Richard Taylor is the Co-Owner of Pukeko Pictures and Weta Workshop. Richard began Pukeko Pictures with his wife Tania Rodger and partner Martin Baynton due to their combined love for children’s television and the desire to deliver highly compelling programming through the medium of locally made high quality television to children globally.
Pūkeko Board
Richard Taylor
Founder, Director & Creative Counsel
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The five time Academy Award© winning Design and Effects Supervisor draws upon 27 years of working in the creative industries. Richard has also won 35 other international and domestic entertainment, business and community awards for his endeavours in the film and television disciplines including four British Academy of Film and Television Awards and two Visual Effects Society awards.
In 2010 he was awarded a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to film and two years later he was named Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year. He and Tania are Patrons for the Neonatal Trust in New Zealand.
Richard started Weta Workshop over 20 years ago with Tania as it was their dream to establish a special effects facility to enhance and support the New Zealand film and television industry. Richard has also been working in China for the past 17 years and brings a strong working relationship with the Chinese creative industry to his endeavours at Pukeko Pictures.
A life-long Thunderbirds fan, Richard is the Executive Producer of the new series Thunderbirds Are Go.

Tania Rodger
Founder & Director
Tania Rodger is the Co-Owner of Pukeko Pictures and serves as one of the Company Directors as well as a founding partner of Weta Workshop with her husband Richard Taylor. She runs Weta Workshop alongside Richard and continues to contribute to the management of crew induction, health and safety and archiving at Weta Workshop.
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She further applies her talents and passion for creativity, artistry and professionalism in associated businesses as one of the partners in the Roxy Cinema as well as Co-Owner and Director of Stardog LP.
Tania is passionate about creating the best quality children’s television possible and as such was the Executive Producer on the company’s pre-school series The WotWots.
She is a patron of the Neonatal Trust.

Martin Baynton
Founder & Chief Creative Officer
Martin Baynton is the Co-Owner of Pukeko Pictures and Chief Creative Officer where he leads the creative and development teams to build Pukeko Pictures’ properties from conception through to production and beyond. He has an international reputation as a Writer and Illustrator of more than 30 children’s books including Jane and the Dragon, and the Fifty the Tractor series.
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Since it was first published in 1986, the Jane and the Dragon book series has never been out of print. His publishers include Scholastic, Walker Books, Greenwillow, Penguin and Reed Methuen.
Martin has worked in stage, radio and TV as a Producer, Director, Actor, Screenwriter and Script Editor.
He created the Jane and The Dragon TV series based on his books and co-created The WotWots with Richard Taylor. He is Executive Producer on Cleverman.

Edwin Read
Independent Chairman
Ed joined the board in June 2018 as an Independent Director and was appointed Chairman in December 2018. Ed works as a consultant and professional director for various businesses including a part time CFO role with a national manufacturing group.
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In previous roles he was a director and executive for professional services firms over 11 years. He spent 4 years as a Trustee and Chair of a Charitable Trust running Creative Festivals and lived and worked in China for 4 years as the Financial Controller of a Global Manufacturer.
He is a Chartered Accountant and member of the Institute of Directors.

Kris Wang
Company Director
Kris is an alumni of the Beijing Film Academy (BA Management). He was the youngest unit production manager (23 years old) ever in the Chinese television industry.
Kris’s charming and warm-hearted character laid a great foundation for his leadership and popularity in the Chinese animation industry.
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Past executive producer credits include: “ Happy Running”(2008) and “Fantastic Adventure” (2013). He is also the Vice President of the Beijing Film, TV & Animation Association . His strength in production management led his own animation studio, Dream Animation, to become overall one of the most efficient studios in China. In 2015, Kris co-founded Shambala with Xianmin and was determined to create high-concept Chinese content, utilizing a Chinese workforce – which is also the reason why he simultaneously co-founded Shambala’s CGI production house, Blossom Pictures, with Zhiyi in 2015.

Pūkeko Leadership Team
Jeremy Hall
Head of Development
Jeremy is an award-winning producer with over 25 years of experience in creating and executing global animated content across the USA, UK, Europe, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China. Jeremy was profiled at MIPCOM 2012 as a major producer from Singapore in original animated content.
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A technical pioneer, Jeremy began his industry career developing the first Academy Award-winning digital film compositing system at Computer Film Company that heralded the beginning of digital CGI effects. Jeremy has always been at the forefront of film technology, aiding the development of digital intermediate and helping to create and define the process of shooting full-length live action features in digital 3D stereo that led to the advent of stereoscopic feature film production and paved the way for 3D cinema.
Jeremy has previously worked at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop in the UK and was a founder of One Animation in Singapore, where he developed and produced original animated television series and the award-winning Rob The Robot, Oddbods and The Insectibles.

Cameron Chittock
Head of Productions
Cameron Chittock is an award-winning producer and director who has worked in the film and television industries in New Zealand and around the world for some 30 years.
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He started his career designing the puppets for Peter Jackson’s puppet film Meet the Feebles, was head of design for the children’s department at TV3 network in New Zealand, created and directed the stop motion TV series Oscar and friends, directed the stop motion short film Life on Ben, created and directed the animated TV series Bottle Top Bill, worked as a producer and director on the sci fi series Sindbad & the 7 Galaxies, worked as a producer on several Veggie Tales productions, including Celery Night Fever and Veggies in Space, was head of productions at Huhu studios in New Zealand for many years, worked as a director and producer on the preschool series Kiddets and as a producer on the animated feature film Mosley.
Cameron is currently working as head of productions at Pukeko Pictures and is responsible for planning and overseeing all productions.

Duncan Nimmo
Head of Technology
Duncan has 16 years of experience in media and entertainment including technical management roles on Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia and The Hobbit. As well as managing the technical operation on many feature films, he has held senior management roles at Park Road Productions and Wingnut Films Productions Ltd.
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At Pukeko, Duncan is responsible for the all technical systems including VFX pipelines and corporate operational systems.

Nick Cleverly
Head of Finance
Nick Cleverley is the Finance Manager for Pukeko Pictures. He is responsible for the financial accounting, reporting and taxation of Pukeko Pictures entities. Prior to being Finance Manager at Pukeko Pictures he was the Finance Manager for Weta Workshop whilst simultaneously looking after Pukeko Pictures’ finance function since its inception.
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He is a chartered accountant and a member of the New Zealand Institute Chartered Accountants.
