August 2007
Monthly Archive
Sat 4 Aug 2007
Only weeks after winning awards in Los Angeles, the locally produced TV
series “Henderson to Hollywood” won at the Air New Zealand Screen awards
last night.Episodes eight and nine of the nine part series, recently re-screened on TV2
on Saturday mornings, won the “best reality series” at last night’s awards.
The series follows the local Tongan group Spacifix, from their Henderson
neighbourhood, right through to a meeting with senior executives at Motown
Records in Los Angeles. The eight member group composes most of its own
music and has released a debut album “Much Love” and three singles including
the top 20 hit “Sunshine Day.”
The series was made with funding under the charter agreement between
Government and TVNZ.
The award was presented to Ondrej Havas, CEO of Omnicron Productions in
Auckland, who produced the series.
Omnicron, a boutique film production company has a 26 year history of film
making and has won a raft of international and local awards in that time.
Ondrej Havas said this latest series was real in every way.
“Nothing was contrived. We followed the journey of a group of guys wanting
to take their unique music to the World. There was no guarantee of the
outcome. It could have been tragic, sublime or somewhere in between. And
like most things in real life it was on the encouraging side of in-between.
He joked that without the support of TVNZ and Air New Zealand, the series
might have been titled “Henderson to Kaitaia.”
“The people in these two organizations saw the talent in Spacifix and knew
the group would go places,” he said.
“The reality of the series ultimately captured the facts of what is required
to sell yourself musically. It’s hard work, persistence and making the most
of your breaks.”
“Henderson To Hollywood” is currently being sold internationally.
Mr Havas said his company is considering a second series given the success
of the first and the subsequent rise in popularity of Spacifix.
“This week Spacifix is the opening act for top international star Christina
Aguilera. There is no doubt the boys are on their way to an international
career,” he said.
US Honours
In May, the same series was recognized at the 28th annual USA Telly Awards
held in Los Angeles.
The awards recognize World excellence in video and film productions. Silver
awards are the highest category, followed by bronze for runners-up.
Omnicron won two bronze awards for “Henderson to Hollywood” episodes.
In 2005, the company also won a “gold camera” award for best corporate
video.
Omnicron was established 26 years ago. Apart from TVNZ, it was the only TV
production company listed in the Auckland phone book at that time, that is
still producing today.
ENDS