Top Gunn

Jason

Gunn’s mission to unlock the communicator in us all

By Natasha Parrant

A positive energy fills the room. Jason Gunn who’s been in the television and broadcasting industry for over 35 years can make anyone in the room feel comfortable because he makes you feel like you’re talking to an old friend.

As I sat down on the sofa in Jason’s Easily Said office my eyes glanced around the room. In his creative space, there’s a light-up On Air sign, green screen, and whiteboard to plan workshops, keynotes and courses for 2023. This is where he produces, videos, talks, and edits his work, which he loves doing.

Before I could ask him anything he asks me a question about why I got into journalism; it’s like the roles have reversed. He listens intently, and then I ask him my first question and quickly gathered that Jason doesn’t want to talk about himself, he wants to talk about everyone else in his life.

Jason grew up on Reading Street in Upper Riccarton, Christchurch, in a cul-de-sac, which was many things to him, he says. He’s a massive sports fan and the street he grew up on reminded him of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He also sang and did local productions there, so, the street has shaped Jason regarding who he is, he says.

His mum is very social and a great storyteller, so Jason learned a lot from her. She was a stay-at-home mum and his dad worked at the university around the corner. Jason and his brother Andrew – who’s currently a writer of feature films, TV shows and for Jason - were lucky, he says.

She would drop them to every soccer practice and pick them up for every drama thing, which Jason says is everything.

The Gunn brothers grew up in a household where they gave things a go.

“This sounds arsey but I went through the first chapter of my life as ‘oh, you’re Andrew Gunn’s brother,’ which was awesome, I was so proud to be that. Well, the poor bugger, the last few years has been like ‘oh, you’re Jason Gunn’s brother.’ He’s a whole lot more than that.”

Andrew is very smart and helped Jason with school by teaching him when he didn’t understand something.

“Andrew explained things well, which is why he is such an amazing writer, especially for children,” Jason says.

The parents let the boys be who they were. They let Andrew be smart and they let Jason be his funny self.

“And I’m so grateful of that.”

Answering a question about his favourite subject at school wouldn’t be as long as his last answer, Jason says. Turns out it was just as long as his last answer.

Long story short, Jason liked drama at school, so he could entertain people on stage and see the audience smile. “This is a really cool thing,” he thought.

Fast-forward to 2017 when Jason suffered a heart attack out of nowhere, he had to take five pills, which made him feel like he aged 25 years, he says.

One day he wasn’t feeling the best, so he took it upon himself to post on social media that he wasn’t feeling great about taking these pills. He wanted to see if others have felt the same way, and that maybe it was the way he was framing it and instead needed to see the pills as a superpower.

If people were taking tablets for whatever reason then, “don’t feel old, just feel like we’ve got a new little journey we’re on,” he posted. Someone alluded to committing suicide but after seeing Jason’s post they told him they were going to stick around for a bit. Jason reached out to get them help.

“Wow, this is not me being anything special. I’m just an average Joe human who just happened to post the right message at the right time that the right person needed to hear.”

Jason didn’t grow up thinking he’d go into the television and broadcasting industry. But, when he was working at More FM’s drive show on the afternoons and Classic Hits, he was making “stupid money” and still decided to leave after he had a heart attack as he didn’t like the culture.

Easily Said’s sales/marketing and producer Emma Turnbull says to Jason it wasn’t a creative outlet for him. They exchange smiles.

Now Jason and his lovely wife - who’s Aotearoa’s prime children’s television producer - Janine Morrell-Gunn have four children: Eve (33), Grace (28), Faith (23), and Louis (19). His children keep him young and there’s no one else he’d rather hang with, he says.

“I just adore them,” he says smiling.

Emma tells Jason he’s always putting his family before his career. Jason had many opportunities to move, even overseas, but he reminded himself of what his son mentioned to him one day in terms of what success looks like. He didn’t want to disrupt his family’s lives and move them elsewhere.

“Is it living in London away from his mum, dad and brother; is that success?” He wondered. He decided to buy 10 acres out in Tai Tapu, 20 minutes out of Christchurch and live his life close to his loved ones.

“We’re all about family first. It’s everything.”

Jason’s not putting on a show or being someone he’s not, Emma adds.

