Julian Grimmond, Chair
Producer and director Julian Grimmond joined the Board of Trustees in October 2006 and was elected Chair in October 2008. Based in Queenstown in the South Island, Julian is an Emmy ® Award winning producer who brings extensive global production experience.
Julian's business interests include Mountain Film Unit Ltd, an internationally-focused production company and screen industry risk management specialists, Global Film Solutions Ltd,. Having produced with, engaged specialist consultants in and provided risk management services for partners in the USA, United Kingdom, Europe, North and South Africa, Central and South Asia, South America and the Middle East, Julian understands international production and New Zealand's competitive advantage.
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Sarah Cull
Sarah Cull joined the Board of Trustees in October 2008, representing the New Zealand Film Commission where she has held the position of Head of Business Affairs since 2005. In December 2008 she was appointed to the Board's Finance and Audit Committee.
Sarah's responsibilities at the Commission include developing and implementing its strategic business plans and new initiatives, including the new Screen Production Incentive Fund. She also manages the Large Budget Screen Production and Post-Production/Digital/Visual Effects incentive. Her role as Head of Business Affairs involves working closely with New Zealand producers in structuring production financing, including projects taking advantage of New Zealand's network of official co-production arrangements with other countries.
Sarah has over 10 years experience in the field of commercial law and prior to joining the Film Commission, she held various positions in the screen production industry including several years working in-house at a film production company.
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Julie Elstone
Julie Elstone joined the Board of Trustees in October 2006 bringing extensive experience working as a supervising and executive producer of television commercials, most recently with Silverscreen.
Having started her career in still photography, Julie moved into television as a facilities manager in 1981 and from there into film and television production as a production manager before concentrating on television commercials with Silverscreen Productions. Her TVC career has involved production and marketing work in Australia, South-east Asia and throughout New Zealand with a wide range of national and international clients. Based in Wellington, Julie is now a consultant producer. She is also a member of the Screen Production and Development Association (SPADA) and WIFT.
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Murray Francis
Murray Francis set up the first stand at the Locations Expo to promote New Zealand in the 1990s. He has been a strong advocate of New Zealand as a location and New Zealanders as crew ever since.
He comes from a Quantity Surveying background and has been involved with the film industry for most of his working life.
He has line produced feature films, including most recently The World's Fastest Indian and as Supervising Producer on the New Zealand location shoot for Roland Emmerich's 10,000 B.C. Through his company Film Business, Murray has produced numerous television commercials for clients throughout the world.
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KJ Jennings
Kevin (KJ) Jennings runs the Film Queenstown Film Office and is the Executive Manager of Film Otago Southland, a regional collaboration covering the southern half of the South Island of New Zealand.
As the Regional Film Office Representative on the Film New Zealand’s board of Trustees, he will foster an open line of communication throughout the network of regional film offices and Film New Zealand.
He is an active member of AFCI (Association of Film Commissioners International) and has been a speaker at their annual Cineposium conference. He will continue to nurture these valuable relationships with film offices from around the world.
He brings a wide variety of film industry experience to the position, previously working in both the production and art departments on TV Commercials and Feature Film. This gives him a valuable perspective on the detailed workings of the industry from the ground up.
Originally from Northern California, he has called Queenstown home for 20 years. Initially working on the start up of AJ Hackett Bungy in 1988; since then he has opened and operated a restaurant, established an exclusive guiding business, and currently organizes an annual Charity Mountain Bike Race.
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Garry Little
Garry Little is the Managing Director and founder of Digital Post Limited, New Zealand’s first Digital Film and Television Post Production Facility.
He started his career on leaving school in 1969 , as a Technical Cadet with the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation in Auckland, working in radio and television engineering.
During the 1970's, this background in electronics engineering at NZBC led him to work in sound, film, and television editing around the world, including TVI (London), and ABC Television (Sydney).
On his return to New Zealand in 1977, Garry worked briefly as a Video Editor with South Pacific Television (TV2) in Auckland, before taking up a position in 1978 as Senior Editor and Operations Manager with Vid-Com Limited, New Zealand's first video post production facility. As Senior Editor at Vid-Com, Garry worked on numerous International Award winning TVCs, and in 1986 won a Gold Camera Award in the U.S. Industrial Film Festival.
Garry retained his position at Vid-Com until September 1990, when he resigned to establish Digital Post, a company which has grown to become a leading and very successful company in the Australasian region. Garry is 58 years of age, has been married to Karen for 26 years, and has two adult daughters.
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Keith Mackenzie
Based in Wanaka in the South Island, Keith Mackenzie joined the Board of Trustees in October 2006 contributing his wealth of experience in production budgeting and accounting. In December 2006, Keith joined the Board's Finance and Audit Committee.
Keith worked as Production Accountant on numerous domestic and international productions including Never Say Die and The Piano before moving on to the Xena/Hercules TV series as Production Accountant, Controller and Supervisor. More recently, he has brought his skills to Boogeyman as financial consultant, assisted numerous producers with feature film budgeting, and provided New Zealand On Air with financial assessments on television dramas. Keith's financial expertise is widely employed in relation to the Large Budget Screen Production Grant scheme.
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Jos Ruffell
Heading up Business Development at New Zealand’s largest game production studio, Sidhe, Jos specializes in International Business Development in the Video Game and new media industries. Current responsibilities include new client development, working with studio management teams to set and execute on strategic direction, market development, contract negotiation along with coordinating studio marketing and PR. During his time at Sidhe, Jos has played a key role in securing projects from international media groups such as MTV and Warner Brothers and helped drive studio growth to over 100 employees. Having come from a start up background at an independent games studio and with over six years experience in the Games Industry, Jos is fully committed to growing and expanding the digital media industries within New Zealand.
Jos is also the Chairman of the New Zealand Games, Animation and Visual Effects Trust, who hold AnimfxNZ, an annual digital convergence event covering Games, Animation and Film Visual Effects based in Wellington.
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