00:00:00
hang out there perfect my home brew and
00:00:03
um decide you know decide on my next
00:00:06
move from
00:00:07
there but it was then I sort of looked
00:00:09
at you know and and social media is is
00:00:12
one of the good things about it is is
00:00:13
it's an opportunity for me to see what
00:00:15
people think of the shows and stuff and
00:00:17
people can't wait for the next series
00:00:18
when's your next stuff coming out and I
00:00:21
realized how much people you after 20
00:00:23
years people have grown up watching the
00:00:24
show and I was like it's not right for
00:00:26
me to just go okay well that was great
00:00:29
and let it kind of f away you feel like
00:00:31
you owe it to the fans I do and I ow it
00:00:33
owe it um and I wanted to do a season
00:00:36
where um I wasn't going into the season
00:00:39
going man I have to make this work to
00:00:42
make it right so I can keep my sponsors
00:00:44
so the TV network stays interested I've
00:00:46
come into this filming this season with
00:00:48
going I don't I nothing left to prove
00:00:51
I'm just going to have a real good time
00:00:52
shooting this last season so I did it
00:00:54
for myself as well um and then last week
00:00:58
just putting a post on social media
00:01:00
saying well okay we're we're repping up
00:01:01
the TV show number of people say I'm
00:01:04
crying I don't know how to break it to
00:01:06
my kids it's like hang on I'm not died
00:01:08
you know I'm still going to be releasing
00:01:09
content it's just not going to be on
00:01:11
it's not going to be on tell so yeah it
00:01:14
is a um a surreal thing in that but I I
00:01:17
certainly don't see the um AIT s or or
00:01:21
the it doesn't feel like an ending okay
00:01:23
well no end of an error in a way but um
00:01:26
but I I feel like you're you're probably
00:01:28
getting out and ch at a good time cuz um
00:01:31
I think that the medium of TV free to
00:01:33
Air TV especially is dying and now
00:01:35
there's a way you can do the content
00:01:36
release it on your own sort of um
00:01:38
digital platform and uh it can still
00:01:40
reach the people even greater audience
00:01:43
yeah so I um we started a um television
00:01:47
production company me and my mate Kizer
00:01:50
22 years ago and we um I I liked madfish
00:01:55
TV and kieren liked tight lines
00:01:58
television and we so so to sort it out
00:02:01
we wrote the names on a Bits of Paper
00:02:02
and we pulled it out and our company
00:02:04
became tit lines television um which I
00:02:06
ended up Kieran uh after a few years
00:02:08
went on find another career path and I
00:02:10
stuck with tit lines television eight
00:02:13
years ago I looked at that name and had
00:02:14
the word television in it and I went to
00:02:16
the company's office and I changed it to
00:02:18
tit lines media cuz I could see eight
00:02:20
years ago the writing was on the wall
00:02:22
for for TV and that's when we started
00:02:26
ultimate fishing TV which is our own
00:02:28
platform where we could post our content
00:02:29
straight to the audience but when you've
00:02:32
got TV contracts they get rights to
00:02:33
everything first and we couldn't release
00:02:36
any of that content so TV was still
00:02:39
getting our all of our energy and all of
00:02:41
our our best content but that platform
00:02:44
was slowly chipping away in the
00:02:45
background and then if I got time I'd go
00:02:47
and I'd shoot something specifically for
00:02:48
our online for our social media and um
00:02:54
it just grew and grew and it's still
00:02:55
growing by 4,000 followers or
00:02:57
subscribers a week W what's your what's
00:02:59
your YouTube numbers um YouTube is not
00:03:02
great about 200,000 I think okay well
00:03:05
I'm sitting here with I just clicked
00:03:07
over 3,000 this week
00:03:09
so to me that sounds great yeah yeah um
00:03:13
we are go like I mean I I still like
00:03:16
we're mid- production on this last TV
00:03:17
series and honestly all my energy is
00:03:19
going into that to try and make it the
00:03:21
best TV series I've ever made and after
00:03:23
two decades of doing this you deserved
00:03:25
this um freedom and flexibility to do
00:03:27
things on your own terms but let's go
