Bullies

Description

Available for rent or to download for New Zealand viewers on Vimeo

 A challenging new series examining why we bully, the impact it can have and why we need to stop it. 

 Over three compelling episodes BULLIES launches into the heart of bullying behaviour in New Zealand. Guided by a diverse range of experts, through deeply personal accounts, BULLIES looks at who bullies, who gets bullied and what the impact and solutions can be. Tackling why New Zealand has such an alarmingly high rate of bullying, this series offers unique perspectives on a contentious and seemingly enduring problem that isn’t simply confined to the playground but extends to our boardrooms and internet worlds where it is perpetually gathering momentum with developing technology.

Bullying is a grown up problem. Most New Zealanders have a story of their own to tell. How to stop it, how to police it, let alone when to prosecute, are just some of the issues that as a nation we are struggling with.

This three part series looks at the very real complexities of bullying in our country. Broken into three episodes, examining bullying in SCHOOLS, in the WORKPLACE, and CYBER bullying. Through privileged and highly personal accounts BULLIES includes first-hand accounts of the impact bullying can have. Exploring cases that prompted outcry, legislative change and sent shockwaves through our communities. We see the finite destruction bullying can have and the poignant legacy it leaves.
Bullying is costing the country financially and socially – a recent survey by Dr. Vanessa Green and others records that school bullying in NZ is one of the highest rates in the OECD. Some estimates say workplace bullying comes at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars per year. One in 5 people report serious abuse online. The series explores the vicious emotional cycle and as we learn how the bullied brain reacts while meeting those fighting for solutions as they question our nation’s psyche. Surely we are not just a nation of bullies? We look at technology and its vast potential for use and abuse.
The good news is that there are practical solutions. The passion of experts for their work is contagious, no nonsense and ultimately hopeful.

Strikingly cinematic stylizations, charming archive create a powerful and dramatic backdrop to the real life stories and cases, told through advocators, experts, those who have been bullied, bullies themselves and the families of victims.

Behind the scenes

Technical Specifications

TV Production

3 x 1 hour for PRIME TV

Represented by TVF International

Contact will.stapley@tvf.co.uk

Senior Sales Executive

+442078373000

Cast And Crew

Producers
Gary Scott is a long-time producer with Gibson Group. He has a strong background in journalism and history and is a producer, director and writer of prime time factual programmes. His recent production credits include the prime time factual series Along For The Ride for TVNZ, and the 70-minute historical docudrama Nancy Wake: The White Mouse. His other contemporary projects as executive producer include the popular factual documentary series Undercover, NZ Detectives and Line of Fire.

Bullies Experts BIOS

Nathan Mikaere Wallis (Schools and Cyber)
Nathan Mikaere Wallis is part of the Brain Wave Trust, and X Factor Education, Christchurch. He has been a lecturer at the Christchurch College of Education, lecturing in human development, brain development, language and communication and risk and resilience.

Nathan has a background of working with children in counselling settings relating to domestic violence, sexual abuse and childhood trauma.

A neuroscience presenter for Brainwave, (The Brainwave Trust) Nathan travels extensively to speaking engagements on the complex and important topic of human brain development.

Nathan is a father of three, a step-father to another three (all aged from 12-22 years) and has a background as a foster parent. Nathan’s professional background is in lecturing/teaching, child counselling, and educational systems/social service management.

Dr Vanessa Green (Schools)
Vanessa Green received her PhD in developmental psychology from the School of Early Childhood, Queensland University of Technology, Australia in 1999. Since then she has held academic appointments at The University of Texas at Austin, USA and the University of Tasmania, Australia.

Professor Green has a number of publications in the areas of children’s social development and developmental disabilities. A registered psychologist, she currently serves on the editorial board of Focus on Autism and Developmental Disabilities and is Associate Editor for Intervention in School and Clinic. She teaches in the area of human development, social and emotional development and educational psychology.

Recently Dr Green, along with a team of postgraduate students, surveyed 860 teachers and senior staff from primary, intermediate and secondary schools around New Zealand about their experiences with, perceptions of, and attitudes towards bullying..

Dr Paul Wood (Workplace)
After being convicted of murder Paul spent more than a decade in some of New Zealand's toughest prisons. During this time Paul became the first person in to progress through undergraduate and Masters degrees on the inside. He was also the first person to begin a Doctorate while incarcerated.

Since his release, Paul works at improving business and personal performance within organisations. He worked as a senior consultant and manager in the field of leadership development and organisational psychology at OPRA Consulting New Zealand. Now Paul is the director of Switch Coaching and Consulting and presents his growth programme What’s Your Prison? He is a member of the International Coach Federation ICF, Positive Psychology Association, and serves as a steering committee member for the Coaching Psychology Special Interest Group, CPSIG.

Dr Ian Lambie (Schools and Cyber)
Ian worked for 10 years as a clinical psychologist before joining the Auckland University in 1990. He has worked with youth offenders for the past 20 years, specialising in adolescents who sexually offend, children who deliberately light fires and children displaying violent and antisocial behaviour.

His areas of specialised research include, severe antisocial and violent behaviour in children and adolescents, Child and adolescent mental health and sexual offending in adolescents and adults.

In 2005 he was awarded the Faculty of Science - Deans Excellence Teaching Award. Then in 2006 the Ann Ballin Award from the New Zealand Psychological Society for services to Clinical Psychology in New Zealand.

Mary Irwin – Hardcases (Workplace)
Mary Irwin is a bullying in the workplace investigator. She worked for 8 years at the Human Rights Commission, investigating and conciliating complaints of breaches of the Human Rights Act.

Specializing in sexual harassment complaints she achieved some benchmark settlements for the Commission. She then moved to the Disputes Tribunal where she spend 6 years adjudicating and settling disputes.

Now part of Hardcases, Mary investigates workplace bullying complaints in the role of an investigator.

Stephen Bell - CEO Youthline (Schools and Cyber)
Recently made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, Stephen Bell first joined Youthline in 1985 as a volunteer on the phones and performing in a group that visited schools and prisons. Prior to that he trained as a nurse and worked in the commercial arena.

In the 1990s, Stephen moved his focus improving his skills as a counsellor, therapist and youth worker. Now CEO of Youthline, New Zealand’s most recognised youth support service and a leading youth development organisation, his passion for young people and community is contagious.

Allan Halse – CultureSafe NZ (Workplace)
Alan is a former union delegate and a long time worker in HR, who left Hamilton City Council in 2013, and has established his own private practice in workplace health and safety consulting, CultureSafe NZ.
Allan says his aim is to prevent problems, and to be proactive in avoiding issues inside organisations, as opposed to being reactive once an issue arises.