Keith Aberdein: scripting NZ classics...

Interview – 2010

From reporting on the Wahine tragedy to writing and acting, Keith Aberdein has been part of some of New Zealand’s biggest screen moments. The globetrotting writer began in television as a journalist on Town and Around. He went on to write episodes of pioneering TV dramas Pukemanu and Close to Home, and was a key player in the creation of colonial epic The Governor. Aberdein also acted in classic movie Smash Palace.

In this ScreenTalk, Aberdein talks about:

Why he still shudders about the time he interviewed a survivor of the Wahine disaster
The challenges of making Pukemanu, and how it changed the face of Kiwi television drama
Setting out to overturn old ideas about Governor George Grey when he wrote colonial epic The Governor
The impact of The Governor, good and bad, on Kiwi screen drama
How soap Close to Home helped make TV One king of the ratings
Working on the script for Utu with director Geoff Murphy
Writing a scathing script review of Smash Palace, and how director Roger Donaldson got his own back by casting him in the film
How making a career in TV can be fun, but can also lead to tears

This video was first uploaded on 20 July 2010, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing - Andrew Whiteside

I occasionally see that footage of me talking to that guy . . . I pull the blanket over his shoulder in order to keep him there — not because I'm worried about him being bloody cold. I just want another few seconds, whatever I can get with him, because he's telling a really interesting story about dragging people out of the water . . . I never knew his name.
– Keith Aberdein on conducting interviews in the immediate aftermath of the Wahine disaster, early in this interview

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