Christie herself has been at the scene this week of the Phillips confrontation in Waikato, alongside several members of her documentary crew, including at least one camera operator and former TV3 journalist Karen Rutherford.<\/p>\n
A documentary cameraman, believed to be linked to producer Dame Julie Christie, follows Acting Deputy Commissioner Jill Rogers and Detective Senior Sergeant Andy Saunders near the scene where Tom Phillips died. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
One journalist told Media Insider that members of the crew had been allowed through the cordon on Tuesday evening and, for at least two hours, were working at the scene where Phillips shot a police constable at close range, before the father-of-three was shot dead by other officers. <\/p>\n
Christie herself was behind the cordons, the journalist said.<\/p>\n
The crew had also been given up-close, exclusive access to senior officers during the day, the journalist said.<\/p>\n
With the story of the Phillips family attracting global headlines and interest, the Herald understands that the documentary, which has been in the works for many months, has an international network lined up, of the likes of Netflix or similar.<\/p>\n
The Herald called Christie – one of our most renowned TV producers who now heads production firm NHNZ Worldwide – on Tuesday evening to discuss the documentary, but she did not pick up. <\/p>\n
In a response to a follow-up text message, she wrote: \u201cI\u2019ve been doing police follow docs for 32 years. We\u2019ve been working on this one all year and through much of the investigation. It\u2019s really important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
She did not respond to a follow-up question about whether the documentary was for Netflix.<\/p>\n
Christie is one of New Zealand\u2019s most successful business leaders – a former newspaper sub-editor who later developed her own television company (Touchdown) and took many of her reality TV hits, including Treasure Island, to the world.<\/p>\n
TV producer Dame Julie Christie at a police checkpoint in Waikato this week. Photo \/ Michael Craig<\/p>\n
Growing irritation<\/p>\n
The Herald understands there is growing irritation among some media representatives on the ground in Waikato, concerned about the access that Christie and her crew are receiving.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kind of talk that\u2019s happening between all the reporters is why is this allowed to happen?\u201d said one journalist. \u201cWe\u2019re here for the public interest. They\u2019re there to make money. Why would the police be giving them such access? Maybe it\u2019s because the police are able to control the narrative somewhat.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police media and communications acting executive director Claire Trevett said in a statement on Wednesday morning: \u201cWe have had a follow-TV film crew from NHNZ Productions with our Op Curly team for most of this year. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs with all documentary or reality TV filming inside our operations, we have formal agreements that give police final say over any broadcast content, with all filming required to comply with any court orders or privacy laws. This production is not allowed to be broadcast before the completion of any IPCA, coronial or other inquiry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have only agreed to the police participation in this work \u2013 and the production company is responsible for their own requests of any other individuals.”<\/p>\n
Police Commisioner Richard Chambers and Police Minister Mark Mitchell address the media at Waikato Hospital, where an officer is recovering from gunshot wounds after being shot by Tom Phillips. Photo \/ Mike Scott <\/p>\n
The point that police have the power to veto any documentary content was also confirmed by Police Commissioner Richard Chambers on Newstalk ZB on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n
He was asked by ZB Drive host Heather du Plessis-Allan whether police would proceed with the documentary.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get approaches all the time from documentary makers … agreements are put in place that we retain control over content,\u201d said Chambers. \u201cThis is no different on this occasion; we\u2019ll give that thought going forward. Certainly [it is] a situation that has got a lot of global interest, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Du Plessis-Allan: \u201cRichard, how, how can you go ahead with the documentary? You\u2019ve got kids here who are traumatised, one of whom watched the father being shot, and it\u2019s not to say that that wasn\u2019t the right thing to do. But these kids need to get on with their lives, and if a documentary is released in years to come, it will only re-traumatise them and bring this all back up for them, won\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Chambers: \u201cWe\u2019re very mindful of the impact of this whole situation … our job is to certainly ensure that the children are given the best future that they can possibly have. So we\u2019re mindful of all of that. It\u2019s like any other occasion where we make a documentary; we always operate within the law, and we also always take on board all the privacy considerations. This situation is absolutely no different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dame Julie Christie and a cameraman at the scene near where Tom Phillips was shot. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
Du Plessis-Allan: \u201cIs it a possibility that you may pull the pin on it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Chambers: \u201cIt\u2019s too early to comment on that at all. The agreement in place allows police to maintain control of any information that has the potential to be shared. We\u2019ve shared a lot [generally] in the last couple of days … the public interest in the situation is global. We\u2019re very, very mindful of the impact of the information that we share. So it\u2019s too early to make determinations in that respect. We also have investigations ongoing … a long time to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police Minister\u2019s position<\/p>\n
Police Minister Mark Mitchell indicated today he did not have an issue with the Christie documentary, but the priority was the welfare and support for Tom Phillips\u2019 children.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve been making a doco and following the story now for a while,\u201d Mitchell told Newstalk ZB\u2019s Mike Hosking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve gone through all the correct protocols and made sure that they have done things the right way. <\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, there are some things they have access to – some areas and some people – and obviously, where it\u2019s appropriate, access is blocked. From what I understand, they\u2019ve gone through all the correct protocols to be able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kill doco \u2018immediately\u2019 – HDPA<\/p>\n
In her own opinion piece last night, du Plessis-Allan told listeners that the documentary needed to be \u201ckilled off immediately\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do not blame the police for saying yes to this documentary in the first place.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it hadn\u2019t ended this way – with Tom Phillips trying to kill a police officer and then being shot dead in response in front of his daughter – it might have actually been a good idea to do this documentary.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt might have shown the efforts that the police have gone to over the last four years to track him down, the consideration that they\u2019ve put into it, the care that they\u2019ve taken. It might actually have been really good PR for the police.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut now, what it is, is mainly just a threat to these kids\u2019 future.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is going to be hard enough for these children to find a way to be normal in a country that is obsessed with what has happened to them over the last four years.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time that this documentary comes out – it might be two years, five years, 10 years, who knows, because documentaries aren\u2019t put together fast – who knows?\u201d<\/p>\n
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand\u2019s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Christie herself has been at the scene this week of the Phillips confrontation in Waikato, alongside several members…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[542,4057,682,14908,3043,14899,14903,14902,14900,2947,859,1017,3273,1454,13640,2936,702,14898,14910,3223,14909,1073,3025,111,43,139,69,90,193,10936,675,14906,4984,14904,6045,5970,14901,312,3271,14907,5134,437,14905,102,2963],"class_list":["post-12560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-access","tag-behind","tag-being","tag-businesswomen","tag-call","tag-christie","tag-commissioner","tag-cordons","tag-crew","tag-dame","tag-documentary","tag-exclusive","tag-future","tag-immediately","tag-important","tag-insider","tag-it","tag-julie","tag-kill","tag-legend","tag-me","tag-media","tag-most","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-other","tag-phillips","tag-police","tag-proceed","tag-producing","tag-questioned","tag-reality","tag-really","tag-receives","tag-says","tag-should","tag-successful","tag-tom","tag-tv","tag-whether","tag-with","tag-zealands"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}