Philippa Campbell

Philippa Campbell is a New Zealand film and television producer and the Literary Manager at the Auckland Theatre Company.

Theatre

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Philippa Campbell began her career in the theatre as an actor and director in the 1980s. In 1981, she was involved in establishing Taki Rua in Wellington, the first professional theatre dedicated to New Zealand theatre and a key venue for indigenous and bicultural performances and theatrical development through the 1980s and 1990s.[1] She was a member of Downstage Theatre Company.[2] Campbell directed and helped to establish the Frontline theatre company.[2]

Campbell has a long association with the New Zealand International Arts Festival, having worked on many productions commissioned by the festival, and has worked with well-known New Zealand playwrights including Hone Kouka, Briar Grace Smith, Victor Rodger, and Theatre at Large.[2]

Campbell has been the dramaturge for two chamber operas and the aerial pageant show Maui.[3]

Since November 2008, Campbell has been the Auckland Theatre Company's Literary Manager.[2][4][5]

Campbell has a history of working with Wellington-based percussion group Strike, including directing their 2013 show Between Zero and One.[6]

Film and television

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For several years in the 1980s, Campbell ran Television New Zealand's in-house Drama Department Script Unit, editing over 100 hours of television drama.[2] Some of Campbell script editing credits include New Zealand television shows and feature films such as Marlin Bay (1992-94), Mirror, Mirror (1995), Bread and Roses (1993), Erua (1988), Maurice Gee's The Fire Raiser (1986), and the award-winning Erebus: the Aftermath, which was written by Greg McGee. In 1988, she departed TVNZ to forge an independent career in television and film as a writer, script consultant, and development executive.[2][7]

Campbell made a break into screen producing with the Banff Television Festival nominee for best drama, Swimming Lessons in 1995, written by Simon Wilson and directed by Steve LaHood.[2]

Campbell's first feature film as producer was Via Satellite in 1998 (winner of two New Zealand Screen Awards), written and directed by Anthony McCarten, and produced by Campbell's new company, Escapade Pictures.[2]

She followed up Via Satellite by producing Christine Jeffs' acclaimed Rain, which premiered in Director’s Fortnight in Cannes in 2002 and was nominated for Best Film at the 2001 New Zealand Film Awards.[2][8][9][7]

In 2006 Campbell co-produced No. 2 (released in North America under the title Naming Number Two), written and directed by Toa Fraser. Starring Academy Award nominee Ruby Dee, the film won the Audience Award in the 2006 Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Dramatic section, the Audience Award at the Brisbane International Film Festival, four awards at the New Zealand Film Awards, and featured in gala screenings at the London Film Festival.[7]

In 2007, Campbell produced Jonathan King's comic-horror film Black Sheep, an audience favourite at the Toronto International Film Festival. Black Sheep is the second-highest grossing New Zealand film in the UK, and the highest grossing New Zealand horror film in New Zealand.[7][2]

Following Black Sheep, Campbell was included in Variety magazine’s “10 Producers to Watch” list for 2007.[7]

In 2008, Campbell produced Florian Habicht’s documentary Rubbings From a Live Man, performed by Warwick Broadhead, which was nominated for Best Picture (budget under $1 million) at the 2008 Qantas Film and Television Awards. After Rubbings from a Live Man, Campbell produced a short film directed by Dan Salmon, Licked.[2]

Campbell produced season 1 and 2 of Jane Campion's 2013/2017 television miniseries Top of the Lake, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.[10] Top of the Lake won an Emmy Award, two Golden Globes, and a New Zealand Film Award.

Campbell has consulted to screen production development workshops in New Zealand, Australia, India, and Italy.[citation needed]

Campbell then went on to work on a number of creative projects including Shiver,[7] set in Antarctica, The Beach of Falesa, adapted from the novella by Robert Louis Stevenson.[citation needed] She is the Executive Producer for Paolo Rotundo's film Orphans and Kingdoms.[11]

In 2015, Campbell formed a new Auckland-based production company, Field Theory, with producers Fiona Copeland and Tim Sanders, chief executive Lyoyd Meiklejohn, and consultant Michael Eldred.[12]

In June 2021, Campbell was announced as a producer of They Are Us, a film based on the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings. Following public outcry, she initially defended the film while acknowledging the challenges,[13] but she later quit.[14]

