Anthony McCarten is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and novelist, who has also directed two of his own feature films.

His screenplay credits include Via Satellite, The English Harem, Show of Hands and Death of a Superhero. McCarten's most successful screenplay to date is Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything, which won him a BAFTA award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2015. McCarten was interviewed for NZ On Screen when he was in Auckland for the 2015 Big Screen Symposium, organised by Script to Screen.

In this ScreenTalk, McCarten talks about:

• Getting some negative feedback from a former Dr Who on Worzel Gummidge Down Under
• Making his directing debut with suicide tale Nocturne in a Room
• Exploring sibling rivalry on comedy drama Via Satellite
• The challenges of being a first time director on the film
• Feeling disappointed with the British TV adaptation of novel The English Harem
• Touching on "the great western myth" of happiness with his second feature, Show of Hands
• Disagreeing with the director on the vision for film Death of a Superhero
• Being excited by the story behind The Theory of Everything, based on the romance between scientist Stephen Hawking and first wife Jane
• A sudden reversal of fortune in financing the film
• Witnessing Hawking's emotional reaction to the movie
• How writing films is an antidote to the solitude of writing novels

This video is available on YouTube to embed and distribute via this Creative Commons licence.

NZ On Screen: Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside