Steven Zanoski: From our favourite kids show to our favourite soap...

Shortland Street producer Steven Zanoski’s first job in television was as a writer/reporter on kids programme What Now? He went on to become a storyliner for Shortland Street and eventually the programme’s producer. During his time as a writer on the show, he also penned the screenplay for one-off TV drama House of Sticks. Zanoski has also had a hand in the development of Outrageous Fortune and executive produced Mataku and Mercy Peak.

In this ScreenTalk, Zanoski talks about:

• Getting a job on kids show What Now? at the age of 19
• The genesis for writing the screenplay of hour-long TV drama House of Sticks
• Going through Shortland Street boot camp, and how he learnt to write for the show
• How the show is written
• Having overall control of the show in his role as producer
• Keeping the 20-year-old show fresh by bringing in new creative challenges
• His favourite storyline, when the clinic was blown up
• How great storytelling will see Shortland Street into the future

This video was first uploaded on 8 May 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