Biographical information

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Philippa Campbell was born in 1955 in Auckland, New Zealand and grew up in Lower Hutt and Wellington, New Zealand. Campbell attended Hutt Valley High School and has a B.A. in English Literature, Philosophy, and Drama from Victoria University of Wellington. She is an acting graduate of Toi Whakaari: The New Zealand Drama School, having graduated in 1977.[15][16]

Campbell is married to journalist Simon Wilson and lives in Auckland, New Zealand. They have two sons.[17]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title[18] Role Notes
1992 The Wall Script editor Short film
1998 Via Satellite Producer
2001 Rain Producer
2001 No. 2 Producer
2007 Black Sheep Producer
2008 Rubbings from a Live Man Producer, Co-Creator
2014 Orphans and Kingdoms Executive Producer
2017 The Inland Road Executive Producer
2024 The Moon Is Upside Down Producer [19]

Television

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Year Title[18] Role Notes
1981–1997 Wild South Script editor
1982 Loose Enz - Erod and Psyche Actor Campbell only acting credits
1984–85 Country GP Script editor
1986 The Fire-Raiser Script editor based on the book by Maurice Gee
1988 Erua Script editor Based on the friendship between artist Toss Woollaston and a young Māori boy
1989 The Shadow Trader Script consultant Miniseries
2014 The Champion - Yankee Soldier Script editor based on the book by Maurice Gee
1989 Under the Ice Script editor Miniseries
1992 Masters of Inner Space Script editor documentary
1992–94 Marlin Bay Script editor
1992 Emperors of Antarctica Script editor documentary
1993 Joyful and Triumphant Script editor
1993 Bread and Roses Script editor Made for TV biographical based on autobiography of Sonja Davies
1995–97 Mirror, Mirror Script editor
1995 Swimming Lessons Associate Producer, Script editor
1998–2000 Backch@t Script editor Was the subject of the show for one episode
2012–13 Top of the Lake Producer New Zealand-based producer
2017 Top of the Lake 2: China Girl Producer New Zealand-based producer

References

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  1. ^ Smythe, John (2004). Downstage upfront : the first 40 years of New Zealand's longest-running professional theatre. Wellington, N.Z.: Victoria University Press. p. 245. ISBN 0-86473-489-1. OCLC 60386677.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Auckland Theatre Company Literary Manager appointed". The Big Idea. 30 September 2008. Retrieved 30 September 2008.
  3. ^ "New Zealand Theatre: theatre reviews, performance reviews - Theatreview". www.theatreview.org.nz. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  4. ^ "Philippa Campbell | Auckland Theatre Company". www.atc.co.nz. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  5. ^ "Staff - Auckland Theatre Company". www.atc.co.nz. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  6. ^ "Murray Hickman and Philippa Campbell". Radio New Zealand. 4 September 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Boland, Michaela (7 September 2006). "Philippa Campbell". Variety. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  8. ^ "'Stickmen' tops film award nominations". The New Zealand Herald. 17 October 2001. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  9. ^ "SpadaNews" (PDF). Spada. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  10. ^ "Campion's TV series top chance for more Emmys". Stuff. 21 September 2013. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  11. ^ "The Team". Orphans & Kingdoms. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  12. ^ "Field Theory New Zealand film and television production". fieldtheorymedia.com. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  13. ^ Barton, Monika (11 June 2021). "They Are Us producer responds to 'too soon' backlash over Christchurch terror attack film". Newshub.
  14. ^ "Mosque attacks: Auckland-based producer Philippa Campbell withdraws from working on movie". RNZ. 14 June 2021.
  15. ^ "Philippa Campbell - Auckland Theatre Company". www.atc.co.nz. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  16. ^ "Graduate". www.toiwhakaari.ac.nz. Retrieved 2021-08-09.
  17. ^ Greive, Duncan (15 September 2015). "An Exit Interview with Simon Wilson, Editor of Metro 2010-2015". The Spinoff. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  18. ^ a b "Philippa Campbell | NZ on Screen".
  19. ^ Casey, Alex (2 May 2024). "The star-studded New Zealand movie you need to see as soon as possible". The Spinoff. Archived from the original on 5 July 2024. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
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