Thu 14 Jun 2007 In: Hall of Fame View at Wayback View at NDHA
Glenn Sims He's kept a low-profile until now, but it was time we lured him out from behind his camera! We probed Glenn Sims on his life, loves, favourite things and upcoming LGBT telly show. You're producing TV2's latest local LGBT TV show – what's the philosophy behind the show you're making? Our mission statement in producing The Outlook is to make a show that is entertaining, informative and inclusive and which contains an observational documentary element as per the brief from TVNZ. We've been following Express and its staff for several months to get an insight into how the gay street press is put together and the challenges it faces on a day by day basis. Express has its own unique editorial viewpoint but so too does The Outlook. Rather than always looking at their editorial prescriptively, we're also inspired by Express' editorial going beyond simply the words on the page. How will The Outlook be similar to, or different from, LGBT shows we've had in recent times? There will be some elements to The Outlook that resonate with viewers, following the characters within the GLBT community and the issues and events that are relevant to us and/or entertain us. However, in direct contrast to GLBT shows that have gone before, The Outlook is not a presenter-led series and so we've developed a very unique style that viewers will find surprising, maybe even radical – but you'll have to wait and see. Which other telly shows have you been involved with in the past? I've been creating and/or producing TV in New Zealand now for five years now with credits including Celebrity Treasure Island (the Lana Co Kroft edition), Captive, Redemption Hill, Smokefree Rockquest, The Fat Chance, Eat Yourself Whole and many others. Most recently I completely reformatted Mitre 10 Dream Home for TV2, and as well as The Outlook and a couple of other shows I'm making through my own company Umbrella for TVNZ, I'm producing the Qantas Television Awards for TV One at the end of the year. I'm not sure what's worse – being under the scrutiny of my industry peers making the awards, or the GLBT community making The Outlook. Describe your background – like where did you grow up, and your family life? I grew up in a small village in rural Staffordshire in England and had a pretty average life until I went to University in Leicester. After a drunken night of passion, I discovered a couple of weeks later that I was going to be a father, and both of us having grown up in a very traditional families, we decided to get married. I dropped out of Uni so my wife could finish her degree and I went on to qualify as a lawyer whilst working in a solicitor's office. Our second son was born two years later. I got out of law a couple of years after that and moved into television with a sojourn in the UK's gay press in the late 1990's as national editor of QX International and Thud! After a relatively successful TV career in the UK, I moved to New Zealand five years ago when Julie Christie lured me here with an offer I couldn't refuse. I love New Zealand (especially Wellington) but do miss the choices and variety that London offers. What's your relationship status currently? Still early days, but been in a relationship for the last eight months with a very special guy who's also has a marriage in his past and two young daughters. He loves showbiz and understands my ridiculous schedule. Understanding his job, as well as a unique understanding of the pressures that having a young family himself puts on him, makes it work very well. When did you come out as gay, and what was it like for you at the time? A few months after my second son was born, a mutual gay friend from Uni engineered to take me to a nightclub called Streetlife and after walking through those doors for the first time I realised I couldn't deny my sexuality any longer and my path for the future was set. With a wife and young family though, it was not an easy transition to make – in fact it was a complete nightmare. Thankfully it was the right decision. What do you think are the most pressing issues currently facing the NZ GLBT population? I'm keeping everything crossed that Chris Walsh is successful in her campaign for a judicial review for the provision of Herceptin. I think the plight of women, and in particular lesbians, and the necessary funding this killer disease deserves is really overlooked. Apathy on too many levels is also a killer and that could also lead to the National Party getting back into power next year and that's too scary to even think about. Favourite music at the moment? Currently on rotate in my car this week are Confessions on a Dancefloor - Madonna, Global Underground: Tokyo: Tony De Vit, Kid A – Radiohead, The Whole Story – Kate Bush, Unholy – Martin Grech, Back to Black – Amy Winehouse. Favourite movies? Strictly Ballroom and Muriel's Wedding are all time favourites as well as anything thing by Lars Von Trier (especially Breaking The Waves – but Kingdom Hospital was a dog – and certainly not Dogville). Favourite TV programmes? The League of Gentlemen is my all-time favourite along with The Simpsons. Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty are appointment viewing. Anything Sci Fi (still grieving the moment when Kate Mulgrew cut her hair into a severe bob and we could no longer tell the state of Voyager by the state of Captain Janeway's hair), and anything I produce because with production usually taking over my life, if I don't like my TV shows then why would anyone else want to watch them! Favourite websites? GayNZ.com, c21media.net, Broadcastnow.co.uk, Youtube, Xtube, TVNZ Intranet, Trademe, Gaydar, Throng, Stuff, Artprice.com, theguardian.co.uk; agbnielsen.co.nz If there was an action figure made of you, what would your accessories be? Oh god, a wanky question that deserves a wanky answer!!! OK, Action Glenn has a bottle of Laurent Perrier Rose in one hand and a champagne flute in the other. A sexy Motorola phone – doesn't matter which as long as it's the latest model - glued to the ear. I'd also like to say a sexy little Mercedes sports car, but as I have already have the champagne in one hand (and anyone who knows me knows how anti drink driving I am), I'll give up the car in favour of the champagne. Which LGBT people do you most look up to? [Queer Nation tv programme producer] Johnny Givens for what he achieved for nearly a decade and in a different role still achieves today. If you've got all day, there are so many others too. Who in the world would you most like to have dinner with and why? If I could turn back time, it would have to be Quentin Crisp, whose struggles were fundamental to homosexual law reform in the UK in 1967. I met him briefly at his apartment in New York before he died and could listen to his life stories for hours on end. If you could have one wish granted what would it be? I'd like to say world peace but it's not going to happen anytime soon. So while we work on that, I wish we could finally wake up to and begin to reverse the damage we're doing to the planet so that future generations will actually get a chance to work out their differences. Finally, we hear through the grapevine that you've met Madonna a couple of times. Tell us the story! Cheers! Yes, I've met her three times… First time was in Heaven in the early nineties in London when I was going at it on the dance floor. I turned round and there she was… she started dancing with me and instead of just getting into it I nervously bumbled “ooo ‘ello Madge”. She looked at me like I was an idiot and walked off. Second time was at The Ritz, as the private dinner for the launch of The Next Best Thing. She came and sat down next to me and started asking questions. I was so overawed (when I really wanted to talk to her about Frida Kahlo) I couldn't say a word; she looked at me like I was an idiot, got up and walked away. Third time was when I had a two minute slot to interview her after her debut in Up For Grabs at the Wyndham Theatre. With a full TV crew, and other assembled media, she was brought over to me for the interview. The cameras rolled, I held out my microphone and the words would not come. Yup, she looked at me like I was a complete idiot and walked away. Guy Ritchie pissed himself laughing as did the crew! Apologies for the name dropping but you did ask… gotta love Madonna! GayNZ.com - 14th June 2007