00:03:29
the way back cuz it's such a fascinating
00:03:31
story The Matt Watson Story So you
00:03:33
you're sort of raised in like a fishing
00:03:35
environment family of commercial fishes
00:03:37
so that's what you always sort of wanted
00:03:39
to do yeah and then you have like a fist
00:03:42
fight at a Christmas Day cricket match
00:03:45
yeah um well my fist didn't really get
00:03:47
used cuz I got knocked out pretty quick
00:03:49
so so how old are you at the time I was
00:03:51
17 17 and and so your uncle gave you a
00:03:54
hiding or something oh hit me with a
00:03:55
cricket
00:03:56
B like like accidentally or um you with
00:04:00
so yeah let me establish let me
00:04:03
establish this a little bit we're
00:04:04
painting a very interesting picture of
00:04:05
the Watson family as a broader group
00:04:07
yeah so um we're a very competitive
00:04:10
family big family God and we've got this
00:04:12
uncanny thing where we've got an even
00:04:14
split of left and right handers amongst
00:04:16
the blogs so on Christmas day that's how
00:04:19
the teams would be divided lefties
00:04:20
versus righties and uh we'd do
00:04:24
volleyball um touch rugby and backyard
00:04:26
cricket and um we the righties we've
00:04:29
done pretty well in the touch rugby
00:04:30
which ended up being more like a game of
00:04:31
League by the end of it um we lost the
00:04:34
volleyball and it came down to the
00:04:36
backyard cricket and it came down to the
00:04:37
last ball and like you know you imagine
00:04:40
hot summers's day everyone's had a few
00:04:42
TS on Christmas day and it was me
00:04:44
bowling to my uncle in and he owns the
00:04:47
you know he owned the commercial fishing
00:04:48
boats I'd been I'd worked all my school
00:04:51
holidays and and weekends for him since
00:04:53
I was 14 and I built up enough SE hours
00:04:56
to get my Skippers ticket so my plan was
00:04:59
you know basically come straight out of
00:05:02
school and go and work full-time for my
00:05:04
uncle you know running one of his boats
00:05:06
um I had told Mom I was going to go to
00:05:08
UNI she wanted me to be the only male in
00:05:11
my family not to be a commercial
00:05:12
fisherman um I think she you I think she
00:05:15
wanted me to be a lawyer or a doctor or
00:05:17
something and pinned all her hopes on me
00:05:19
cuz my brother was a dropkick so sorry
00:05:23
Benny was a joke um and um so yeah so I
00:05:29
I remember feeling so happy that running
00:05:32
into That Christmas Feeling my last exam
00:05:34
is behind me I'm never going to open
00:05:37
another book in my life I'm just you
00:05:39
know my life's going to be out in the
00:05:40
ocean catching fish and um so but it all
00:05:45
come undone with one bowl of a cricket
00:05:46
ball so I knew my uncle in couldn't play
00:05:49
a fast straight Yorker um for those that
00:05:52
don't know the Yorkers a high speeed
00:05:54
delivery aimed at the toes and he was
00:05:55
hopeless if you pitched it up fast so I
00:05:58
come in all the way back to the closes
00:05:59
line and coming off the long run up and
00:06:01
I ripped it in as hard as I could maybe
00:06:04
cuz I had a few beers that came out the
00:06:05
hand wrong and it was a beamer a full
00:06:07
toss that just got them B right in the
00:06:09
middle of the head like SCA them and cuz
00:06:12
it was the last ball and we'd already
00:06:14
had a big argument about no balls in
00:06:15
backyard cricket and the Bloody lefties
00:06:18
had said no there's no no balls in
00:06:20
backyard Cricket so we win right and so
00:06:22
I'm high-fiving my cousins and
00:06:24
everything I see can see my uncle
00:06:25
running at me with the bat like holding
00:06:28
it up like he was going to hit me I
00:06:29
thought n he won't hit me but he did he
00:06:32
did scum me with a cricket bat um that's
00:06:35
like over the arm over the body well I
00:06:38
got my arm up and it kind of glanced off
00:06:40
my shoulder which was a good thing and
00:06:41
it got me in the jaw and anyone that's
00:06:43
being whacked good in the jaw knows and
00:06:45
I thought [ __ ] I can feel my legs going
00:06:47
here like and then next thing I oh hell
00:06:50
are falling over my legs are gone and
