"It's reassuring our judging peers are not just dismissing Xena as an American' show and realise the local creative input deserves recognition," he says.
Duncan has been involved in the New Zealand film and TV industry since he was 18. He's still known by friends and colleagues as Rockin' Donny D -- a pseudonym from his days as a country-blues show DJ on Wellington student radio station Radio Active.
A signed photo of Lucy in her Xena costume, striking a fierce warrior pose, hangs in the hallway of Duncan's Grey Lynn, Auckland, home. The inscription reads: "To Rockin' Donny D, even though I'd sometimes like to take a big ol' stick to ya', With greatest love, esteem and affection, Lucy."
Lawless wouldn't really take a big ol' stick to Duncan. Along with the make-up artists, he's the one who ensures she and co-star Renee O'Connor look good. He sometimes battles with the directors in his determination to make sure both look like gorgeous heroines in every shot.
"I will control the light on Lucy and Renee. That can be time-consuming. It can mean you might have to turn an entire scene around. I don't care what happens to the baddies; they can have non-flattering light on them."
He says the relationship between the director and the director of photography can be interesting. "It's almost in total conflict at times, because time is the great enemy in fast-turn-around television."
Both Xena and its "brother" show Hercules: The Legendary Journeys try to imitate the quality of feature films, but have much less time to shoot. On Xena, they shoot a 45-minute episode in eight days, while a 100-minute feature film usually takes eight weeks.
"We use elaborate camera moves, steadicam, and big cranes. We've got wonderful sets and costumes, so to do it justice, we try and give it absolutely everything we've got in the cinematography."
Duncan doesn't view Hercules as competition -- he thinks the shows are completely different.
"Xena's always been seen as a bit darker, stylistically as well as story-wise, and more adult perhaps. We like to think of Xena as a bit grungier, for want of a better word. We initially did a lot more off-the-shoulder, rougher' material which I think infused it with a certain energy. Whereas Hercules was always a lot more feature-film classic, a big epic."
Duncan works with a different director every eight days, which he says is exciting, but challenging. Eighty per cent of them come from the United States.
"You get to learn so much from them all, because they're all coming from such different backgrounds."
Auckland director Mark Beesley has directed two Xena episodes. "Donny is very precise and under a lot of stress, but you don't see him having tantrums," he says.
Auckland directors of photography are all "slightly mad" because of the weather, says Beesley.
"They get a kind of look on their face, a cross between desperation and despair. Time and the elements are against them."
Duncan says he used to "tear his hair out" over Auckland's fickle weather but he's learned to cope with it. On exterior shoots he picks gaps of consistent light long enough to get a take in.
"The one thing I've learnt not to get stressed about is weather, because it's completely out of your hands. My personal philosophy is Zen and the art of notworrying about things you have no control over, because otherwise you'll just die young. When it comes down to it, it's only a TV series."
Jobs are scarce in the film industry right now and Duncan realises Xena will not last forever, even though he has wrapped work on the third series and is likely to be involved in a fourth.
"I must admit I sometimes yearn to be able to get back into shooting something contemporary where I have access to practical light sources like neons, bar-room lights, and car headlights."
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