Bettina Hollings is a New Zealand television producer and media executive.

Biography

Hollings was born and raised in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

and moved to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

to study advertising and communications at the

Auckland Institute of Technology Auckland University of Technology (AUT) ( mi, Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makau Rau) is a university in New Zealand, formed on 1 January 2000 when a former technical college (originally established in 1895) was granted university status. AUT ...

(now AUT). After graduating, she worked as a media planner at the advertising agency Colenso for three years. In 1987, she moved to TV2 as a programmer. She was one of the creators of the long-running and highly successful soap opera ''

Shortland Street ''Shortland Street'' is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital, first broadcast on TVNZ 2 on 25 May 1992. It is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously ...

'' - in 1991 she advocated for a five-day-a-week local soap opera and convinced

Ruth Harley Ruth Elizabeth Harley is a New Zealand theatre, film and television executive. Early life and education Harley was born in Nelson, New Zealand and completed her secondary education at Nelson College for Girls. She graduated from the Univer ...

New Zealand on Air NZ On Air (NZOA; mi, Irirangi te Motu), formally the Broadcasting Commission, is an autonomous Crown entity and commission of the New Zealand Government responsible for funding support for broadcasting and creative works. The commission oper ...

to fund it.

South Pacific Pictures South Pacific Pictures is a New Zealand television production company. The company produces drama series, mini-series, telemovies and feature films for the domestic market and international market. SPP's largest property is ''Shortland Street'' ...

(owned by TVNZ) won the tender to deliver the show and Hollings suggested it be set in a hospital. Together with producer Caterina De Nave and writer

Jason Daniel Jason Daniel is an Australian writer and producer with extensive experience working in TV drama. Biography Daniel was a journalist before becoming a writer and story editor on ''Neighbours'', after which he created a number of long-running TV serie ...

she created the key characters. In 1995, Hollings moved to

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso *Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala *Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...

and developed factual reality shows such as ''Police Stop'' and ''Fresh-up in the Deep End.'' In March 1997, Hollings became the first woman to head a major television network in New Zealand, when she became the head of

Canwest Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place. It held radio, television broadcasting an ...

’s new channel C4. In 2004, she left the company and moved to New York to study at the

New York Film Academy New York Film Academy – School of Film and Acting (NYFA) is a private for-profit film school and acting school based in New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami. The New York Film Academy was founded in 1992 by Jerry Sherlock, a former film, t ...

. On returning to New Zealand, she became more active in creating TV content via her production company Imagination TV, founded in 2001. The company has introduced many reality shows to New Zealand viewers, including as ''

MasterChef New Zealand ''MasterChef New Zealand'' is a New Zealand competitive reality television cooking show based on the original British version of ''MasterChef''. The first episode aired on 3 February 2010 at 7:30pm on TV One. Throughout its history, the show ha ...

'', '' New Zealand's Got Talent'', '' Stars in their Eyes'', ''My Kitchen Rules'' and ''

Grand Designs ''Grand Designs'' is a British television series produced by Boundless and broadcast on Channel 4 which features unusual and often elaborate architectural homebuilding projects. The programme has been presented by Kevin McCloud since it first ...

''. She has also worked on the TV series ''RSPCA Animal Rescue'' and ''Wild Life at the Zoo.''

Awards and recognition

* Queenstown Camera Company Entrepreneurship Award at 2016 Women in Film and Television New Zealand Awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hollings, Bettina Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Mass media people from Wellington City New Zealand television producers Shortland Street New York Film Academy alumni