Unaccustomed though I am to shameless self-promotion...

I have had commentary pieces published in the Listener as well as the sadly-defunct Evening Post and City Voice, and have spent two and a half years at the Hagley Theatre Company in Christchurch. There I trained in acting, directing, and writing for the stage and screen, as well as miscellaneous vaguely embarrasing facets of dance and physical theatre. This was all in the aid of a notion I had (and continue to have) that anyone who has aspirations to excel behind a camera ought to know damn well just what life is like in front of one. While at Hagley, I performed to what I'll call quiet acclaim in a succession of roles, many but not all of which were variations on the theme of "sinister old man with visual impairment". I also directed a 45-minute adaptation of Martin Crimp's Attempts On Her Life, subjecting actors to all manner of taxing physical procedures and rewarding them with the chance to perform in a multimedia audiovisual extravaganza that was drastically underpublicised for reasons I shall take responsibility for without elaborating upon.

More recently I have been learning the more technical elements of the cinematic craft at the New Zealand Film And Television School. There I directed various pieces of documentary, music video and drama, the more worthy of which can be seen elsewhere on this site; I also wrote two of the three graduation films for my year, which were produced and directed and featured such luminaries of the New Zealand screen as Matt Chamberlin, Sylvia Rand, Jamie McKaskill, and Jed Brophy (whose todger I am just old enough to have seen on primetime television).

Since then I have been occupying myself in various capacities as a freelance writer, editor and producer/director of promotional material for clients such as the Fringe Festival and the Chapman-Tripp Theatre Awards. These projects have utilised my writing and editing skills in ways I'm very grateful for, as these are the sort of things that one can never learn too much of.

If you've read this far, I will secretly admit that I do indeed really like directing; my passions for the storytelling power of a good script or cut cannot be denied, but my curse is that nobody - I assure you nobody - in the next generation of New Zealand film enthusiasts has a deeper respect for the actor's craft than I. I don't generally market myself as a director though - I mean, everyone's a director, right?
I urge interested parties to download my cv, available here; I am always eager to send out copies of my showreel, and will do so at the slightest hint of a request. But more so, if you are interested in ways in which I might be of use to you (and I assure you I might), don't hesitate to contact me...


- Tom Goulter