Eight teams of emerging creatives have been selected to receive funding through Every Voice 2022, a joint initiative between NZ On Air, Screen Australia and the ever-popular social media platform TikTok.
One of the selected duos for the funding is Tane Wolfgramm and Nooroa Takairangi, who have gained a following on TikTok for their sports content.
Now, they are the creators of P.I (People of Influence), a 15-part talk show-like series that aims to highlight the impact of 15 individuals across Aotearoa and Australia with an emphasis on Māori and Pasifika excellence, invoking nostalgia, creating community, and inspiring the next generation.
It should come as no surprise to have P.I in a talk-show format. Growing up, Takairangi was a huge fan of sports talk shows on ESPN, dissecting every kōrero produced every morning before school. And growing up in Sydney, he came to be a huge fan of rugby league.
“I was working towards wanting to work in media. Now that I’ve been working in it for two to three years it was more writing and behind-the-scenes stuff until we had the June test between New Zealand and Tonga. I got to do content for our New Zealand team and then from there, it was like ‘this is what I want to do.’”
P.I shines the spotlight on Māori & Pasifika excellence.
The biggest impact
Tane and Nooroa believe Polynesian people have a tonne of talent and so that became the inspiration for P.I, which provides the platform for the world to see for themselves.
“We wanted to acknowledge those that have gone before us and paved the way, for our ancestors and our parents too with centuries of travel and working hard.
“We’re big family people, we’re big on our people.”
It was a tough process to narrow the series down to 15 episodes for 15 people, Takairangi says. Some of the episodes include stories on NZ music group Nesian Mystik, playwright Oscar Kightley and actor Robbie Magasiva, former All White Winston Reid and former Blues player Rene Ranger to name a few.
“It was about who made the biggest impact on us. Obviously, there will be an objective view but it’s a lot of our experiences of our generation growing up.”
Takairangi and Wolfgramm are giving it their all and putting the over $75K funding to good use to make the production side as professional as it can be – “looking good, dressing the part”.
“I think Tane would know more about the money stuff because, if it was just me, I would go straight to McDonald’s,” Takairangi jokes.
