• Wellington

    PO Box 9101
    Wellington 6141
    New Zealand

    Ph: +64 4 382-8364
    Fax: +64 4 801-6920
    email: topshelf@top-shelf.co.nz

  • Auckland

    PO Box 8257 Symonds Street
    Auckland 1150
    New Zealand

    Ph: +64 9 377-8774
    Fax: +64 9 377-0433
    email: topshelf@top-shelf.co.nz

Vincent Burke

Company Director and CEO

Vincent established Top Shelf Productions in 1988, and it is now one of New Zealand's leading film and television production companies with offices in Wellington and Auckland.

Vincent is a past elected President of SPADA (the Screen Production and Development Association of New Zealand) and a past Chief Executive of the NZ Film and Video Training Board. Prior to establishing his own film and television production company Vincent was employed as a Policy Advisor for the NZ Film Commission and the NZ Arts Council (Creative New Zealand) and was a successful arts administrator. He had previously held several senior elected positions on a number of Non-Government Organisations, including the NZSAC and the NYC, and a government funding advisory panel. Vincent has a post graduate degree from Victoria University where he studied music.

Laurie Clarke

Company Director

Laurie has been working with Top Shelf Production as director, producer and executive producer since 2002.

Educated in both New Zealand and Australia, Laurie has gained a BSc in Zoology and a BA in Communications (Film / Literature). Laurie began his career in the film industry in 1983 as a cameraman and editor for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. From there he moved on to editing for TVNZ and TV3 between 1988 and 1992. In Melbourne in 1993 and 1994, Laurie was contracted as a freelance director in the corporate market. Laurie was the current affairs director and producer for the international news programme 20/20 (TV3) from 1994 to 2002. A list of awards and programmes is available on request.

Niccola Holmes

Finance Manager

Niccola  is Top Shelf's Finance Manager.  She has been working with Top Shelf Productions since April 2005 and she oversees the day to day running of the company.

Niccola's work history includes a significant amount of feature film experience, including Production Coordinator on feature films such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The World’s Fastest Indian, Redhead – the Lucille Ball Story and Boogeyman.

Television series she has worked on include Greenstone and The Enid Blyton Adventure Series. Niccola first worked with Top Shelf Productions in 1994 when she was 2nd Production Coordinator on the feature film The Flight of the Albatross and has since worked as Production Manager for Top Shelf on a variety of documentaries including ‘Ken Douglas - Traitor or Visionary’, ‘The Last Western Heretic’, ‘The Inspectors’ and ‘Nailed, Sorted, Exposed’.

Juanita Edwards

Associate Producer and Business Manager

After leaving school in 1989, Juanita studied photography in Wellington for several years after which she set up a successful photography business in Auckland. Juanita’s portfolio includes publicity stills for the internationally renowned documentary ‘McCahon’ based on New Zealand artist Colin McCahon and ‘Everest; Sir Edmond Hillary’.

Seeking new challenges Juanita accepted the position of marketing manager for a nationwide retail outlet – managing all advertising mediums and strategic marketing for three years before moving into the screen and television industry.

Juanita has worked with various television production companies in the role of production manager and sponsorship liaison, and is now Associate Producer of Top Shelf Productions’ successful consumer series Target.  Juanita also has an active role in sponsorship and developing new business initiatives.

Brian Holland

Head of Development
During a four-year stint in the public service, movie fan Brian took a part time job as a doorman at a nearby movie theatre. From doorman to trainee manager to manager of one of Kerridge Odeon’s key movie complexes Brian’s next step was motion picture distribution when he was offered a role as a publicist for Warner Bros. NZ and later Roadshow Film Distributors.

When TVNZ needed the services of a ‘movie expert’ Brian was lured from film into the world of television where he worked for the state broadcaster as a programmer for 11 years. His passion for film was equaled by his passion for television. During his time at TVNZ his movie programming role was expanded to that of Assistant Programming Manager for popular under 40 channel TV2. 

After leaving TVNZ in 2005 Brian worked for companies such as Great Southern Film and Television and Screentime in development and producing roles before joining Top Shelf Productions in 2006.
At Top Shelf Productions, Brian heads Development and produces selected projects. He has developed and produced the series Cool Kids Cooking (TVNZ), The Sitting (TVNZ 6), The Nutters Club (Maori Television) and the TVNZ Artsville documentary A Gallery Without Walls.

Other developed projects include Media7 (TVNZ 7), The Kitchen Job (TV3), Get Growing With NZ Gardener (Prime), Aunty Moves In (Maori Television) and The Ad Show (TVNZ 7).

Brian also represents Top Shelf Productions abroad attending markets and sales trips with Vincent Burke and works closely with Juanita Edwards raising sponsorship for Top Shelf series.