Philippa Campbell: Producer
Philippa Campbell began her career in the theatre as an actor and director during the renaissance of New Zealand playwriting in the 1980s. She ran TVNZ’s in-house Drama Department Script Unit for several years, leaving in 1988 to forge a career in television and film as a writer, script consultant and development executive.
She made a break into producing with the Banff Television Festival nominee for best drama, Swimming Lessons. Since then Philippa has produced Via Satellite (winner of two New Zealand Screen Awards), written and directed by Anthony McCarten, and Christine Jeff’s acclaimed Rain, which premiered in Director’s Fortnight in Cannes in 2002.
“One of my most memorable nights in the theatre was sitting at Bats in Wellington alongside three generations of an extremely excited Fijian Indian family, watching the play No.2. The place just went off. We laughed, we cried and for that night, we were all part of Nanna Maria’s family. Toa’s story, and his approach as a director, has woven a special kind of magic around the making of the film too. It’s been a privilege to be part of it. The film also captures the riches of the Mt. Roskill community which treated us with great generosity and was our central location.”
Philippa also produced the upcoming New Zealand comedic horror film Black Sheep, an audience favorite at this past year’s Toronto International Film Festival. It will be released in United States theaters on June 22nd, 2007. This past fall she was included in Variety’s “10 Producers to Watch” list and has several upcoming projects on her slate.