Te Tai Tokerau screen producer Jason Taylor is passionate about story telling. Photo: Tai Huri Films
From celebrating waiata Māori in barber shops to capturing the work of a road maintenance team in Waitangi, 2024 has been a big year for Te Tai Tokerau screen producer Jason Taylor (Ngāti Maniapoto, Waikato, Ngāti Tama, Te Āti-Awa)
Through his company, Tai Huri films, the Whangārei-based film maker has been producing award-winning work since 2018.
This year he won the inaugural Emerging Producer Award at the SPADA Screen Industry Awards, which recognises the creativity, innovation, and dedication of up-and-coming producers.
The award replaced what was formerly the SPADA New Filmmaker of the Year. Taylor told Culture 101 it was an honour to receive it.
"It's been quite an intense five years of just back-to-back work to grow my capabilities as a producer. often that's quite a thankless job, which I've grown to understand. So to receive this SPADA award is quite reassuring that I am on the right path and that I am developing some awesome relationships with some really wonderful creative people," he said.
L-R: 2024 SPADA Emerging Producer Award Runner Up Joyce Wong, Rosie Hole (Hinterland), 2024 Emerging Producer Award Winner Jason Taylor Photo: SPADA/Marino Mariner
Jason Taylor graduated from UNITEC's Performing and Screen Arts program, before completing a Post-Graduate Diploma of Teaching from Victoria University of Wellington.
His first full time teaching post at Mautauri Bay Primary School in the Bay of Islands saw him find his voice as a filmmaker, and produce his first short film The Turning Tide, highlighting wasteful fishing practices.
"It wasn't something I was actively going out and looking for, it was just that I was inspired by the tamariki and by the community"
Producer Jason Taylor on location in Te Tai Tokerau Photo: Tai Huri Films
In 2018, he moved away from the mainstream education system to focus on working more closely within the community, as a filmmaker.
"I had been teaching for six years and I think I became one of the statistics of teachers leaving the profession, and that was a really hard decision for me to make, and one of the hardest parts of it was leaving the tamariki that I had connected with," he said
“But I was quite disheartened with the way the education system was going.
“I realised that I didn't have to be an educator in the system and that it was through storytelling that I could achieve that aspiration and I could do that on my own terms."
Taylor has been prolific in the filmmaking industry since then, and the Emerging Producer Award at this year's awards topped off another busy year.
Highlights have included his selection for the Proud Voices on Screen Producer Incubator programme and attending the prestigious 37° South Market as part of Melbourne International Film Festival.
Production of The Barber Shop Sessions, a factual music series, and the documentary series Hi Vis - both available across RNZ's digital platforms - was a new experience of digital-first content for younger audiences for Taylor.
The series His Vis follows a group of traffic management workers in the lead up to and over the week of Waitangi Day celebrations.
"It was very busy and quite challenging as a producer, but it was such a joyful experience with these traffic workers who were such hard-case, and we had a unique perspective of Waitangi Day, from the roads and I think that's something we have never seen before."
The documentary series HI VIS is among digital-first content for younger audiences produced by Jason Taylor and Tai Huri Films. Photo: Te Huri Films
Taylor is passionate about empowering rangatahi to tell their stories and contributing to the screen production industry in Aotearoa, and received a grant from the Screenrights Cultural Fund for his initiative 'Tāhuhu Stories', an idea he came up with during the Covid lockdown.
The marae-based documentary filmmaking wānanga provided rangatahi in remote parts of Te Tai Tokerau/the North Coast with the opportunity to learn and create in the screen industry.
The project combined Taylor's skills and passion for both teaching, and filmmaking, and was a catalyst for seeking funding for further work.
Jason Taylor was the recipient of the Emerging Producer Award at this year's SPADA Screen Industry Awards. Photo: Tai Huri Films
As for the future? Taylor has no plans to slow down in 2025.
Two animated series have received development funding from NZ On Air and Te Māngai Pāho, and two features in early development include the whimsical animated feature Ancestral Fusion and queer climate romance King Tide.
He is currently in production on his animated short, Mirumiru, funded through NZ Film Commissions Fresh Shorts programme.
