Sarah Cook

How long have you been in screen production and how did you get started?

I have been in the industry since 1999 and got my big break when my boyfriend-at-the-time started a production company with his friend. There is a prize if any reader can guess the production company & which of the two partners I was knocking boots with way back then.

Prior to that, my trajectory was pretty standard. I dropped out of University, started waitressing, started cooking, moved to Auckland, had a catering company for a short time doing a bit of film & TVC work and then started at the above not-mentioned production company knowing less than nothing about making TVC’s.

I taught myself to touch type using Mavis Beacon and smoked a lot of Marlboros.

Why did you choose film/TV as a career?

I had always wanted some sort of career in television/film/journalism but growing up a shy, Catholic girl in the 80’s & 90’s in Wellington, this industry wasn’t a world I knew how to gain access to aside from a tragic BG extra role in a DEKA commercial directed by Lee Tamahori around 1989. That was a good way to find out how useless I was in front of the camera.

What has experience taught you that study couldn’t?

I often think about study vs. work experience in this industry and how lucky those of us who didn’t have an inkling about a career are to have wound up being involved in this business. I think experience taught me that in the TVC & film industry, you require a thick skin and the ability to stay awake for long hours.

Are you able to make a living in the industry or do you also work outside of it?

I am super lucky to make a living solely from working on TVC’s & films which is fortunate cos I have no other skills to pay the bills. I’m pretty much always busy. Or pretending to look busy. Nobody can tell the difference now cos I’m so old & have been doing this for so long.

What have you learnt about your department as a whole? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your department?

I love Production. We get to listen to other peoples problems all day then try to solve them! I don’t know what the other departments & crew think of us. They probably think we are Gods. We can move mountains, feed hundreds from a few morsels, we can predict weather & camera wrap, we can do maths and we never sleep. So yeah, we’re kind of God-like.

How easy or hard is it as a newbie in the industry? What are attitudes of other crew like to you?

This year has probably been amazing for Newbies! If it’s busy, they have way more chance of getting a foot in. I do believe it’s who you know but you also have to be a rad, hard-working person.

What strengths do you think the NZ industry has? What could contribute to a more sustainable industry?

I’m biased but I think we have some incredibly strong, creative & smart female Producers, Writers & Directors in our industry. I’ve just worked with a bunch on ‘The Breaker Upperers’. Producers, the dudes as well, could do with some more support (whenever I say support, I mean money). It’s pretty hard to make a living for some producers in film. I have a hard time with all the crowd funding that’s required to make films here. The word ‘industry’ to me, denotes some sort of economic activity (I googled that) therefore people should be getting paid. I don’t mean we should all be making millions & millions but enough to get by, be happy & healthy.