Nua Finau

Co-Founder, Executive Producer and Showrunner
Tavake Ltd

A proud Tongan, born and raised in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Halaifonua Finau, or Nua as he's more commonly known, is at the forefront of bringing Polynesian stories to our screens.

He is a writer and producer, with a mission to take his little corner of the Pacific to the world. He cut his teeth in children's television as a producer on Small Blacks TV, and honed his skills and vibe in series two of the much loved Polynesian series Baby Mama's Club. In 2019, Nua was co-writer and associate producer on Jonah, the tele-feature drama series on
Tongan and All Blacks rugby legend, Jonah Lomu.

In 2021, Nua teamed up with Four Knights maestro, Tom Hern (The Dark Horse, Guns Akimbo, Shadow in the Cloud) and created their production company Tavake. Their first drama series The Panthers which he wrote, created and executive produced alongside Hern was the first New Zealand TV series to premiere at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival and was nominated for Best Limited Series at the 2022 Rockie Awards and picked up eight awards at the 2022 New Zealand Television awards, including Best Drama Series.

Their company Tavake has an exciting slate of works in development. Their series Madame Mom is slated for production in Q2 of 2023, in which Nua and Hern are Executive Producing alongside Marci Wiseman and XYZ Films.

His first feature film, a semi-autobiographical family comedy Red, White & Brass in which he is writer and producer alongside Morgan Waru (Baby Done) and Georgina Conder (Cousins, The Breaker Upperers) and executive produced by Carthew Neal, Ainsley Gardiner and Taika Waititi is due for release in 2023.

Speaking at: Production Partners,Indigenous Screen Summit Pitch Forum #2: drama series,Global partnerships: we’re all in this together