Razor Films is a New Zealand based boutique television production company specialising in popular factual programming and documentaries. Launched by Mark McNeill in 1999 the company has a proven track-record in producing award-winning, high-rating programmes for New Zealand and International markets. We push the envelope, put money on screen and try new stuff.
Our programmes have sold all over the world to networks like Netflix, Discovery, BBC and PBS, and to countries as diverse as Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, France, Poland, Spain, Greece, United States, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, and Russia.
Recent Work
Polk – The Trial of Philip Polkinghorne – 3 x 43 mins series. A weird and amazing real-life story of a high-flying eye surgeon and his trial for murder. A bonkers combination of The Jinx and Staircase, with extra sex, drugs and money thrown in. Including a shocking off-the-record interview with the accused himself – where he not only talks about the death but also walks us through the tragic scene where the body was found. For Discovery/Three, Sky UK & Nine Australia.
The Hustle – 2022 co-production with Dispatch Pictures – boundary-pushing 6 part series on young Asian creatives – for Warner Bros. Discovery NZ, Sky UK, and Nine Australia
In 2018 we teamed up with Fumes and produced Dark Tourist, 8 x 40 mins for Netflix – the first Netflix Original series commissioned out of New Zealand.
The Good Sh*t is a 3 x 1 hour series for MediaWorks. The series followed the world’s first large scale medical study to find out if fecal transplants (“poo pills”) – which transfer the gut bacteria of lean, healthy people into very overweight teens – can reverse their obesity.
Why Are We Fat? is a 3 x 1 hour series on the world wide obesity epidemic (Acquired & now screening on Amazon Prime, & 2nd most watched documentary on Qantas flights 2017), and series 2 of Hard Stuff – 8 x 1 hour cutting-edge documentaries on contemporary social issues which has and matched the success of the first series.
Predict My Future a 4 x 1 hour series, based on the findings of the Dunedin Longitudinal Study. We were proud to work with the University of Otago on this project, the first ever TV series about this ground-breaking study and its worldwide implications. The series has already sold to 20 territories and over 70 countries and won Best Factual series at the 2017 NZ TV Awards, and a Silver medal at the New York Film and TV awards.
I am the River – a festival documentary for MTS is still creating ripples around the world having recently screened in France. OnFilm Magazine described it as “an engrossing thriller, a poetic visual essay and an important social document” and it has picked up 3 awards at the Documentary Edge Festival including Best Film. An Australian version of The Politically Incorrect Parenting Show series has screened on the Nine Network to great reviews.
The Razor Films back catalogue included the Use As Directed Series, a quirky and slightly offbeat consumer series for TVNZ6, 24 Hours – three x 1 hour documentary series comparing life on the Street with the Police in four different international cities and the Hidden In The Numbers series, which used statistical information to reveal the unseen patterns that shape our society and make us who we are today.