From office boy to media bigwig
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday March 12, 2011
NEVILLE LLOYD THOMSON 1926-2011A love for film and a gift of the gab took Neville Thomson from office assistant in a film company in pre-war Sydney to European supervisor in charge of selling television programs to 67 countries three decades later. Along the way he became the first face seen on Adelaide television, introduced Australia to Charlie's Angels and sent Sara Dane to China.Neville Lloyd Thomson was born in Newcastle on August 10, 1926, the only child to Stanley Thomson and Leila Steele.A confident boy, he wasn't out of school long before he talked his way into an office job at Columbia Pictures. After the war, he moved to Victoria to work as publicity manager in Columbia Pictures' Melbourne office but soon took a sidestep into radio, taking over the publicity department of 3AW. It was here that he met Margery Seyfarth, who became his secretary and, in 1955, his wife.In the mid-'50s television stations in Sydney and Melbourne began broadcasting regularly and Thomson looked for a way to break into the medium. He was thrilled when he won the job of program manager for South Australia's first television station ADS and when the channel made its debut, rather than show the test pattern, Thomson decided to appear on-screen to welcome Adelaide viewers to the new era.Three years later the variety show he produced for the station, On the Sunnyside, won the Logie for most popular South Australian program.Thomson returned to Sydney and Columbia Pictures in 1965. There, he worked closely with American producer Dan Enright, co-producing early reality TV-style shows such as Magistrate's Court and People in Conflict, as well as an ambitious drama called Adventures of the Seaspray. Made with an eye on the international market, the series, which ran for 32 episodes, told the tale of a widower and his children who sail around the Pacific. Overseas sales were finalised before production had finished.In the '70s, Thomson brought Charlie's Angels and Fantasy Island (among others) to an Australian audience, and made significant inroads into the South Pacific market. Six years later he moved his family to Europe to take up his role as vice-president of Columbia International Pictures, which involved managing sales to 67 countries.In 1978 he returned to Australia to work with MCA International Television but three years later he left to join distribution company Amicus, with whom he brokered a groundbreaking distribution deal with Chinese television. It took a lot of hard work but after a year of negotiating, Thomson sold an 85-hour hour package of foreign programs, including Fantasy Island and the Australian mini-series Sara Dane. It was the first time that cash had been paid for a substantial package of overseas programs.Thomson told Variety in 1984 that the deal was the "crowning achievement" of his 40-year career.Thomson is survived by wife, Margery, children Alan, Deborah and Julie, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.Gabriel Wilder
© 2011 Sydney Morning Herald