Nick Ward: on self-plagiarism for success...

Interview – 2012

Nick Ward is a prolific and award-winning screenwriter. He first attracted notice in 2001 with hit movie Stickmen, a lads-on-the-make tale that potted him Best Script at the 2001 NZ Film Awards. He originated and co-wrote family comedy Second-Hand Wedding and worked on Love Birds. His TV credits include Outrageous Fortune, Nothing Trivial and The Cult. Ward also co-presented arts show The Big Art Trip, with Douglas Lloyd Jenkins.

In this ScreenTalk interview, Ward talks about:

How he plagiarised his own life while writing Wellington pool movie Stickmen
Creating a fake bar for the film that everyone seemed to know
Acting a "hurtful" sex scene with Luanne Gordon
Driving Douglas Lloyd Jenkins up the wall on The Big Art Trip
Basing the script of Second-Hand Wedding on his own family
How all of the second-hand props in the movie belonged to his Mum
Resisting pressure to change the film
Bringing his obsession for pub quizzes into the scripts of Nothing Trivial
Realising he is still learning the craft, despite no longer being a newbie

This video was first uploaded on 21 February 2012, 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

...it was a lesson that I actually failed to learn, because I’ve made the mistake since: I was able to hold onto it until the time was right — until I was with someone who understood it and believed in it, and who was going to fight for it.
– Nick Ward on standing by his vision for movie Second-Hand Wedding, during years of trying to get funding

Nick's Full Profile