Julia Parnell

Julia Parnell (born 1979) is a New Zealand film and television producer

Julia Parnell attended South Seas Film & Television School, going on to work at several independent television companies around Auckland, including Eyeworks Touchdown, Screentime and Greenstone Pictures Limited, before becoming the Head of Production at ButoBase Film & TV Company. She worked at ButoBase for 6 years, producing, directing and providing creative input into more than three hundred television episodes over fourteen series. In 2010, Parnell won the Great Southern Television Woman to Watch Award., having been a finalist in the same category in 2009. Parnell left Butobase in early July 2010 to start her own production company Notable Pictures.

Since the opening of Notable Pictures Parnell has produced a diverse range of projects including two series of Bring Your Boots, OZ in collaboration with Maori Television's Glen Osborne, a documentary funded by Maori Television and New Zealand On Air about Henare O'Keefe, Māori social crusader and District Councilor for Hastings, New Zealand, Both Worlds a New Zealand On Air funded documentary series for broadcast on TV3,in which ten second generation New Zealanders share their experiences of either living a cultural clash or enjoying the best of both worlds, and a probing one-hour documentary on Māori restorative justice. Restoring Hope a probing one-hour documentary on Māori restorative justice and The Exponents, a Prime Rocks Documentary for Prime Television funded by New Zealand On Air that celebrates 30 years of The Exponents, a band whose sound defines what it means to be a Kiwi.

Parnell has recently expanded into producing drama with two short films Hitch Hike and Friday Tigers, and a third film, Dive, in pre-production, all three funded by the New Zealand Film Commission.

Friday Tigers, written and directed by Aidee Walker, won the New Zealand International Film Festival’s Best New Zealand Short Film for 2013. Hitch Hike has been in competition at major international film festivals such as Tampere Film Festival (2012),Melbourne International (2012), Bristol Encounters (2012), Hawaii International (2013), Durban International (2013) and Heart of Gold International, Australia (2013).

Parnell is currently producing and directing a documentary funded by Māori Television and New Zealand On Air, Rethinking Rehab, which aims to provide an insight into a bold new court in the New Zealand judicial system the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court.

Also currently underway is Loading Docs, a new initiative in collaboration with the New Zealand Film Commission and NZ On Air. The project will provide a launchpad for New Zealand documentary shorts starting with ten 3-minute films in 2014 based on the theme of home.