Screentalk

Sean Duffy started his TV career as a news and documentary editor, then later began mixing in acting roles on film and television. His major breakthrough role was in Mortimer’s Patch. Since then he has starred in numerous TV shows including Willy Nilly, Plain Clothes, Tiger Country and The Neighbourhood Network. His film credits include Utu, Came a Hot Friday and Smash Palace. Duffy has also directed a number of TV documentary series. In this ScreenTalk, Duffy talks about:

• Being laughed at for his acting in The Governor
• Mortimer’s Patch being his favourite acting experience
• How the pace of the show was incredibly slow by modern standards
• Seeing a horse being spray-painted on the set of the film Utu
• Ending up buried under a concrete airport runway on Gloss
• Terrifying fellow actor Simon Prast in one scene
• Being surprised that TV3 commissioned quirky comedy The Neighbourhood Network
• How illness ruined his performance in Tiger Country
• Forming a brilliant working partnership with Mark Hadlow on Willy Nilly
• Not understanding why the show was cancelled

Tandi Wright spent some of her childhood in the dressing room at Avalon TV Studios - waiting for her actor parents to finish work on Close to Home. But rather than encouraging her to follow suit, Wright insists they were always “realistic about how nearly impossible it is to make a career out of acting”. She agrees - but seems to have pulled off the “impossible” anyway. Wright has been acting for television since the age of six, playing lead roles in some of New Zealand’s top productions including Shortland Street, Willy Nilly, Being Eve, Serial Killers, Outrageous Fortune, This Is Not My Life and Nothing Trivial. Her film credits include Not Only But Always, Black Sheep, and Out of the Blue. In this ScreenTalk interview, Wright reveals:

• How she learnt to cope with the disappointment of “hitting the cutting room floor” from a very early age
• How she felt about her time at Shortland Street and her reasons for leaving the soap
• Her experiences on the set of Street Legal
• The joys of working with Mark Hadlow and Sean Duffy on Willy Nilly
• An insight into the characterisations on TV series Serial Killers
• What it was like to join the cast of Outrageous Fortune in series six
• Her feelings on playing Julie Ann Bryson and the grueling subject matter in the feature film Out of the Blue, based on the Aramoana shootings
• Her impressions of the production and her character in TV series This Is Not My Life
• The benefits of an ensemble cast in Nothing Trivial