Will Hall: Former Shortland Street actor on TVNZ potentially cutting jobs from the show

TVNZ has indicated consultations are under way with Shortland Street staff - and there's growing concern around possible job cuts.

It comes as TVNZ made the move to cut the series from screening five nights a week to three, leading to fewer episodes being produced.

Former Shortland Street actor Will Hall says the industry is fraught with trepidation and there's limited job security - but he hopes no cuts will be made

"I hope we see the light and keep Shortland Street for what it is, there's a great foundation and I'd like to think there's still a place for the soaps, even in 2025."

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chatted today that at Shorten Street there might be some
jobs speaking of chopping blocks up on the chopping block.
This is at South Pacific Pictures, the production company that
produces Shortened Street TV and Z cut the show from
five down to three nights a week. If you watch it,
you might have noticed that cost them about twenty million
a year to make.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Now.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
One of the actors kee we actor Will Hall played
doctor Kip Denton on Shortened Street for three years and
he's with me, good ay.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Will Well, gooday, Ryan? How are you good?

Speaker 1 (00:30):
Thank you good to have you on the show. What
are you hearing about these job cuts?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Well, look, I just heard you a monologue there about
the meat lever in the and as well. It rings through,
doesn't it in the kitchinging of the entertainment industry and
like everything else. I guess I guess it's found its
way onto the chopping block, and something I never thought
i'd see in my lifetime. I don't remember a time
before Shortland Street, so I pray it survives.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
People talk about the ratings, so apparently at a peak
they were three hundred and fifty thousand. They're now third
of that. I mean, that's still as far as Kiwi
TV show shows goes, it's not bad.

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Yeah, But I've always wondered about those ratings. I mean,
does anyone ever knowing anyone that's had one of those
rating box on their TV? I know for hand on
Hard I've never met anyone, and I'm sure when I
was on the show, which was a long time ago,
we were talking about numbers of five hundred to six
hundred thousand. So the goalpost seem to always be moving
with what an acceptable number is. And even on post

(01:34):
Shalton Street, another SPP job I did on Nothing Trivial,
we were getting three hundred and something a week and
that was deemed unsuccessful, and you know, a year later,
two hundred was acceptable. So I don't know about all
these numbers and whether they're even that relevant.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
You sort of know they don't you, You know if
you're on a good show, because when you go down
the street or you go through an airport, people come
up to you and tell you about it, right, you
kind of get the vote.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Well, yeah, look absolutely like I was lucky with Shortened Street.
It was very popular. We were in the grip. The
nation was in a grip with a serial killer. Go
ground killing everyone. But that was just another way that
the actors are on the chopping block because you need
of a new week to week if you were going
to survive. If it wasn't on the casting, it could
be any one of the doctors or nurses or going

(02:21):
So Look, I mean, I think the arts is always
fraught with you know, trepidation and there's no security. But look,
I hope that we see the light and keep shortened
Street for what it is because it is a great foundation,
and I'd like to think there's still a place for
the soaps even in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
Yeah, I was going to ask, is it the end
of the world if it disappears? I mean, something organically
crops up, doesn't I mean there are people doing things
on TikTok and Facebook all sorts of different stuff these days.
Do we necessarily need a shortened street anymore?

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Look? I don't, I don't know, But you know, if
you're doing your tiktoks and you and you what have you,
and I might at risk of sounding like a dinosaur,
is that going to put you in great stead to
work on bigger projects when they come to our shores,
Like you know, Brad Pitt cruising around in Queenstown or
Jason Momoa every second week he seems to be making

(03:19):
a new movie here. So we need those industry professionals
who get their start on a shortened street to be
coming through the ranks and being able to step up
to those big jobs. Why when they arrive here? And
maybe maybe we do need to look at a different
way of presenting our quality work and look at those
streamer models and be pitching up and doing things for

(03:42):
Netflix and streamer services, because you know, Free to Wear
TV is struggling. But I'd like to think they're still
a place for shortened street. I mean, the numbers for
their online viewing still look good. I think it's just
got to remain simple, though, don't try to over complicate it.
There should be a place soap so I mean, I
don't know, but I probably sound a bit old, and

(04:03):
I just don't want to be watching TikTok I know
that much.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
What do you mean done over complicated it? What are
what are they doing? That's quite that's complicating it?

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Well, just in terms of I don't know whose idea
it was to cut it back to three nights a week,
but that instantly changes kind of the format for a
soap opera. A soap opera. When I was doing it,
it's always designed to you're kind of repeating the same
scenes three or four times a week. You'd be doing them,
but that's because you don't expect every viewer to be
watching it every night. And it's it's a bit of escapism,

(04:33):
and it's it's just simple. It's it's about families, it's
about relationships. It's well, someone told me that the idea
of the show was it was a show about women
for women and the men that flitter in and out
of their lives, and kept it as simple as that,
and it's all, yeah, it was. It was easy to
kind of formulate and make it. Well, you know, I'm
probably not the target audience for short story anymore, but

(04:55):
I don't, you know, I think that it should still
be There should still be a place for it, all right, Okay,
I would hope we're interesting. And there was a time
where it made all the money. I think, I believe it,
but it was making a lot of money.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
It did, and now it's costing twenty million a year
to make, but how much revenue, we're not actually sure. Well,
thank you very much. For coming on the show. It
sounds like you're sort of quite happily post Shortened Street.
Weill Hall, who's actor formerly on Shorten Street, is doctor
kept Denton for I think two or three years during
the serial killer days.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.