Playing Favourites with veteran TV producer Dame Julie Christie

New Zealanders love watching local shows like The Block NZ and Married at First Sight NZ but we may never see them again due to lack of funding, says veteran TV producer Dame Julie Christie.

Homegrown television content is undervalued partly due to our lack of national pride, she tells RNZ's Saturday Morning.

"If we loved our country more, we'd love ourselves more. We're just so quick to say everything that's wrong with our country… We don't stand up for ourselves. We don't celebrate success nearly enough. We don't celebrate our country nearly enough. We're not patriotic nearly enough."

This week, Christie - who has more than 50 show credits from 37 years in TV production - received the Legend Award at the NZ TV Awards.

She argues that reality TV, which she prefers to call unscripted, tells New Zealand stories more realistically than drama ever can.

"Drama is fiction. Our stories are actually told by factual television."

For escapist entertainment it's unrivalled, she says. "No one talks at you. You're not being lectured."

High ratings confirm this, yet if we want to keep seeing Kiwis living out our own hopes and dreams from the comfort of the couch, international funding is desperately needed, Christie says.

The only way to get this overseas money is to make our shows more international.

"If we have to compromise 25 percent to make a show which is more fitting for an international audience, we should be doing that because otherwise, local productions aren't going to survive.

"You can reflect your country without only making the story to appeal to your country or only making the stories only New Zealanders could understand."

A childhood parked in front of the television is where Christie suspects she got the "more common touch" needed to create successful reality TV shows.

Growing up "poor" with a single mother and six siblings on the West Coast fuelled her ambitions.

"I wanted to be financially successful so that I didn't feel poverty again in my life, and that was a really big driver. I wanted us, the company and myself, to be financially secure because I don't believe money buys happiness, but I do believe it buys freedom."

TV shows she's proud to have made

This Is Your Life, Game of Two Halves and the early series of Celebrity Treasure Island: "Where everybody knew who the people were."

Her preferred setting for telly-watching

On the treadmill a la Victoria Beckham: "Clearly, we're so alike."

A recent documentary she admires

Martha (Netflix): "Genius and compelling."

The show she wishes she'd made

Lego Masters NZ (TVNZ): "So clever."

The show she could never make

Married At First Sight Australia (ThreeNow): "Dealing with the contestants off camera would be a living hell, because it's so emotionally charged and it's such a roller coaster."

Her current drama picks

Queen of the South (Netflix) and Virgin River (Netflix): "I love to see (Kiwi actor) Martin Henderson's success."

Dame Julie Christie played

'Massachusetts' by The Bee Gees

"I find this song incredibly relaxing. It's a great party-starting song. Music's very big in our family and at our family bach, no one can stop themselves from singing along, especially when the word 'Massachusetts' comes up."

'The Fighter' by Keith Urban

"He's probably one of the rockier country music legends. I really, I just love him, and I just love that song."

'Born to Run' by Bruce Springsteen

"I've seen him in concert six times. His dancing doesn't get any better, but, you know, he's 75 now. His songs also tell stories. He's just an old-fashioned rocker from New Jersey and clearly quite left-wing but I think just absolutely loves his country. I'm just a big fan. He's kind of my ideal man, I guess, Bruce."

'History' by One Direction

It's amazing none of the members of One Direction made it in X Factor as individuals, given how beautiful their individual voices are, Christie says.

"It was made for TV, just the way they looked and the way they were. They just looked like nice boys next door, you know. Following Liam Payne's death, you've got to feel sympathy for the fact that they were essentially locked in their rooms because they couldn't even go out.

"He said, 'What else was I supposed to do but drugs, because I couldn't live with myself?' It's just heartbreaking."

'Daydream Believer' by The Monkees

"They were made for TV. It's incredible when you think back and on them and the Partridge Family - they started in TV and then became huge afterwards. We love that song because we used to think it was the theme for our production company when I first started Touchdown [Productions]. We used to joke that you had to be a believer to work at the company."

'December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)' by Frankie Valli (sung by John Lloyd Young)

Jersey Boys is another show Christie has seen five times.

"I've seen John Lloyd Young in New York twice, playing Frankie Valli, and he played Frankie Valli in the Clint Eastwood movie [Jersey Boys]. I just love this show."

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