00:06:52
then next thing I I notic is my dad um
00:06:55
who is also a lefty um but you see at
00:06:59
the moment my uncle hit me with a
00:07:00
cricket bat the teams kind of split we
00:07:03
went back to tribal family
00:07:06
routes and right out left and right is
00:07:08
out now it was it's War yeah so the old
00:07:11
man come and punch blood uncle in the
00:07:13
face I was just like oh my God it's an
00:07:15
all in Brawl it was yeah yeah yeah
00:07:17
Auntie Glenn has had the hose out hos
00:07:19
trying to
00:07:23
hose yeah it was a horrendous scene for
00:07:26
a Christmas day you know family
00:07:27
gatherings you know and um yeah I saw my
00:07:30
commercial fishing career disappear as
00:07:32
my uncle did a burnout off up the road
00:07:34
in his Ute he last parting shot he threw
00:07:37
a coffee cup at my Ute on the way past
00:07:39
and I thought oh man guess I'm not going
00:07:41
to be a fisherman but um I had another
00:07:43
Uncle um or my auntie Glenn's boyfriend
00:07:46
at the time was uh a roofer and he said
00:07:49
oh you want to come work for me and I
00:07:51
said yes sweet I didn't even know what
00:07:52
he did it was the same day the same day
00:07:55
same one door closes another door open
00:07:57
and that's how I became a roofer I so so
00:08:00
I cuz I've heard this story before the
00:08:01
unclean one how does he how's the
00:08:04
relationship now how does he feel about
00:08:05
you telling the Y does he love it or
00:08:07
embarassed yeah I'm I don't know we've
00:08:09
never really spoken about it um I in a
00:08:12
lot of ways I've I mean because it's
00:08:14
such a good story right and a lot of way
00:08:17
and a lot of ways I feel bad about it
00:08:18
because he's a good guy right he's great
00:08:21
guy and like he was my hero growing up
00:08:22
you know he was the greatest mullet
00:08:24
fisherman in Waymouth he's done
00:08:26
incredibly well for himself but uh I
00:08:29
don't what it was it was if you get hit
00:08:31
with hit with the ball like you're
00:08:32
you're in a rage and he probably
00:08:34
immediately regretted it oh yeah oh
00:08:36
absolutely absolutely but you know we're
00:08:38
from that area guys don't talk about
00:08:39
that sort of [ __ ] we just um you know
00:08:42
see each other next Christmas the very
00:08:44
the very next time I saw him was the
00:08:45
very next Christmas Day we downgraded to
00:08:48
a tennis ball for saf no no we see my
00:08:50
mom banned banned all sports all sports
00:08:53
were banned for about 4 years and then
00:08:55
when it finally came back and it was
00:08:57
actually um back at um
00:08:59
Uncle Steven AE Glenn's place again um
00:09:02
we we said come on let look we're not
00:09:04
going to get into a punch up again let
00:09:06
us play backyard cricket and we'd been
00:09:08
going about five minutes and I jokingly
00:09:11
just gestured to throw the ball at my
00:09:13
Uncle Ann and my mom pulled the stumps
00:09:15
out of the ground we got another two we
00:09:17
got we got another
00:09:19
band so yeah I mean yeah I mean it
00:09:21
wasn't on but you know I I do in a lot
00:09:24
of ways feel bad cuz he's not a a a
00:09:27
violent man or or anything like that it
00:09:29
was um you know it was a and and I don't
00:09:33
bear any any ill will you know like at
00:09:35
all that's a great story you're painting
00:09:37
a picture of your family is is it a
00:09:39
Bogan family um no South I don't know I
00:09:44
mean because it's my family you you're
00:09:45
and it you're just they're your family
00:09:47
right yeah
00:09:49
um um I mean we we' from all of us from
00:09:55
South Oakland so Way by way I I don't
00:09:57
mean Bogan is a derogatory oh no I I
00:10:00
would just um say
00:10:04
kiwi working class hardworking um family
00:10:08
like and everyone in my family's done
00:10:11
done really well through hard work um
00:10:14
you know so I I always had that as not
00:10:17
just with my mom and dad but you know
00:10:19
aunties and uncles I I just great role
00:10:22
models for people that just got up every
00:10:25
day and worked hard you had a party hard
00:10:27
yeah work
00:10:29
yeah and and it was the it was the
00:10:31
mentor then like literally I think it
00:10:33
