Unitec’s Head of Acting, Sam Snedden, has co-produced Workmates, a new comedy feature written by and starring Unitec alumna Sophie Henderson and directed by her husband Curtis Vowell. The two met while Sophie was studying with us from 2004 to 2006.

The film is based on Snedden and Henderson’s time co-managing Auckland’s Basement Theatre.

Sam joined School of Creative Industries in 2024 after fifteen years in the performing arts and entertainment industry as an actor and producer.

Ahead of its world premiere at the Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) at the Civic Theatre this Friday, Sam discusses the film’s five-year journey from script-to-screen, the power of collaboration, and why he hopes his students catch “the fever” of creative dedication and what it taught him.

 

 

Q. Congratulations on your new film. How does it feel to have it selected for NZIFF?

A. It’s a dream! It’s so strange to think about the fact that I went to see movies at the Civic when I was kid and that my film is going to be in that same theatre.

 It’s bizarre, it’s awesome! We're going in on Wednesday to check the DCP (Digital Cinema Package) adjust the sound levels and stuff like that before the film plays on Friday. I think that's when it will really sink in.

Q. What was the biggest challenge moving from stage-to-screen, especially as a producer?

A. I think it’s time - it takes so long to make a movie. If you make a play, you might be thinking about it a year ahead of time, you might start working on it six months before you start.

But that would be very part-time and then with a play you'd go full pre-production for a month, then it'd be rehearsals and then the play would be on and then that's it. So the whole thing's done and dusted inside a year.

This is the fifth year that we've been working on Workmates from the initial conception of the script. The average amount of time that it takes for a film to get made in New Zealand is five years. So we’re right on the average.

Q. How did you get involved in the project?

A. I was there from day dot. I talked to Sophie Henderson, who's the writer and star of the film, and director Curtis Vowell. They wanted to make a film about the theatre, the sort of weird theatre community that we'd come from. And this was in late 2019 and then the lockdown happened, and then it became a much bigger story about how it wanted to be about celebrating those communities that looked like they might not make it out of the wilderness of the pandemic.

Q. What skills from your acting training or teaching helped you most as a producer?

A. I think actors really have to think on their feet. You have to improvise. And I think if you take that skill into the rest of your life, it can make that part of your life easier, and you can become more skilled in that part of your life as well.

I remember when I was at drama school and had a job waiting tables and I felt being an actor makes me better at this job because it was front face and customer service.

But also it was problem solving and working things out in real time and adjusting to changing conditions.

I think a good actor is usually a good listener. If you can listen really well, I think that helps you to solve problems much faster, because you get to the root of what's actually happening rather than what your impressions are of what's happening.

Q. What advice would you give to a student who wants to make their own film one day?

A. Really believe in it. If it's a story that you're only sort of connected to, or something that you kind of like, it's not going to be enough to sustain you through the incredible amount of time it's going to take to get that project made.

It has to be something that you are dedicated to — so choose carefully and go into it all guns blazing. Leave nothing on the table.

For me with this film, I said to Soph (Sophie Henderson), "I will have no favours left at the end of this. I will use every single favour I've got to get the film made." And I think I have. I think there might be one or two left, they're mostly gone.

Q. Has working on this film changed the way you teach acting?

Yes, definitely. I think it's given me a lot more perspective about how a production process runs as a whole, because I think you can be sort of mono-focussed as an actor, on "What's my role? What am I doing in my role?" You know, it’s all about you.

And I think the more that you explore the filmmaking process, the more you realise that you are just a cog in a very big machine, and you are a vital cog. Everybody is there to serve the performance, even though it doesn't always feel like that. So everything is done in a film to get good performances out of actors. That’s the idea, to make them look good, to make the story make sense, all that kind of stuff.

So I think it's given me a lot more perspective about the process as a whole, and about how you need to be able to be willing to play a part in that process and not make it all about you.

Q. What was your proudest moment during the film process?

A. We had so many great wins, tiny and big ones. Getting the money was huge, getting funded was a massive deal.

Then getting the support that we got from our incredible investors, our private investors, like, they really trusted us and that made me feel extremely proud. They still trust us. The movie hasn't come out yet. So they're still trusting us.

It's just all the wins that we've had. Every single win is like a fist pump. I remember when we needed a fire engine and we managed to get one, and I was just so proud at that moment that we got that fire engine. That was just one thing that we needed in a production that contained so many things. But the fact that we were able to get that fire engine was a massive deal.

Q. What do you hope students take away from this film?

A. The film is really about the incredible magic that can be created by people who are working on art. That is what it's about, and the addictive quality of that magic. I just want them to catch a bit of that fever.

Although the characters in the film don't always behave well, I feel like they mostly have the best intentions. I think what it's about is that mania of when you're addicted to something.

And that is something that both me and Sophie would reflect on all the time, we would talk about how we were just addicted to the Basement [Theatre]. Like, we were addicted to making that place better.

Because the Basement was in such a state — that any time you did something, you made it a little bit better. There was always that feeling of, “Oh, if we can just keep doing this for a long enough period of time, eventually, it'll become really good.”

I hope that students take away the sense of manic dedication. Because honestly it’s so rewarding. To pour yourself into something which is not about you, to pour yourself into something which is about service, is incredible.

Although the characters behave badly, I think ultimately what they're trying to do is serve a community. I think that’s what I spend my life doing.

Q. And finally, any advice for students on maintaining creative relationships?

A. I think it's so important that you take the work seriously, but you try not to take yourself too seriously. 
It's really, really important that you're honest, as honest as you can be, with your collaborators, because you never know when things will happen. You always have to be making decisions with the best interests of the project in mind.

Films by Unitec alumni in the NZIFF 2025 programme

The New Zealand International Film Festival opens in Auckland on 31 July 2025 and runs until 10 August. It then launches in other centres across Aotearoa, starting with Christchurch on August 8, and concludes nationwide on September 10.

A number of short films in this year's NZIFF programme were made by Unitec alumni and feature in the Nga Whanaunga: Aotearoa New Zealand’s Best programme. Below are a list of films with Unitec alumni listed:

When the Geese Flew 
Director, Screenplay: Arthur Gay
Synopsis: A sullen teenager hopes recovering his sister’s stolen dirtbike will change her mind about leaving their remote small town. This Cannes’ selected short brings arthouse nihilism to Godzone.

Picking Crew 
Director, Screenplay, Editor: Tanu Gago
Cast: Kurt Uta’i-Laurenseon
Synopsis: A subtle and poignant exploration of Pasifika masculinity and its queer-tinged boundaries. — LK

Growing Still 
Director: Alyx Duncan
Cast: Renee Lyons, Bryony Skillington
An elderly woman wilting away in a retirement home longs to commune with the vibrant natural world outside. This magical short offers a positive spin on our impending mortality.

I Am Not Your Dusky Maiden 
Screenplay & Producer: Nora Aati
Editor: Lisa Greenfield
Cast: Nora Aati, Michael Koloi
Synopsis: Exceptional as the many; each guide shares the same journey – forcing you to choose a path. 
See the full programme for NZIFF.