James Anderson & Nick Ward of Two Heads

Nick Ward and James Anderson are the two heads behind some of New Zealand’s most innovative TV of the past few years.

The old school friends first formed their production company Two Heads in 2004 and took the plunge to throw in the towel on their day jobs just two years later.

James says, “We were flatting together and working in film and TV when we thought, why not combine our talents and contacts? I was the artsy, wanky, edit-y one and Nick was the ideas and writing guy with the big commercial show experience, so we figured two heads were better than one, and Two Heads was born.”

Great ideas are essential to the success of Two Heads, and James says they can come from anywhere.

“Sometimes the TV networks will be looking for something specific to fill a slot, sometimes we’ll just see a magazine article or something on the internet that sparks our interest… But anyone can come up with an idea for a TV show – it’s about what you do with it, all the other elements, then selling the idea and getting people to invest in it that counts.”

The pair say 2011 was their best year yet, with three TV series in the bag (including The Food Truck, A Night at the Classic, and Making Tracks) and two more in production.

Nick adds, “The Food Truck’s probably been our biggest, most exciting project. We had an idea, went to an awesome chef, Michael van Elzen, found a truck, and people liked it. It’s been the first show we’ve done that’s been prime time, that lots and lots of people have actually seen, and it’s made our lives a hell of a lot easier because people know who we are now.”

Two Heads capped off 2011 with four nominations and one win at the AFTA Film and TV Awards.

“You can’t drink at the Awards so I took a hip flask of STOLEN Gold in with me,” Nick says. “I passed it down my row… and by the time it came back it was empty.”

Favourite STOLEN cocktail:

James: STOLEN Ginger

Nick: STOLEN Gold on the rocks

Photo by Tom Roberton