When Oscar Kightley's not busy 'getting abs and taking over the world' he's developing secret plans to find a machine that turns DNA, ideas, experiences and influences into a finished script.

Oscar's also getting ready to join the Naked Samoans and creators behind the award winning animated series bro'Town live on stage for the first time, at the New Zealand International Arts Festival in Wellington, to recount the long and winding road to Morningside.

As bro'Town enters its fifth season and his success both on and off the screen continues to grow, Oscar says the humour and hunger keep him real.

"Hunger is a great motivation and even when you've easily got $5 for lunch you should try to keep that hunger. If you're any good, the rest will come from that."When Oscar Kightley's not busy 'getting abs and taking over the world' he's developing secret plans to find a machine that turns DNA, ideas, experiences and influences into a finished script.

Oscar's also getting ready to join the Naked Samoans and creators behind the award winning animated series bro'Town live on stage for the first time, at the New Zealand International Arts Festival in Wellington, to recount the long and winding road to Morningside.

As bro'Town enters its fifth season and his success both on and off the screen continues to grow, Oscar says the humour and hunger keep him real.

"Hunger is a great motivation and even when you've easily got $5 for lunch you should try to keep that hunger. If you're any good, the rest will come from that."During what hours of the day do you feel most inspired?
Between midnight and 4am.

How would a good friend describe your aesthetic or style?
Don't know what my good friends would say but my stink friends would say it's casual yet stylishly elegant with understated overtones of contemporary urban try hard.

What aspect of your creative practice gives you the biggest thrill?
The fact that I get to be creative is a pretty big thrill for me but it's also a thrill if it works on the audience and they get it.

How do you think your environment affects your work?
Totally especially if it's true that we are products of our environment and that our environment defines us. If that's not true then hardly any. I believe it's a mix of your environment and the sort of person you are in responding to that environment.

Do you like to look at the big picture or focus on the details?
I'm tortured in that I'm always mindful of the big picture but weighed down by the details that I know have to go in to making the big picture.

What's your number one business tip for surviving (and thriving) in the creative industries?
Hunger is a great motivation and even when you've easily got $5 for lunch you should try to keep that hunger. If you're any good, the rest will come from that.

Why did you decide to take bro'Town live on stage?
The Festival people - in their vision for making a choice festival - approached Firehorse Films with the idea. Elizabeth Mitchell (friend, series creator and producer) asked us if we were keen.

I said no thinking it would be too much work on top of working on the fifth series but Elizabeth was keen so here we are preparing to jump off the cliff, trawling through the recent past and to tell the story of how bro'town came to be.

What will the show include - what is the 'true' bro'Town story?
The show will be funny and not boring and include us and our friends doing cool stuff on stage with some new animation, behind the scenes info, some audience interaction and some neat special guests.

How do the Naked Samoans maintain their friendships after all these years without having 'boy-band' fights?
We never really take ourselves too seriously and pretty much look for different ways of laughing at each other.

What new adventures are in store for the bro'Town boys in the upcoming fifth series?
Just the same life adventures that can get us all down like school, parents, having to work, drama class, hypocrisy, cyber slacking, too much meat, conspiracy theories, overdue accounts, TV sermons, maintaining one's moral compass, recent immigrants, bullying, boot camps and dancing shows. And some cool special guests.

The series has again received funding from NZ on Air. How dependent is the show on this funding?
Very dependent. Animation is expensive, especially when done the old school 2d way that bro'Town's done with.

How has the industry changed since bro'Town first began in 2004?
With bro'Town I'm only involved in the writing and performing so I'm couldn't expertly comment on how it's impacted on New Zealand's animation industry. In terms of the television industry I hope it's opened eyes to the popularity of New Zealand humour.

How many more series are in store for bro'Town? Have you ever thought of an ending?
Not sure how many more series and haven't thought of an ending. Elizabeth's got some good ideas and the others in the Nakeds have very interesting heads so we'll cross that bridge when we get to the toll gate and find some change in the corner of the car.

Will the boys ever grow up?
I look at them sometimes and I think that.. In some ways no they'll never grow up.

Will Oscar ever grow up?
There was a cool line from the final of Californication about how sometimes you grow up whether you're ready to or not.

As your success grows how do you keep it real and come up with fresh humour?
You just have to keep yourself real. It's a struggle for me sometimes but life's an ongoing work in progress until it ends. Plus with humour there's a really simple way of knowing whether it works or not - whether you laugh. If something doesn't make you laugh, keep reworking it til it does. That's a rule I try to adhere to.

What are your plans for this year?
They're the same plans every year. Get abs and take over the world.

If you could go back and choose a completely different career path to the one you've chosen, what would it be?
All Black.

What place is always with you, wherever you go?
Samoa.

You are given a piece of string, a stick and some fabric. What do you make?
A note to myself to get a Playstation.

What's the best stress relief advice you've ever been given?
Massage is good.

What's great about today?
I'm around to enjoy it!

What's your big idea for 2008?
Can someone please invent a machine that takes your DNA, then you type in all your ideas for a story and relevant experiences from the past that would help inform it, then type the stuff that influences you and that you like then you push a button and after a little bit of whirring a finished script prints out.

19/02/08