Fiona Samuel: Marching to success…

Fiona Samuel has found success as an actor, writer and director. Her first acting job was in long-running soap Close to Home, and she followed that with appearances in a number of film and TV shows. Samuel’s greatest passion, however, is for writing and directing. She was the creative force behind pioneering female-centric series The Marching Girls, and has written scripts for Outrageous Fortune, The Almighty Johnsons and Interrogation. Samuel also wrote and directed award-winning dramas Piece of My Heart, and Bliss: The Beginning of Katherine Mansfield.

In this ScreenTalk, Samuel talks about:

• Being too theatrical while acting on soap Close to Home
• Creating The Marching Girls
• Learning about scriptwriting while working on the show
• Adding a prostitute to Fiona Farrell's original short story, for TV film Home Movie
• How a surprising statistic led her to create the documentary Virginity
• Taking 10 years to get Piece of My Heart funded
• Finding the powerhouse cast
• Bringing a fresh yet authentic feel to Bliss
• Wishing for even more opportunities in her career

This video was first uploaded on 10 December 2012, 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