The Respectable Addiction

Television (Full Length) – 2003

Exploring the issue of overworking, this one-off documentary features interviews with a range of self-confessed workaholics. It offers insights from psychologists and physicians on how work can become addictive and dangerous. Director Michelle Bracey and writer Colin Hogg (who both worked on award-winning Barry Crump documentary Crump) look at a number of industries, including hospitality, agriculture and academia. Writer Pat Booth discusses journalism, while Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast is candid about the roots of her overworking problem — and the impact it has had on her personal life and family.

My work ethic, I look at it as actually being an entertainer ... when the doors open, it's like the curtain goes up; it's showtime. I do more mistakes when it's quiet than what I do when I'm flat chack ... I function better when it's busy. I'm one of those people that's virtually married to my work.
– Rob Hope, maître d' at Christchurch restaurant Le Bon Bolli, early in this documentary