news, and documentary, as a kind of piggy-in-the-middle between the two editing groups. 

In 1992, Peter co-founded Broadway Post with Bill Toepfer and VTR Ltd, becoming the first in Aotearoa to purchase the state-of-the-art Avid editing system. This marked the beginning of a prolific freelance career spanning documentary, television, and feature film. Early in his career, he collaborated extensively with director Robyn Scott-Vincent, working together on more than two dozen television documentaries.

One of his most notable early projects was Stewart Mains’ God, Sreenu and Me (2000). The documentary took an unconventional approach to storytelling, creating a fictionalised love story within the documentary. His work earned him the Best Non-Drama Editing Award at the 2002 TV Guide Television Awards.

Peter moved into feature film editing with 50 Ways of Saying Fabulous (2005), followed by projects including The Most Fun You Can Have Dying (2012), The Dark Horse (2014), and Hip Hop-eration (2014). His work on The Dark Horse, directed by James Napier Robertson, was particularly significant. After the original editor needed assistance with the large volume of footage, Peter joined the project and helped shape the film, which went on to win six Moa Awards and receive international recognition.

His career has continued across both drama and documentary, with credits including Harry (2013), Cleverman (2016), Jean (2016), Savage (2020), The Panthers (2021), Stylebender (2023), and Pike River (2025). In the late 90s, he co-founded the Auckland post-production company RPM Pictures Ltd, which operated until 2022. Across more than three decades, Peter has established himself as one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s experienced and versatile film and television editors.

Peter was one of the first editors to join DEGANZ back when it was still called the Screen Directors Guild and was first extending its membership to editors. He quickly joined the board and spent a decade taking turns as an editor representative, Treasurer, and was the first editor to serve as President. Peter recommends that all New Zealand editors join the guild to gain strength in numbers.

He has also served a key role in the establishment of DEGANZ’s Aotearoa New Zealand Screen Editors (ANZSE) Accreditation, continuing his advocacy for recognising editors’ mahi on an international scale. Peter is one of three currently accredited editors and serves on the ANZSE committee.

 

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How’s Theatrical Doing?

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The New Zealand International Film Festival kicked off last night with the screening of Big Girls Don’t Cry, directed by Paloma Schneiderman. A very accomplished and cinematic execution by a first-time feature filmmaker.

The programme has expanded from last year’s, with more than 130 films showing in Auckland. Prior to COVID, the number of films screening was over 200, which helps to illustrate how tough it has been for NZIFF to get back on its feet. COVID impacted the Melbourne International Film Festival just as severely.

With the changing viewer habits of audiences, along with the incredible growth of streamers and other online content channels like YouTube, it’s still proving hard to get people back into cinemas to pre-COVID levels.

The incredible success of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, which has taken close to US$700 million worldwide in just two weeks, seems to fly in the face of naysayers about the health of cinema. But it is Christopher Nolan, it is an event film shot on IMAX, and it has a swirling mass of controversy around it that clearly helps its marketing, together with the US$150 million or so that Universal has spent pushing it.

A more interesting perspective is given by Olivia Wilde’s The Invite; a ‘small’ film adapted from a play. While the budget is not known, it sold to A24 at Sundance in a bidding war for US$12 million for domestic (US) rights. A guess would put it in the US$10 – 20 million budget range. The Invite is a month into its theatrical release and has made US$32 million so far. Some reviewers have said that it’s the kind of Hollywood indie drama that wasn’t getting made anymore, so it’s proving surprising.

A look at NZ’s box office gross (US$) from the year prior to COVID adds additional insight:

 

Total Gross%± LYReleasesAverage#1 Release
2026$55,746,577–706$78,961Michael
2025$88,342,903+0.6%1,341$65,878A Minecraft Movie
2024$87,784,785-10.4%1,038$84,571Inside Out 2
2023$98,011,323+9.8%852$115,036Barbie
2022$89,227,396+37.5%737$121,068Avatar: The Way of Water
2021$64,881,995+0.4%737$88,035F9: The Fast Saga
2020$64,630,524-47.6%750$86,174The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
2019$123,284,717+6.7%656$187,934Avengers: Endgame

You could hazard a guess that 2026 will top 2025’s take, but it’s still a long way off 2019’s number. The No. 1 release for each year, though, tells you how important it is for Hollywood blockbusters to get it right, even if more films like The Invite get made. There is concern, however, that the Hollywood takeover by tech giants is going to negatively impact theatrical.

