Kate McDermott: From learning the ropes on Shortland St to creating Step Dave...

Kate McDermott is a scriptwriter whose words have been heard in a long list of popular TV comedies and dramas. She began as a writer on Shortland Street, and later became a story-liner for the soap. McDermott then moved on to writing for series like Being Eve, Mercy Peak, Go Girls and Outrageous Fortune. In 2014, McDermott’s own creation Step Dave became a popular series for TVNZ, and ran for two series.

In this ScreenTalk, McDermott talks about:

• Making a mess of her first Shortland Street script
• Eventually becoming a story-liner on the show
• Bringing a little Shakespeare to hit kids show Being Eve
• Binge-watching episodes of Mercy Peak in order to write for the show
• Loving the freedom to write swear words in Outrageous Fortune scripts
• Becoming a show-runner for Go Girls
• Enjoying working on the comedy drama Nothing Trivial
• Initially declining a job writing for drama The Blue Rose
• Having to work at a fast pace creating season one of Step Dave

This video was first uploaded on 16 February 2015, 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