While iconic television personality Jason Gunn is best known as the face of children’s television, less is known about the woman who has stood by his side for the past 18 years. While Jason is the natural born performer, Janine Morrell-Gunn is the go-getter behind the scenes; your typical A type personality… ambitious, driven, organised, and proactive.
She entered the television industry in her 20s. “I wanted to be a producer of current affairs shows because I thought, naively, that current affairs producers could help shape the world… make it a better place,” she explains.
During her first trip to Auckland’s TVNZ, she met a man who told her to stay at university before entering the industry. Years later, when TVNZ advertised for internships, that same man was on the selection panel. “Every year during the five years I had been at university, I had sent him a Christmas card so he remembered me and he got a say in me being successful as a trainee.”
“This business is all about relationships.”
Her career progressed rapidly and after industry exposure, she moved from current affairs shows like Foreign Correspondent into the youth segment including Dunedin’s Viewfinder and Christchurch’s Spot On.
When the Children’s Unit moved to Wellington, she chose to remain in Christchurch for her family. “It really became time to put a stake in the ground and time to ‘sail your own waka’ really. I felt it was time to step out from under TVNZ and set up our own production company.”
Whitebait-TV began in Christchurch’s Kilmore Street. When the accountant advised that it would make financial sense to purchase equipment instead of hiring, he wandered off to check out a fire sale at Prime Television, came back and suggested they take out the lease on the Birmingham Drive building.
“We started there working on a preschool programme called Bumble which we made for three years under contract for TVNZ. Later on, we repackaged the show as Bumblelina teaching English on a Japanese cable channel.”
24 hours is a long time in television, she says. “You can have a show, lose a show and claw your show back. So you get quite innovative,” she laughs.
While it’s a competitive industry, Janine says television doesn’t follow the typical boom and bust cycle of business. “We are less affected by what’s happening economically in that a lot of what we do is subjective. I like to say I live my life in 15 minute increments which is ratings. We are totally delivering to audiences, so whatever show you’re making you’re trying to make it better to win audience share.”
“It does make you live on the edge of your seat.”
It’s a far cry from her expectations. “I thought I would be able to do what I had seen some other producers do which was go and play golf and have long lunches,” she says.
She soon found it was the hardest work of her life. While many businesses can put their work away in a folder or a filing cabinet, Janine says her work is out there every day for everyone to see and judge accordingly. Furthermore there were no never-ending supply cabinets. “When you start your own business you are the stationery cupboard and you are the coffee machine,” she laughs.
And it’s a decision she would never look back on. “We definitely have had our challenges in winning shows and keeping shows. Content is king and for us the process is as important as the product. We have been in this business a long time and I’m very fortunate to be able to get up every day and come to work and love what I do. I just don’t stop thinking about TV shows and the next idea and improving the ones we’ve got.”
If you had told her a number of years ago she was going to be running a business, Janine likely would have laughed at you. “I didn’t think that was me and yet here I am. I think doors close and others open. Life is more organic than I ever imagined; things have a way of happening and I am all for leaning in and embracing it.”
“I believe everything is an opportunity. Shit happens, but there’s always a reason.”
While there was an element of risk to establishing the business, it felt natural. “Shirley MacLaine once said to get the fruit off the tree you’ve got to go out on a limb. But it was a natural progression; it’s Jase and I being together and evolving in our roles as performer/presenter and producer. The sum of the parts is greater than the whole and the two of us together achieve so much more than we would on our own.”
It’s all about trusting yourself. “A lot of people have great ideas and there’s no ownership or licence for these ideas. The important thing is the ability to execute and we’re in the business of having ideas but then being able to deliver those ideas into shows that work for the audience. It’s a big jump from idea to execution.”
“The key in all of that is people; people are our biggest and most important resource – that’s why the process is so important and people come first. Don’t be scared to pay people more than yourself; we have skills and strengths but we don’t have them all and 50 percent of something is worth more than 100 percent of nothing.”
When it comes to people, Janine also enjoys being in a position to nurture some of our home grown talent. “Presenters, performers and artists, I just take my hat off to them and what they do to deliver on-screen. And if my skills can help then to be all they can be then it’s a wonderful thing.”
“It’s great that Whitebait-TV is able to be a stepping stone for some very talented people into this industry.”
Keeping a production facility in Christchurch to ensure work continues to filter down this way is also a key role. “The through-put of work is critical to growing people’s skills and craft especially in an ever changing technological world.”
It’s not just her family, her staff or the next generation of television producers that Janine takes responsibility for and her altruistic streak is renowned. Her ‘Adopt a Christchurch Family’ charity was extremely successful following the earthquakes, as was the ‘White Lights of Hope’, which she single handedly masterminded. But she considers what she has done as the tip of a significant iceberg.
Her next move is to look into the issue of youth suicide. “I do feel real responsibility that in this gorgeous country of ours of only a few million people that there are people who don’t feel they belong or can’t carry on and that’s something I take quite personally.”
There are also several professional plans in the pipeline. “It’s in the cards for us to produce a prime time entertainment show, a bit like Letterman and Rove, so Christchurch can be a destination that people book in to come to our show. It’s really important we continue to grow our business.”
“We’re bringing in a new producer from Australia which is freeing us up to focus on programme development so we can look at increasing our volume and range of production here from Christchurch. I was also very fortunate to get to go to China last year and we’re looking at a couple of projects over there as well.”
“What’s been cool after working for large companies is being able to build our own studios, to set up the process how we want it and make it a happy place to work, a place where people want to get up in the morning to come here and enjoy being at Whitebait.”
Because one thing she has learned is you don’t need to be mean to survive. “You don’t have to be an ass to get what you want. There are a lot of tough people on television, but we have this saying ‘first do no harm’. I think it is possible and we have always tried to treat people well.”
It’s the same philosophy she has for her family and while hers means everything to her, she knows not to put too much pressure on herself. “I learned a while ago, life’s too short to stuff a mushroom, in that you juggle a lot of plates. Now, women are working full time and having families so I think it’s ok to let plates drop now and then, you can’t keep them all up in the air.”
“I’ve also learnt the value, as a working mother, in taking some time for myself. Unless I look after me, I’m of little value to Jase and our kids, family and friends, let alone being a good employer or helping save our planet.”