was my generation that started saying
00:10:35
that but it was our parents that we saw
00:10:38
doing that you know they just going to
00:10:40
work and working hard never complaining
00:10:42
about it um and then and maybe maybe to
00:10:46
be fair probably playing you know in in
00:10:48
the light of 2023 probably playing a bit
00:10:51
too hard that was like the the the peak
00:10:53
of kiwi Bing drinking culture era I feel
00:10:56
anyway yeah you and I are about the same
00:10:58
age and definitely that generation where
00:11:00
you know eating is
00:11:01
cheating NOS in the Hydraulics
00:11:04
man all that yeah yeah yeah um yeah it's
00:11:09
great there's another another term which
00:11:11
um sounds derogatory almost like the
00:11:13
word Bogen kiwi betler I feel like you
00:11:15
like a kiwi kiwi betler sounds like
00:11:17
someone that's um has nothing but bad
00:11:19
luck after bad luck but I I sort of
00:11:21
frame it as differently someone that's
00:11:22
just grinds and works [ __ ] hard and
00:11:25
get what they're after I that's a
00:11:26
wonderful compliment like I don't I
00:11:28
don't see derogatory at all I um I um
00:11:32
see someone that works hard um whatever
00:11:35
their
00:11:36
circumstance um whether they manage to
00:11:39
get ahead or not hopefully they do um
00:11:41
kiwi B I just see that as a really kind
00:11:44
thing to say about somebody oh well
00:11:45
that's cool you're you're like you're a
00:11:47
guy and we'll get into the whole at
00:11:48
whatson story but you've um like in
00:11:50
spite of every obstacle that's that's
00:11:52
coming your way like you you know you've
00:11:54
defied the odds and you've made your own
00:11:55
luck yeah like in a big way yeah yeah
00:11:59
yeah I mean I I get told I'm lucky all
00:12:00
the time and it used to really annoy my
00:12:04
wife would' go out somewhere and people
00:12:05
would come up for a for a photo or to
00:12:07
say good day or whatever and they'd say
00:12:09
oh man you're so lucky you got the best
00:12:11
job in the world you're so lucky and
00:12:13
would be like why don't you tell them
00:12:15
about you know how much bloody stress
00:12:16
you're under and all that and I'm like
00:12:18
no that's that's if if they think that
00:12:20
I'm out fishing every day and I've got
00:12:22
the best life and and I do have a good
00:12:24
life like I'm not complaining about at
00:12:26
all um that means that I'm I'm
00:12:29
portraying that dream you know and and
00:12:31
of there're watching that man that guy's
00:12:33
got it easy or got it good well I'm
00:12:35
doing a good job so I I would you know I
00:12:38
wouldn't want to break anyone's illusion
00:12:40
and if I turn around and see them
00:12:42
actually mate I'm just about going broke
00:12:43
I don't know where I'm going to find the
00:12:44
money for the next series you know all
00:12:46
of this sort of stuff um you know that
00:12:49
would kind of ruin that yeah cuz you're
00:12:50
sort of like an unlikely TV star and
00:12:53
that TV's always been one of these um
00:12:54
Industries where there's there's someone
00:12:56
sitting at the top that either gives you
00:12:57
a tech or a cross and deci ID if you're
00:12:59
going to be on the TV or not going to be
00:13:00
on the TV and you've just sort of like
00:13:02
penetrated your way through in spite of
00:13:05
that gatekeeper and it's remarkable mate
00:13:07
yeah and I've buttered heads with a few
00:13:09
Gatekeepers and and there is no way
00:13:11
around them like if they decide that and
00:13:12
that's why I've had to switch networks
00:13:14
like we and sometimes it felt like the
00:13:17
higher the show rated when when we were
00:13:19
just winning like all genres like head
00:13:22
to-head with everyone we were just
00:13:24
rating the pants off of things a lot of
00:13:27
the people that were working at the TV
00:13:28
networks were people that had their own
00:13:30
ideas and dreams about TV shows that
00:13:32
failed and I only found out this in sort
00:13:35
of retrospect um and I don't know
00:13:38
whether it was professional jealousy
00:13:40
they're like who's this guy that was a
00:13:41
roofer who's never been to Media School
00:13:44
never done anything who does he think he
