MEDIA RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE USE
Friday 20th October 2006
Australian Appointment to Key Position at Front of the Box Productions
Award winning television Production Company Front of the Box Productions announces the appointment of a new Production
Budgets and Operations Manager. Fred Straughen, from Sydney Australia, took up his appointment on Wednesday 18th October
2006. Fred has most recently been working for Beyond Productions (Animal Planet) in Australia and prior to that for
Becker Entertainment in Singapore and Jakarta, Indonesia where he supervised the production of programmes for local
terrestrial broadcasters as well as blue chip documentary product for international satellite broadcasters such as the
National Geographic Channel and Discovery Channel Networks. He brings with him a vast knowledge of the industry and an
international perspective which sits well with the shifting focus of Front of the Box Productions.
Fred explains why he chose to join Front of the Box Productions – “I accepted the position at Front of the Box because I
saw it as an opportunity to work with people who were at the cutting edge of technology and programming. I have always
found myself drawn to organizations that are innovative and forward thinking.”
Front of the Box Productions is a leading producer of Maori and Pasifika television programming in New Zealand. The
Company is expanding its operation, and so require the services of an internationally experienced Budgets and Operations
Manager - someone who is used to working with multi-million dollar budgets and delivering across a range of platforms.
Front of the Box Executive Producer Claudette Hauiti is in the midst of on-going talks with a number of overseas
channels and Producers in relation to programme formats and Co-Productions for both the domestic and the international
markets. Of this shift in focus she says – “Our Company is keeping pace with a demand to supply programming to
international markets. We’re also keeping pace with the burgeoning multi-media platforms. This diversification is
exciting because it forces us to be aggressively innovative in style and technologically savvy.”
ENDS