The 2019 New Zealand Honours have been announced and Rob has become an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the New Zealand film and television industries.
TAPERT, Mr Robert Gerard (Rob)
For services to the film and television industries
Mr Rob Tapert is a film and television producer from the United States with more than 50 production credits, who has been involved with New Zealand’s screen industry since 1993.
Mr Tapert has brought projects into New Zealand from major production studios including Universal Studios, Screen Gems, TriStar, and Sony. His production credits within New Zealand include the feature films ‘Boogeyman’, ’30 Days of Night’, and the remake of ‘Evil Dead’ and seasons of the television shows ‘Ash vs Evil Dead’, ‘Hercules: The Legendary Journeys’, ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’, ‘Legend of the Seeker’, and ‘Spartacus’. The shows ‘Hercules’ and ‘Xena’ provided more than seven years of continuous employment to hundreds of people in the industry and opportunities for New Zealand actors and crew to hone their expertise.
Due to the scale and duration of his productions, those starting out in the industry have had opportunities to gain valuable experience in technical areas of filmmaking. He has made a point of engaging New Zealanders as Heads of Departments on his productions, creating opportunities to contribute to critical production decisions and gain experience to advance within the industry. Mr Tapert has also kept post-production of his projects within New Zealand, further contributing to the advancement of the post-production sector of the industry.