Paul Gittins: From TV doctor to TV director...

Actor Paul Gittins biggest screen role to date is as Doctor Michael McKenna, the original boss of the clinic on long-running soap Shortland Street. He has also acted in a number of movies, including Other Halves, The End of the Golden Weather, and The Whole of the Moon. Gittins’ love of history led to the creation of popular docudrama series Epitaph, which he hosted and sometimes directed.

In this ScreenTalk, Gittins talks about:

• How novice actor Mark Pilisi inspired him on the set of movie Other Halves
• Playing the Dad on Ian Mune’s adaptation of classic play The End of the Golden Weather
• Jumping from Hamlet into the fast-paced shooting schedule of Shortland Street
• How his show Epitaph opened Gittins' eyes to the drama of real life New Zealand history
• How he got to research, write, and direct on the show
• Finding a solution to seasickness while shooting Shipwreck
• Loving the process of "getting into someone else’s head" when acting

This video was first uploaded on 12 October 2011, 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