Pacific stories take centre stage in new era of NZ screen industry

A Pacific screen industry advocate is celebrating the increasing recognition of Pacific-led content within Aotearoa’s filming sector.

As a Strategic Advisor at the New Zealand Film Commission, Dana Youngman believes the shift is long overdue.

Speaking to William Terite on Pacific Mornings, Youngman (Lotopa, Lalomanu, Afega in Sāmoa) says Pacific stories have become mainstream.

“When I started in the 90s, there was just Tagata Pasifika, and now we see ourselves in primetime,” she says.“With the success of Tinā in our cinemas … right now, we have the world’s attention. People are saying that we have the chops to take on the world.

“We’re even a priority for funders. Our stories are commercially successful, and people want to see more of us on screen.”

Tinā achieved the third biggest opening week for a New Zealand film, quickly surpassing $5 million in box office sales.

Youngman is confident that this momentum will continue.

“Our people are storytellers by nature. It is in our DNA. We know how to connect with audiences brilliantly, and I think that it is a really exciting time to be a Pacific storyteller.”

Watch the full interview with Dana Youngman below.

The rise of Pacific stories

Youngman, who has worked as a production assistant, producer, director, and network executive, says technological advances are empowering a new generation of creators.

“When I was first starting out in television, only the wealthy families had the camcorders,” she says.

“We now have access to platforms and cameras, so we can practise telling stories in a way that we never could.”

This change has led to “a surge of incredibly talented Pacific storytellers who are ready to hit the big time quickly, because they’ve had a camera in their hand and an edit suite in their bedroom since they were very, very young”.

Although the media industry has faced funding cuts and programme reductions over the past few years, Youngman insists that resilience has always been a key characteristic of the field.

A standing ovation for Tinā cast and crew at the Auckland premiere. Photo/File

“We’re all in a battle for eyeballs. It always has been [hard], and it takes grit and it takes determination,” she says.

“Nobody’s ever gotten rich doing what we do in this country. It is tough, and with commercial revenue stretched, it does mean that there are fewer dollars around, but it just means that the ideas have to be better and stronger in order to cut through.

“But from what I’ve seen in my career, the best ideas find their audience. They also find them with a very determined producer behind them.”

Bringing Pacific stories to the world

Youngman has an extensive work history that includes TV shows Good Morning, Whānau Living, and New Zealand’s Got Talent, as well as documentary Life After Footy - Legends of the Pacific, and short series Teine Sā and SIS, which both streamed on Neon.

In her current role at the Film Commission, Youngman says there are ongoing changes in direction and funding strategy.

JP Foliaki won the 2024 season of Celebrity Treasure Island. Photo/File

“We have just had Abba-Rose [Vaiaoga-Ioasa] join us, who is a very well-known Pacific filmmaker, into our funding team.

“People are interested in telling more stories that are of interest to families, we see with the success of Minecraft that kids getting their parents to the cinema is a real thing that’s happening.”

Youngman says Pacific representation is increasing on screen, including in some reality TV formats.

“In the last series of Celebrity Treasure Island, we had more Pacific representation than we've ever seen in reality TV, and I think it gave the series a distinct flavour and was incredibly popular.

“I'm not sure our families would be too happy to see us pop up on shows like Married at First Sight, but they have an audience and people do flock to those series.”