00:13:47
is coming in here and getting ratings
00:13:49
like that um and the you know I had the
00:13:52
words quoted to me from a TV exact which
00:13:54
I thought was absolutely ridiculous you
00:13:57
know ratings aren't everything man I'm
00:13:59
kind of like well if we're not rating
00:14:01
ratings are everything and you're gone
00:14:02
yeah they live and die by the ratings
00:14:04
they get every [ __ ] day so we had to
00:14:06
bounce around networks and I was
00:14:08
constantly trying to convince people
00:14:10
that it's worthwhile but the main thing
00:14:12
that allowed us to keep going was that
00:14:14
they weren't paying us it was no cost so
00:14:17
it was no cost no risk and our sponsors
00:14:20
bore that risk we're going to fund the
00:14:23
series and um I know people think
00:14:26
they're sponsors but for me like
00:14:28
honestly
00:14:29
itm fishing show it's got the name itm
00:14:32
in it and it would be just the nothing
00:14:34
if it wasn't wasn't for them and um you
00:14:37
know I'm just I'm I'm not here on your
00:14:39
show to try and plug itm but as an
00:14:43
independent Creator you can plug them
00:14:44
all the [ __ ] you want absolutely and and
00:14:47
I'm I'm well aware of the situation you
00:14:49
get like they come on in the early days
00:14:50
when when you've got nothing they come
00:14:52
on with good faith and maybe because
00:14:54
they like you as a person and then 5
00:14:56
years 10 years 15 years down the track
00:14:58
it's easy for one of of their
00:14:58
competitors to come on and try and
00:15:00
counter offer um when you've already
00:15:02
established but they your day ones yeah
00:15:04
exactly and so um not just itm a lot of
00:15:08
the sponsors that we had at day one um I
00:15:10
get head up particularly like you know
00:15:12
fishermen like um fishermen are
00:15:14
passionate about their gear and
00:15:15
everything they use and a lot of them
00:15:17
will look to me and they'll like um and
00:15:19
I'll get hit up at a boat show or even
00:15:21
at a a pub or something okay Matt like
00:15:24
if you weren't um sponsored by staby
00:15:26
Craft What boat would you actually have
00:15:28
and you know what what wagon would you
00:15:30
be toying it with what what tackle would
00:15:32
you use and I say to them you know what
00:15:33
before IID even thought of the idea of a
00:15:35
TV show I had a stab Craft boat I had a
00:15:38
Toyota I had Shimano tackle I had F I
00:15:41
had all of those Brands and I paid full
00:15:43
retail for them and I've still got them
00:15:44
to this day and yes all the competitors
00:15:46
have come along some have offered me
00:15:49
some crazy money um but um I I'm a loyal
00:15:53
person and um um don't get me wrong if
00:15:56
the gear was rubbish it would be a
00:15:58
different story but you know I was I was
00:16:00
that um Enthusiast wanting to do my
00:16:03
research and buy the best geare and I
00:16:05
felt I did and I've stuck with them and
00:16:07
they've stuck with me and it's and that
00:16:09
has been a massive part of the success
00:16:12
of the show um and um loyalty um can be
00:16:17
hard for some people I think in terms of
00:16:19
commercial terms when you're being
00:16:20
offered a lot of money in the long term
00:16:22
it pays off um because it's not only I
00:16:24
mean let's say um uh opposition to staby
00:16:28
craft comes along and they offer me um a
00:16:30
bunch of money and I go yeah I'll take
00:16:32
it that's a good bunch of money and one
00:16:34
day I'm saying I love these staby Craft
00:16:36
boats next day I'm saying H Hunter yeah
00:16:39
exactly I'm saying that that doesn't
00:16:40
just affect um staby craft that affects
00:16:44
all of my sponsors because they rely on
00:16:47
um the end user getting my honest
00:16:49
opinion and all of a sudden they're like
00:16:51
hang on Matt wen't you saying this maybe
00:16:53
you're just saying what you're being
00:16:54
paid to say and I've always prided
00:16:56
myself on if if one of our sponsors
00:16:59
bring out a product that I don't think's
00:17:01
that good I'll try it I'll just say look
00:17:03
you best not for me to use this on the
00:17:04
show because I I won't plug it if I
00:17:06
