Yvonne Mackay and Margaret Mahy: A special partnership...

World-renowned children's author the late Margaret Mahy and television and film producer and director Yvonne Mackay collaborated on a number of screen projects based on Mahy's books and scripts.

In this ScreenTalk, Mackay and Mahy talk about:

• How they began their working relationship
• The different processes of writing a script and writing for the screen
• Making The Haunting of Barney Palmer, and having to write in an American uncle so US actor Ned Beatty could be cast to keep overseas partners happy

• The 2008 documentary A Tall, Long Faced Tale, a 70-minute partly animated piece made by Mackay, where Mahy is interviewed by friend and fellow author Elizabeth Knox
• Working on the book and the TV series of Kaitangata Twitch, and being a little apprehensive about writing the Māori cultural elements

This video was first uploaded on 9 December 2008, 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