The University of Otago has appointed Emmy Award-winning Natural History New Zealand producer Ian McGee director of film-making.
The appointment will see Mr McGee share his time between mentoring masters students in science and natural history filmmaking students, and producing NHNZ programmes.
The appointment offered the best of both worlds, he said this week. ‘‘It's going to be fantastic.
‘‘ I'm constantly impressed with the talent of graduates from the course, many of whom are now employed at NHNZ,'' he said.
‘‘The chance to share my experience with new generations of filmmakers while retaining
involvement in the filmmaking process at NHNZ is a great opportunity.
‘‘Natural History has been working with university film graduates for the last few years. A lot of them are quite inspiring. They're so keen and bring so many new ideas to filmmaking,'' Mr McGee said.
The appointment reinforced a seven-year partnership between NHNZ and the university's Centre for Science Communication, which was now attracting aspiring film-makers from around the world, he said.
Centre of Science communications director Lloyd Davis said the support of NHNZ had seen the course flourish since its inception in 2001.
‘‘We're in the fortunate position of having a world-renowned production house in close proximity [and] NHNZ's involvement in the course has been pivotal to its success, helping to attract high-calibre students and elevating its reputation to one of the most hotly contested postgraduate courses in the world,'' Mr Davis said.
‘‘Our students will benefit immensely from Ian's expertise in natural history film-making. His pedigree is second to none.''
Mr McGee began his career as an entomologist, completing a master of science degree at Massey University. He came to Dunedin in 1990 to work with Television New Zealand's Natural History Unit as a researcher on renowned botanist David Bellamy's Moa's Ark series.
He also worked as a writer and producer at Taylormade Productions, before returning to NHNZ in 1996 to produce several documentaries, including the Twisted Tales series.
He won an Emmy Award in 1999 for Outstanding Achievement in a Craft in News and Documentary Programming Writers for Twisted Tales: The Bat.
The following year, Mr McGee and co-writer Quinn Berentson were nominated for an Emmy Award in the same category for Twisted Tales: The Rat.
Mr McGee also wrote and produced The Most Extreme series, which became a top-rating Animal Planet programme and earned another Emmy Award nomination in the Outstanding Achievement in a Craft in News and Documentary Programming and Graphic and Artistic Design categories.
NHNZ managing director Michael Stedman said the partnership between the company and the university would only benefit future New Zealand film-makers.
‘‘By sharing our expertise and resources, we're also helping to future-proof NHNZ by directly investing in the future of our next potential Emmy Award winner,'' he said.