Michael Noonan: Pioneering scriptwriter...

Michael Noonan is a legend in New Zealand scriptwriting, and not just because he was amongst the first to prove you could actually make a living at it. Creator of landmark New Zealand shows The Governor and Close to Home, Noonan's work has often explored ideas of power and social injustice.

In this ScreenTalk, Noonan talks about:

• Working as the first script editor in TVNZ’s fledgling drama department in the 1970s

• The letter-writing campaign that boosted 1973 drama series Pukemanu

• The importance for a writer of having good producer and director partnerships

• His strong working relationship with Murray Reece and the late Tony Isaac, and their work on early 70s dramas Richard John Seddon, The Longest Winter and The Games Affair

• Being the interviewer for the classic 1975 Janet Frame interview in the Three New Zealanders documentary series, and how Frame was quite different from the image of her in popular myth

• Working on the landmark series The Governor in 1977, and the controversy surrounding it

• Enjoying working on the Legacy series, and the drama Homeward Bound, which was started as a rival to Shortland Street 

• Setting up the NZ Writers’ Guild

This video was first uploaded on 14 April 2009, 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 - Clare O'Leary. Camera and Editing - Leo Guerchmann