Everett De Roche
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Everett De Roche (1946–2014) was an American-Australian screenwriter who worked extensively in the Australian film and TV industry. He was best known for his work in the thriller and horror genre, with such credits as ''
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'', '' Patrick'', and '' Roadgames''.


Early life

De Roche was born in
Lincoln, Maine Lincoln is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The town's population was 4,853 at the 2020 United States Census. A statue honoring Medal of Honor recipient Gary Gordon was installed in Lincoln, in 2021. The bronze sculpture fa ...
, and moved to
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with his family when he was six. De Roche emigrated to Australia with his wife when he was 22 in 1968, and worked as a journalist for the Queensland Health Education Council.


Career

De Roche wanted to be a writer and wrote a spec script for '' Division Four''. Nine months later he received a telegram inviting him to write for the show. From 1970-74 he was a staff writer at
Crawford Productions Crawford Productions is an Australian Media (communication), media production company, focused on radio and television production. Founded in Melbourne by Hector Crawford and his sister, actress and voice artist Dorothy Crawford, the company, a ...
, mainly working on police shows, then he freelanced. In the late 70s and early 80s he established himself as the leading screenwriter of thrillers in Australia. He often worked with director Richard Franklin who said of him:
Everett is a very inspirational writer... Everett gives one too much of everything and you don’t always know what to use. You start editing down and you end up with words and single lines of dialogue that were once scenes. That is maybe how this problem, as you see it, comes about. But that only has to do with Everett’s extraordinarily fertile imagination and his writing speed.Scott Murray, "Richard Franklin: Director/Producer", ''Senses of Cinema'', 12 July 2008
accessed 26 October 2012


Death

De Roche had cancer during the last three years of his life and died of the disease in 2014. He was survived by his wife, six daughters and several grandchildren.


Select credits

*'' Patrick'' (1978) *''
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'' (1978) *'' Snapshot'' (1979) *''
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'' (1980) *'' Roadgames'' (1981) *'' Race for the Yankee Zephyr'' (1981) *''
Razorback A feral pig is a pig, domestic pig which has gone feral, meaning it lives in the wild. The term feral pig has also been applied to wild boars, which can interbreed with domestic pigs. They are found mostly in the Americas and Australia. Razorb ...
'' (1984) *''
Fortress A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from L ...
'' (1985) *'' Frog Dreaming'' (1985) *'' Link'' (1986) *'' Windrider'' (1986) *'' Stingers'' (TV series) (1998-2001) *'' Visitors'' (2003) *''
Storm Warning At sea, a storm warning is a warning issued by the National Weather Service of the United States when winds between are occurring or predicted to occur soon. The winds must not be associated with a tropical cyclone. If the winds are associate ...
'' (2007) *''
Long Weekend A long weekend is a weekend that is at least three days long (i.e. a three-day weekend), due to a public or unofficial holiday occurring on either the following Monday or the preceding Friday. Many countries also have four-day weekends, in w ...
'' (2008) *'' Nine Miles Down'' (2009)


Television

*''Homicide'' *''
Division 4 ''Division 4'' is an Australian television police drama series broadcast by the Nine Network and created by Crawford Productions airing between 1969 and 1975 for 301 episodes. Synopsis The series was one of the first to follow up on the enor ...
'' *''
Matlock Police ''Matlock Police'' is an Australian television police drama series made by Crawford Productions for The 0-10 Network (now known as Network 10) between 1971 and 1976. The series focused on the police station and crime in the Victorian town of Ma ...
'' *''Moon Monkey'' (1972) *''Fibber, the Dancing Galah'' (1972) *''Three-Legged Duck'' (1972) *''Ryan'' *''Bedlam'' (1973) *''Poppy and the Closet Junkie'' (1973) *''A Song for Julie'' (1973) *''Little Raver'' (1974) *''The Curse of the Bangerang'' (1975) *''My Bonnie My Bonny'' (1975) *''Scout's Honour'' (1975) *'' Bluey'' (1976) *'' Tandarra'' (1976) *'' Solo One'' (1976) *''The Mooball Man'' (1976) *'' The Hydra'' (1976) *'' Chopper Squad'' (1978) – pilot *'' Skyways'' (1979) *''
Locusts and Wild Honey ''Locusts and Wild Honey'' is a 1980 Australian mini series about a small town where they spot UFOs.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p211 Cast The series starred Julia Blake and her two real ...
'' (1980) *'' Special Squad'' (1984) *''All the Way'' (1988) *''Police Rescue'' (1989) – pilot *''Bony'' (1990) - TV movie *''The Flying Doctors'' (1991) *'' Halfway Across the Galaxy and Turn Left'' (1992) *'' R.F.D.S.'' (1993) *''Secrets'' (1993) *''
Blue Heelers ''Blue Heelers'' is an Australian police drama series that was produced by Southern Star Group and ran for twelve years on the Seven Network, from 1994 to 2006. Although based around the policing of the town, the series generally depicted th ...
'' (1994) *'' Snowy River: The McGregor Saga'' (1994–95) *'' Flipper'' (1995) *'' Ship to Shore'' (1993–96) *''Fire'' (1995–96) *''The Feds: Seduction'' (1993) *'' Medivac'' (1996–97) *'' Good Guys, Bad Guys'' (1997–98) *'' Ocean Girl'' (1997) *'' Thunderstone'' (1999) *'' Stingers'' (1998–2001) *'' Something in the Air'' (2000–01) *'' Cybergirl'' (2001) *'' The Saddle Club'' (2003) *''
Parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different sightline, lines of sight and is measured by the angle or half-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to perspective (graphica ...
'' (2004) – 4 episodes *'' Two Twisted'' (2006) – episode "A Date with Doctor D" *''K-9'' (2009) – episode "Alien Avatar"


Unmade projects

*''Firestorm'' (circa 1984) - film about bushfires in Mornington Peninsula that was to mark his directorial debut."Production Survey", ''Cinema Papers'', August 1984 p259 The budget was given at $6 million. *''Breakwater'' (early 1990s) - a science fiction adventure story set around Half Moon Bay's hulk of the ''
Cerberus In Greek mythology, Cerberus ( or ; ''Kérberos'' ), often referred to as the hound of Hades, is a polycephaly, multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Greek underworld, underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. He was the offspring o ...
'' with director Richard Franklin *''Making Noises'' (2010) - co-writer *''High Seas'' (2010) - a pirate film'Everett De Roche pens modern pirate flick' ''Quiet Earth'' 20 Jan 2010
accessed 2 Oct 2012


Recognition

During De Roche's career he received nominations for two AFI Awards; one for Best Adapted Screenplay for ''
Razorback A feral pig is a pig, domestic pig which has gone feral, meaning it lives in the wild. The term feral pig has also been applied to wild boars, which can interbreed with domestic pigs. They are found mostly in the Americas and Australia. Razorb ...
'', and one for
Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award (also known as an Oscar) for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best ...
for '' Patrick''. In 2014, De Roche was posthumously awarded the Dorothy Crawford Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession.


References


External links

*
Everett de Roche
at
AustLit AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource (also known as AustLit: Australian Literature Gateway; and AustLit: The Resource for Australian Literature) is a national bio-bibliographical database of Australian literature. It is an internet-based, ...

1980 interview at ''Senses of Cinema''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roche, Everett De American male screenwriters 1946 births 2014 deaths