The tech firms, who for the most part see some value in theatrical, are much more interested in generating subscribers and revenue from their digital platforms. It’s pretty much accepted, therefore, that theatrical will continue to contract, but at what pace is uncertain.

In New Zealand, theatrical still has an important part to play for Kiwi filmmakers—it’s difficult to get NZFC funding without a commitment to theatrical distribution. The up to $500k grant and willingness to experiment around the $1 million mark provides wriggle room. But once you are over a million, it’s theatrical upfront or nothing for now. And that’s all there is as far as Christopher Nolan is concerned.

Nolan is renowned for refusing to work with streamers, saying that movies belong on the big screen. Thankfully for him, he has the talent and the ability to ensure that his movies show there. But not everybody is as fortunate.

NZIFF and other festivals provide a welcome opportunity for New Zealand and other independent filmmakers to get their films seen on big screens in front of an audience.

Long may they continue.

 

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

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Different Pathways

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The Big Screen Symposium has run its course for another year. This time around, it had an emphasis on local content makers on the big and small screen, with micro-budget productions getting a good share of the limelight.

I moderated a session with DEGANZ director member Callum Devlin and actor and director Chelsea Preston-Crayford, who took wildly different pathways to their debut features.

Callum did it in a collaborative, micro-budget effort with his creative partners on The Weed Eaters, while Chelsea took the more traditional development and production path with Film Commission funding on Caterpillar.

In another session, Daniel Betty (What Lies Between), Matt Hicks (The Tavern), and Tom Levesque and Eva Trebilco (Shut Eye, Notes From A Fish) spoke about the trials, tribulations and joys of making, marketing and distributing their own micro/low-budget films.

In 2024, we ran a session on low-budget feature filmmaking with Tom Levesque (Shut Eye), former DEGANZ board member Michael Duignan (The Paragon) and Tom Sainsbury (Loop Track), who spoke about the production of their self-funded features for less than $500k.

The approach outside the traditional funding body path is more prevalent than ever. Government funding for films is tightening, and financing productions through traditional means is becoming harder.

But it’s not just on the big screen where filmmakers are finding their way forward.

The incredible success of YouTuber Curry Barker with horror feature Obsession, made on a reported “micro-budget” of US$750k for a box office gross of US$400 million plus, has driven Hollywood studio offers for him to direct. His feature opportunity came off the back of his YouTube channel short, The Chair, which attracted the attention of Obsession’s US producer James Harris.

YouTubers Viva La Dirt League, who operate out of their fan-funded $4.2 million studio lot in Henderson West Auckland, are intent on a similar pathway from YouTube to feature.

Back in 2009, Uruguayan Fede Alvarez, director of the Evil Dead remake for Rob Tappert and Sam Raimi and which was shot here, got the offer to make his debut feature because of his YouTube short Ataque de Pánico!.

The traditional path of film shorts to features has paid off, too.

Jackie van Beek’s trajectory came off the back of multiple film shorts that led to her first feature Inland Road, before going on to her now successful career as a director of film, TV and commercials.

Also at BSS, Kiwi director James Ashcroft spoke about his pathway from shorts to features, starting with his low-budget NZFC debut feature Coming Home In The Dark. This led to directing films with John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush (The Rule of Jenny Penn), Robert De Niro (Whisper Man), and most recently Emilia Clark and Natascha McElhone (When Darkness Loves Us).

The landscape for feature filmmaking has certainly changed, but the number of pathways to making that first film has expanded. All you need is bloody-minded perseverance and a little bit of luck.

Making that first film, however, isn’t always a precursor to career success as a filmmaker, even if you’re talented. So celebrate the achievement if you do it. Every film that gets made deserves it, whether or not it’s a hit.

 

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

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Documenting Winners

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Last night I attended the Doc Edge Awards 2026, which recognised the best New Zealand and international documentaries submitted to the fest, along with some special awards for contributions to documentary.

Chief among those was the Raye Freedman Legacy Award that went to DEGANZ board member and documentary maker Kim Webby.

