DRAWN TO change
DRAWN TO change By Andrea Louise Thomas Photos Yanni & supplied
M
egan Herbert shifts between work as an illustrator, cartoonist and writer with seemingly effortless ease. The funny thing is, she never planned to do any of these. She completed her Bachelor’s Degree in Arts/Journalism at RMIT with an exchange year at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. She quickly realised she didn’t want to be a journalist. However, she did learn to edit effectively and communicate succinctly which proved very valuable later on. After graduating from RMIT, Megan started writing for television soap opera Neighbours - her longest running professional collaboration. She began at the bottom as script coordinator and worked her way through every position in the story department, including stints as script producer and story producer.
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24 | PENINSULA
March 2023
A writers’ room is a brainstorming hotbed with a set of schedule restrictions (set availability, actors’ availability, budget, etc.). It’s a jigsaw puzzle before the writing even begin. Stories have to be crafted around limitations. A full week of television is plotted every week. Many shows have months to perfect a single episode, but not so with Neighbours. Megan travelled to London where she worked as a script editor on EastEnders and Holby City for BBC television. She then moved to Iceland where she lived for six years working as head of development for a small film and television company. Seeing the effects of climate change in Iceland, coupled with the birth of her son, lit a spark in her. At a climate change and filmmaking conference in Reykjavik, Megan met American climate scientist, Michael Mann. continued page 26...