Radio with pictures: Behind the Hauraki pirate movie

David Gapes, centre, was kept in the loop during the making of the film.

The story of the founding - and foundering - of Radio Hauraki, and the young men who helped to break the state monopoly on radio by broadcasting from international waters has finally become a film. Writer-director Craig Newland talks to Lydia Jenkin about getting the tale to the big screen.

You've been involved in radio for a lot of your life, what made you decide to jump into film-making, and tell this story?

It was around 2000 that I decided that I was going to produce something. I didn't know what, but I read a lot of scripts, and I didn't find anything that really appealed to me.

So I was thinking about alternative ideas, and I was driving down the Southern Motorway when I heard the announcer say, "You're listening to Radio Hauraki, home of the Morning Pirates," and that was the line that made the lights go on.

I just thought, that's such a great story, and it was something I very quickly became quite passionate about exploring.

Do you remember the events?

No, I don't, but when I first became involved in radio as a 17-year-old I knew of these legends of radio, that had been able to force the Government's hand. They were the first pirate radio station in the world to be given a land-based license in the end, and this was at a time when there were boats all over off the coast of Europe too.

It still amazes me what they pulled off, pushing through that state oppression.

It takes a lot to put together a radio station in today's terms, so it's amazing what they achieved, broadcasting from a boat, in stormy seas, with an 150ft radio transmitter tower waving about above them.

It seems there have been a few unfortunate
setbacks that have made it take longer than expected to get the film made, including the release of British film The Boat That Rocked in 2009.

Yes, we shot a concept trailer, called Radio Pirates, in 2008, which gave everything a bit of momentum. And I had been to Cannes, and we had good investment that was coming through from distributors who wanted to pick the film up once it was made, but then The Boat That Rocked came out, and basically sunk us.

So I put 3 Mile Limit on ice - obviously I couldn't produce up a film that people would instantly say, "This is kind of like The Boat that Rocked", even though 3 Mile Limit is dramatically different.

For instance, through the middle of 3 Mile Limit there is a love story, between the lead and his wife, so though there's an element of it being a boys' own adventure, it's not just one-dimensional.

The Boat That Rocked was out at sea for the entire movie, whereas we've got half of 3 Mile Limit on land, before they even get out to sea, facing all of the challenges to get the boat out there in the first place. And the fact that it's a New Zealand story of course - baby boomers can really relate to it.

Above: Hauraki pirates David Gapes and Derek Lowe on the deck of the Tiri in 1968 (NZ Herald Archive)

How did you go from the real life events, which took place over four years, to the film version?

Well, we're making entertainment, so it has to be engaging, and it's a massive story to tell in a very short time span, and there were a lot of people involved with the Radio Hauraki operation. We couldn't cover all those individual people - that would just blow out our running time, so we have characters that are amalgams of different individuals.

It's fair to say that Richard Davis, played by Matt Whelan, is for the most part based on David Gapes, and David Gapes has been the person that has been kept in the loop all the way through this process, because I wanted to make sure that what we had written was going to sit comfortably with one of the main founders of Radio Hauraki. He really enjoyed the script and basically said well done.

The most important thing was to get the tone right, of what these guys went through, and I'm really proud of what we've made in that regard. We've made something that reflects all those key beats throughout that time - their struggle against bureaucracy, their own personal struggles, the physical challenges they faced, and the sacrifices they made to make the breakthrough.

There's a doco Pirates of the Airwaves, due to be shown on TV here later this year, how do you feel about that?

For young people especially, who don't know the story, who don't know that in the 1960s you couldn't hear rock and roll on the radio, they'll be interested to find out more about the period, and the documentary will have its place; it will add to what we've done in 3 Mile Limit. It feels right that the movie plays first, and then later, people can see the documentary.

Who: Craig Newland - writer, producer, and director of 3 Mile Limit
Where and when: In cinemas now.

- TimeOut