Page 63 - NZ Herefords Magazine 2019 Edition

The Country Calendar back story

WORDS KATE TAYLOR PHOTOGRAPHS CELIA JASPERS

HEREFORDS, HUNTAWAYS AND HORSES in the high country;
picture perfect for Country Calendar TV director Celia Jaspers.
With 12 episodes under her belt, the 2018 episode featuring
Routeburn Station is one of Celia’s favourites.
“Oh those mountains,” she says, “they really speak to me.
The weather was incredible and Stu and Anne [Percy] were such
delightful people. I really felt they let us into their lives. They
were reluctant stars who didn’t really want to be on TV. It was
just such a magical story. Hearing Tipene’s different perspective
was eye-opening [Sir Tipene O’Regan, Ngãi Tahu Mãori Trust
Board chairman]. It was just so powerful.
“I get really excited about great pictures, great sound and
a great story. That’s the trifecta. I just love it. The location was
perfect,” she reminisces.
“What a joy to be sent off to work in a place like that. The
crew just loved it. We all had a ball down there.”
Celia’s career started in children’s television. Working
weekends at What Now when she was at secondary school
morphed into an internship, followed by a trainee director ABOVE: Celia Jaspers works for Country Calendar from the property
she farms with husband Alastair and their two children in Wairarapa.
position. Six years doing children’s programmes at Avalon in
Wellington meant she often brushed shoulders with the Country up. But if we’re out mustering you generally let that go. We have
Calendar team. She had moved to a farm in Wairarapa with to be on the ball and get the first take through the gate because
husband Alastair when Julian O’Brien, the show’s new producer, that’s it. There are 1000 sheep that aren’t going to turn around
asked her to do a story just down the road. and do it again. But I have had to ask the occasional farmer to
“When that one was done they said, ‘here’s the next one’. I turn a mob around, ‘would you mind?’. I get a curse, a nod and
thought it was a one-off. I didn’t realise it was an ongoing thing I know there’s a grimace in there,” she says, laughing.
so I was thrilled. The production has a strong family culture and “But I tell them it’s going to make the best shot ever and I
is obviously a very cool show.” want it to look really awesome for them. They usually go with it.
There’s a huge team behind the Country Calendar But being a farmer I do understand the limits and I won’t ask if it
programmes that come on the screen every Sunday. As well as really is too much. But in the same breath, I know they will love
Julian, Dan Henry is associate producer, a director and also the the footage if we get the best shot we can.”
“voiceover guy”. The weather usually causes the most headaches for the
There are 10 directors around the country from different areas crew – not only with scheduling and getting great shots around
and different backgrounds, ranging from journalism to documentary rain, fog or wind, but there’s also no point filming a farmer at
making to children’s TV. Geographically, nine of the 10 directors lambing time in the middle of a cyclone, she says.
are in the North Island, so on any given week, Celia can find herself “We’re not the news, current affairs or reality TV. The camera
in Blenheim, Northland, Hawke’s Bay or the Routeburn. She can isn’t rolling all the time. It’s quite controlled and it’s quite a calm
be working on two or three stories at one time: working towards shoot compared with other shows. Country Calendar is at the
one, filming one, and one in post-production. pace of the farm and we’re respectful of the work they have to do
The story ideas appear from all over the place and start life sometimes as well. We get a sense of what’s going on and we don’t
with researcher Vivienne Jeffs. try to push anyone along. But you do need to get what you need
“She works out where they are, who they are and what’s to make a show and you also need to make sure that person has
happening; who the story is about, have they done anything on given you the best of themselves. We want our families to have a
television before, what’s going on. Then one of us is given the story great time … to walk away going ‘that was the coolest experience
and we go off and meet the people in the flesh, sitting around their and now we’ve got this great home video to show the family in the
kitchen table, having lots of cups of tea and going for a farm tour.” future’. I’m happy when people are proud of their episode. Families
After more planning, a three-strong camera crew (camera, change, farms change and here you have this lovely slice of history.”
sound and director) arrive on location. The aim is to capture Sometimes Country Calendar does retrospective episodes
farm life as it happens, but it doesn’t always go that smoothly. It where they delve into the archives and look back on an episode
certainly doesn’t always happen in the first take. from 20 years ago. “I love it when the son or daughter has been
“TV is made a certain way and our audience want to watch it in their gumboots as a kid and then a generation later they’re all
a certain way. So every now and again, you might ask a farmer grown up and running the farm with their own children. I think it
to step back and do something again because we need a close is such a cool contrast seeing that footage.”
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