don't think it's good sometimes I'll
00:17:08
even go back and and tweak it with my
00:17:10
recommendations which is incredibly um
00:17:12
flattering yeah so yeah so um to anyone
00:17:15
that's doing anything um in any kind of
00:17:18
business I would say if you're in it
00:17:19
really in it for the long haul um be
00:17:21
loyal um you know you might think in the
00:17:24
short term that Jesus isn't going to pay
00:17:26
off but but it will m
00:17:29
okay so let's go back so there's um the
00:17:31
punch up with Uncle Ian and then another
00:17:33
Uncle offers you a job as a roofer yeah
00:17:35
so you become a roofer this is where
00:17:38
where you have the um the testical
00:17:39
injury yeah yeah the Epiphany as I call
00:17:43
so how long had you been Roofing at this
00:17:44
point um I'd been Roofing at that point
00:17:46
so this would have been I would have
00:17:48
been roofing for almost six years five
00:17:51
or six years and so this is your lot in
00:17:53
life you think this is well um or did
00:17:55
you did you still like have um were you
00:17:57
missing the ocean
00:17:59
so I I'd become um more of a recre recre
00:18:04
I mean I always recreationally fish when
00:18:06
I even when I was doing my commercial
00:18:07
fishing with the family but once the
00:18:10
commercial fishing door closed um it
00:18:12
open up this you know this thing called
00:18:14
weekends um whereas you know I could
00:18:16
work all week as a roofer and then on
00:18:18
the weekend i' hook my boat on um and I
00:18:21
would tow it and I could go up to hoort
00:18:24
um up north one weekend to chase Maron
00:18:26
I'd be down fakat the next weekend
00:18:28
chasing tuna be great I just going on
00:18:30
these weekend adventures with my mates
00:18:32
and I was just like man this is awesome
00:18:36
um but I and I knew I was going to get
00:18:38
back to fishing I had to it was in it
00:18:39
was in me it was in my blood I wanted to
00:18:41
be a fisherman and my way of being a
00:18:43
fisherman again was I was going to be
00:18:45
the hardest roof Ty Tyler ever I was
00:18:47
going to squirrel all my money away and
00:18:49
one day I was going to buy a big game
00:18:51
fishing boite I was going to move to the
00:18:52
Bay of islands I was going to take
00:18:53
people out on fishing charters and that
00:18:55
was my way of getting back to this
00:18:57
full-time dream of of being on the ocean
00:18:59
every day um and that was exactly what I
00:19:03
was doing and then the more successful
00:19:05
the roofing business got the less
00:19:07
fishing I was doing cuz I found myself
00:19:09
you know I got up to 11 staff at one
00:19:12
stage and I was working
00:19:14
weekends and I'd worked I know must have
00:19:18
been close to three months straight it
00:19:19
was in March anyway and it was a most
00:19:22
awesome day perfect it was a Sunday
00:19:24
perfect day for fishing and of course I
00:19:26
wanted to be out fishing but you know
00:19:28
Flex flexure construction needed me to
00:19:30
put more roofs on so and I had the
00:19:33
contract so I was doing that and I was
00:19:35
just I was on the roof um only one of my
00:19:38
workers had turned up because it was a
00:19:39
Sunday young guys you know and um I was
00:19:43
thinking about what it would be like to
00:19:44
be out on the ocean and that's cuz my
00:19:46
mates had rang me just as just before I
00:19:48
went up the ladder and said mate it is
00:19:50
the calest day we've ever seen across
00:19:52
the Monaco bar you could water ski
00:19:54
across here and they're saying there's
00:19:55
guys on the radio hooking up on Marlon
00:19:57
and I was like man I wish I was out
00:19:59
there I was just looking around there
00:20:00
was not a breath of wind and I was
00:20:02
sitting the roof out and I was walking
00:20:03
backwards and I was thinking thinking
00:20:05
about being on the ocean and maybe I
00:20:07
should have been thinking about where I
00:20:08
was stepping cuz stepped over the gutter
00:20:12
one leg either side of the gutter and it
00:20:14
was a um a sharp midle edge on the
00:20:17
inside and wearing the old rugby short
00:20:19
shorts don't afford much
00:20:23
[Music]
00:20:27
protection
00:20:28
[Music]
00:20:31
m
