Vincent Burke (producer)

Burke was married to, and later divorced from, Monique Oomen who was a TVNZ current affairs director. He died on 17 February 2022.

Burke and Laurie Clarke founded the free-to-air New Zealand TV Channel, Choice TV in late 2011. In 2012, Burke was appointed one of the directors and the channel was launched on 28 April 2012. It was sold to Blue Ant Media in 2014, then to Discovery in 2019.

In 1995, Cinema of Unease was released which covers the beginnings of New Zealand films around this time. Burke was the executive producer and it won Best Documentary at the 1996 NZ Film Awards.

Burke’s first documentary, I Want to Die at Home was released in 1990. He made seven more films about death and dying which were used in nurses' training. The documentary won a Jury Award at the Montreal Women’s Festival in 1991. All About Eve, a documentary about the HIV-infected child Eve van Grafhorst was released in 1994.

During the 1990s Burke expanded further with Top Shelf Productions, producing shows and documentaries such as Target, An Immigrant Nation and Flatmates. During the early 2000s, Top Shelf Productions released the show Making New Zealand.

Burke launched the New Zealand Television production company, Top Shelf Productions in 1988 which he ran until closing it down in 2019. He raised his own finance in the company to fund his first short film, Gordon Bennett, which was released in 1989.

Vincent Burke (14 February 1952 – 17 February 2022) was a New Zealand television and film producer. Burke was the founder of Top Shelf Productions which was established in 1988. With a career spanning thirty years, Burke was noted for his documentary work and television productions which addressed social issues and everyday life.