“You are the same person you are on screen as you are off-screen,” Emma says to Jason while looking at him admiringly. “Which is great because it means sharing your good times and your bad times.”

This is why people can relate to and connect with Jason, she concludes.

Personally, I don’t know anyone that hasn’t heard of Jason Gunn before, but what’s his take on it?

“I don’t believe in fame. There’s fame but I don’t think in New Zealand we have any form of fame. I don’t believe the word celebrity. Famous, none of that! Stars… ooh, don’t get me started. Influencers – don’t… don’t get me started on influencers,” Jason exclaims while making Emma laugh.

Jason thinks he was part of a simple time when people used to watch him on children’s television shows with their families.

People still come up to Jason and say, “‘Hey Jase!’ And you’re thinking, what an insane thing I have been given – I can walk around a hospital and people can come up and go, ‘Oh hi Jason’ and you’re going ‘Hi, how are you?’”

Jason says in a friendlier, higher-pitched voice.

Jason’s only human, so he can get self-doubt and self-confidence issues. He could be talking to 700 people on a stage and the next day he could whisper to Emma, “I don’t know if that went well last night.”

Jason and Janine established their production company WhitebaitMedia 23 years ago when Jason left radio and went back into television, meanwhile, Janine was still head of children’s TV at the time.

In the bigger picture, Jason doesn’t have as much to do with WhitebaitMedia as much as Janine, or at least not in their Christchurch based-office.

“Janine certainly wears the pants,” Jason says.

“Jason has creative input,” Emma adds.

“You’re like the sun and the moon.”

Jason likes to be on the camera and Janine behind the camera. However, Janine is just as creative as Jason, if not more, he says.

Easily Said was established three years ago after Jason’s heart attack when his son Louis said, “Hey you’re not going back to radiothat’s not what success looks like”.

Jason got advice from his good friend Phil Keoghan who hosts The Amazing Race to start his own company. Easily Said is a communications training company that teaches all sorts of individuals and businesses to have the confidence to talk, learn how to tell stories and speak from the heart, rather than just the head, as Jason puts it.

“You know, often you’ve talked to me about coaching people on how to talk, you should do that! There are lots of people who would really benefit from that,” Phil said to Jason.

Jason didn’t know what that would look like but thought maybe he can do it and since then it’s evolved.

“I’ve discovered what Easily Said is - it’s really how I help people connect with people and almost give people permission to be themselves and to tell their story. Because that’s all I’ve always tried to do. Look at the camera and connect with people. Stand on a stage and connect with people.

“Easily Said has changed now. It’s a more focused thing. I thought it was ‘I’m gonna help you speak better’ ngahhh, no!“ He says in a high-pitched tone. He reverts now sitting back on his chair. “It’s adapted and it’s changed. And that’s okay, if you wait until you think you’ve exactly got it, you might never do it.”

In terms of Easily Said’s schedule, Jason’s always busy doing something different most days of the week. He might be doing zoom calls with overseas clients, delivering a keynote speech somewhere in the country, or going to businesses and holding a workshop.

The team also wants to open up a workshop at WhitebaitMedia, so people can learn from Jason about how to become great communicators while seeing how the magical world of television works.

Emma and personal assistant Xenia Traill work alongside Jason to ensure he’s organised and not too overloaded.

Easily Said strives to keep growing. Jason wants to do more online training because he believes that’s where the future is heading; offering online courses like a subscription where he can provide content, interview people and teach communication.

Growing Easily Said will also involve attracting as many businesses as possible, with the goal being teaching the right people how to make a difference through communication, he says. When it comes to public speaking, Jason advises if someone gets nervous talking to the camera because they don’t know where to look, then they can pretend like it’s only one person watching, so it’s like having a one-onone conversation.

Advice entrepreneurs starting out can follow is learning to chunk everything they need down into small pieces by doing one thing at a time.

They should ask themselves why they’re doing this, vulnerability is a great thing and makes great content, upskill to keep learning, and Janine always tells Jason when he’s feeling stuck, “It will all be alright in the end. And if it’s not alright, it’s not the end.”

At the end of the day, Jason loves seeing people talk and making a difference when they entertain or make an audience feel some type of way.

“That’s what makes my heart sing.” CT