This award recognises outstanding female storytellers in the documentary film industry. Kim is a deserved winner.

I’ve known Kim for more than 30 years, from the time she was a current affairs reporter at TVNZ, prior to her move into documentary-making.

As a reporter, she was principled and relentless. As a documentary maker, she has proven herself time and time again as a director and producer of factual TV and feature documentary. Her latest film Unlikely Kin, co-directed with DEGANZ member Mike Jonathan, is showing at Doc Edge over the next month. Don’t miss it.

There were many other notable acknowledgements, but the one I’d like to point out is the Doc Edge Superhero Award 2026 that went to editor Tim Woodhouse. Tim is the long-time collaborator of DEGANZ member, former board member, and NZ doco powerhouse Leanne Pooley.

Tim and Leanne have been a creative team across many of her films and her latest factual series, Choir Games. Perhaps most notable because of the recent passing of Kiwi icon Dame Jools Topp was their work on feature The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls, which won the hearts of NZ and international audiences alike.

Other key awards that stood out were those that went to Best New Zealand Project Desiderium: What Stood Here, created by Ellie Adams, and Best International Project The World Came Flooding In, created by Van Sowerwine and Isobel Knowles.

I haven’t kept my eye on immersive projects, even though I first noted them at the 2017 Cannes Film Fest when Alejandro González Iñárritu made history with his groundbreaking virtual reality project, Carne y Arena (Virtually Present, Physically Invisible). It was the first immersive work ever presented as an Official Selection at a major film festival.

Immersive has clearly come a long way. You can see the 12 projects on offer at Doc Edge, including the winners, at the Smith & Caughey’s building in the Auckland CBD. It runs daily from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM until July 12.

Even in these difficult times for the screen industry both domestically and internationally, it’s heartening to see that documentary is alive and well, as exhibited through the shorts and features selected for Doc Edge.

The struggle and passion for documentary storytelling, and the heartbreaking stories that get revealed through this medium, were on display last night. None more so than the film that won the Best New Zealand Documentary and Best New Zealand Editing Awards, featherStrength. Filmmaker John Earle, who documented his own journey to meet the relentless demands of raising a child with severe developmental challenges, was near wordless and close to tears both times he was acknowledged for his achievements.

I’ve yet to see the film, but it’s undoubtedly worth watching.

 

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

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Work Opportunities

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Every once in awhile we get contacted at the guild by producers or other individuals wanting recommendations for directors, editors or assistant editors.

And I can tell you, we do get contacted about Hollywood projects as well.

To be fair to all of our members, we are unable to make recommendations to these inquirers.

Rather, we refer them to our membership directory, where we tell them they can search for director, editor, assistant editor, and by genre.

Of course, if a member hasn’t filled out their profile in our directory, they miss getting considered for the opportunities that come along.

The next disadvantaged lot are those who don’t keep their profiles up to date, don’t include some detail about themselves, just put an external link to an outside website or streaming site, or even worse, a link that goes to a social media account that is private and requires a request to get access.

Yes, it’s only a click away, but there’s an opportunity to engage with a bio/filmography or statement and to talk directly to the visitor right there and then on the DEGANZ site, without making them do one more click before they learn something.

The old advertising maxims of The Hook, The Value Proposition, Proof and Credibility, and Call to Action are worth considering. Done properly, the directory visitor will really want to go where you want them to, to learn more about you and your work.

And don’t forget, people don’t necessarily contact us first. They can just go directly to our membership directory.

In the end, you are asking the interested party to consider you if there is even an inkling that you might be right for the role.

In our time-poor world, it’s easy for those scrolling through to blow someone off if they don’t find anything worthwhile immediately.

And that brings me to the headshot.

There’s debate about whether or not to include a headshot, with pros and cons. But one thing is de rigueur if you are going to include one: have it look as professional as possible. This doesn’t mean you should have a passport-style mugshot. There are ways to inject your personality into a good photo, particularly if you have someone who knows how to use a camera to do your shot for you.

Of course, if you are well known in New Zealand for what you do, then maybe it’s not so important that you have a good profile on our site.

But what if Hollywood, Europe or the UK come calling? Just saying…

 

Tui Ruwhiu
Executive Director

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