Being Eve was a popular and self-aware comedy-drama for teens. It launched the career of actor Fleur Saville, who played 15-year-old teen anthropologist Eve. This excerpt from episode 22 of series two sees angst and ambition collide, as Eve dreams of Hollywood success via a school Shakespeare production. Shakespeare himself makes a cameo (as Eve's muse), while she struggles with her original vision for the classic. But will she be upstaged by Sam? The series later won best drama at the 2005 NZ Screen Awards, and fostered young directing and producing talent.

TVNZ series Viewfinder was aimed at making news and current affairs accessible to a teen audience. Topics ranged from underage drinking to the new breakdancing craze, to a campaign to see School Certificate exam papers after they had been marked. Reports were filed by the show's three presenters. Over the show's run these included Phillipa Dann (in her first presenting gig), Uelese Petaia (star of 1979 movie Sons for the Return Home), David Hindley (also a gay rights campaigner) and Michael Barry. The show's distinctive synthesiser opening infiltrated many young minds.   

For their fourth web series, the Candle Wasters collective shifted from using the plays of Shakespeare as inspiration, to an original story. Happy Playland is a "queer rom-com musical" set in a children's indoor adventure playground, where employees cope with crushes, anxiety and life as digital natives. Neenah Dekkers-Reihana and Dani Yourukova (who both acted in Candle Wasters web series Bright Summer Night) play young lovers Billie and Zara. In this third episode, romance and/or lust is ignited once the lights get switched off above the bouncy ball pit.  

The final episode of this long-running TVNZ show for Māori youth comes from a BBQ party atop Auckland's TVNZ HQ. When I AM TV began in 2008 it was all about Bebo. Five years later it’s about Bieber (the singer #tautokos the show), Skux and Twitter, and the hashtag #KeepingItReo. Hosts Kimo Houltham and Chey Milne review the year’s highlights: from Koroneihana to a boil up with Katchafire; from dance crews to hunting for Jeff da Māori, with Liam Messam and The Waikato Chiefs; from a Samoan holiday (with co-presenter Taupunakohe Tocker), to defining mana in 2012.

The movie version of Margaret Mahy's first novel for young adults is still set in Christchurch, but the time period is now post-quake. Teenager Laura Chant (newcomer Erana James) encounters a very strange man (Brit actor Timothy Spall, from Mr Turner) and a boy with a secret. The coming of age fantasy has been a longtime passion project for husband and wife team Stuart McKenzie and Miranda Harcourt, who have worked to keep their version as "dark and scary" as the Carnegie Award-winning original. The cast also includes Melanie Lynskey (Heavenly Creatures) and Lucy Lawless.   

Over two years, The Candle Wasters – a troupe of young Wellingtonians – attracted 4.5 million YouTube views to their modernised vlog reimaginings of Shakespeare’s plays (Much Ado About Nothing, Love's Labour Lost). In 2015 they won NZ On Air and Kickstarter funding to create a web drama series loosely inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream – set at a teen house party. Each of the 10 episodes focussed on a different character. Produced with Bevin Linkhorn, Bright Summer Night was uploaded in August 2016. It won Best Drama at the 2017 Hollyweb Festival in the United States.

In this Māori Television series, young people aged from nine to 26 are armed with iPhones and given professional storytelling workshops, so that they can tell their own stories. The slices of life as a young Māori in the early 21st Century include sport, travel, fitness routines, pancake cooking, diet and fashion tips, kapa haka, and swimming with whales. Four series have been produced by Raukatauri Productions to date. Some of those who contributed to early episodes have stayed in screen work —including all-rounder Ngawaero Maniapoto, and actor Te Kaha Jonathan. 

3:45 LIVE! was an afternoon links programme for young people that screened from 1989 - 1990. As well as linking afternoon programmes on TV2, the show included interviews with prominent (local and international) music stars, sports heroes and media personalities of the time, from rapper Redhead Kingpin and Eurythmics' star Dave Stewart to newsreader Judy Bailey and All Black Gary Whetton. Presenters included a young Phil Keoghan (of future-Amazing Race fame), Hine Elder, Rikki Morris, and Fenella Bathfield.

Life in the Fridge Exists was a late 80s/early 90s teen magazine show that ranged from celebrity interviews to profiles of young artists and athletes, and health education (presented by Dr Watt, aka radio presenter Grant Kereama). The Christchurch-based show saw early appearances by comedian/actor Oscar Kightley (in his screen debut), Amazing Race presenter Phil Keoghan, future Lotto host Hilary Timmins, and broadcasters Kerre McIvor (née Woodham) and Bernadine Oliver-Kerby. Life in the Fridge Exists was also the name of a short-lived Wellington band.

QTV is a children's series, designed to bring science alive and make it relevant and interesting to young viewers. Each episode of QTV covers a topic such as forensics, volcanoes, tsunamis, biodiversity, climate change, etc. Q is short for question - the show's tagline is "Question Everything".