About us

Vanessa Patea

I am a documentary director and a film producer working for our own company Useful Media.

A career highlight was producing on LOKO - An 8 episode documentary series for NZ Herald filmed in my hometown of Titirangi in Auckland and directing New Zealand documentaries including Last Home Renters and Tapu te Ranga Marae.

In narrative film, my background is in production, art department co-ordination, casting and location management.

See some more of my film work on IMDB here and my photography work here.

Sophie Hampson

I am a budding filmmaker currently studying toward my MFA(CP) at Victoria University of Wellington. I have a strong interest in cinematography and sound design and strive to create films using a kaupapa Māori framework.

My internship at Useful Media is helping me to strengthen my production skills and learn how to collaborate with others in organising a wide variety of projects.

Ruth Korver

I am a hands-on creative producer. I’ve worked in everything from web to features to TV and love the process of bringing a story to life.

My background includes an MFA, teaching at an art school, directing documentaries, shooting and editing, account management and event management. This has given me a breadth of experience in wrangling all kinds of creative projects and teams.

Check out my work on IMDB.

Willem Koller

I’m an emerging filmmaker with an interest in editing and producing, and a passion for trans and queer self-authored stories.

I have a background in writing and directing and beginning as an intern at Useful in May 2024 has added a lot of production skills to my tool-belt. I am looking forward to continuing working with this team to facilitate the production of meaningful and diverse stories.

We can help.

We provide production services to other production companies/producers/directors when their projects are of a larger scale, or if they need local Wellington knowledge. We have a proven history of providing a smooth production experience with our invaluable local knowledge of crews, locations, contacts and cast.