About me and this site
Prior Arrangements is an independent publication launched in October 2026 by me–writer, dramaturg and producer Kate Prior.
You can find more of my previous arts writing for awesome places that are sadly no longer, such as The Pantograph Punch, Metro mag and others, on my general website. (There's even a podcast I made there–Artist in Residence–where 10 of my fave Aotearoa artists made 15-minute audio work in lockdown).
I'm going to mainly be focussing on writing about theatre and film here; responding to work and speaking to wider conversations in Aotearoa.
I'm also going to aim to always publish audio versions of my pieces alongside written versions, if you prefer audio or find it easier to listen.
If you subscribe today, you'll get full access to the website as well as email newsletters when new reading is published. At the moment, subscriptions are free because let's see how we go! It's still good to subscribe though. Then your inbox benefits from our little Prior Arrangement. Thank you!
More about me
I work with story.
Whether that is producing and developing narrative and factual screen or audio content, supporting and challenging screenwriters and theatre makers to unearth and shape their story world, or being an advocate for the deconstructive act of criticism and commentary in the arts, story and audience is what drives my work.
I’m a script consultant, writer, dramaturg, editor, and creative producer based in Tāmaki Makaurau with 20 years experience in the theatre and screen industries.
I originally trained (a long time ago!) as an actor at Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School, and I hold a Master of Dramaturgy from the Victorian College of Arts, Melbourne.
Most recently I was working as Senior Copywriter and Storyteller at creative agency Curative, where, alongside the Creative Director, I drove the essential creative framing of every project that progressed from strategy through to creative.
Before this I was working as a Development Executive at Vendetta Productions where I progressed the creative development of a diverse slate of feature film and episodic projects. My work at Vendetta also extended to the distribution arm, Vendetta Films (Cousins), where I was assessing and acquiring domestic and international films for distribution at the opposite end of a film’s journey.
In 2022 I directed and story-structured one of my favourite projects – Chris and Eli’s Porn Revolution for The Spinoff, where we followed Chris Parker and Eli Matthewson as they launched a national campaign to get us talking about our relationship with pornography, and spoke on the subject with many interesting experts along the way.
Some of my most meaningful work from 2016-2022 was as Theatre Editor and then Director of arts and culture journal The Pantograph Punch, which captured the life of our theatre, books, and arts industries over the past ten years.
In 2020, I conceived of, created and produced the NZ on Air-funded podcast Artist in Residence for The Pantograph Punch, a collection of ten 15-minute audio performances from Aotearoa artists to help with one thing the listener may be feeling in the first shock of lockdown.
I’ve worked as a dramaturg and script consultant for theatre companies such as Silo Theatre, Basement Theatre, Playmarket, Red Leap, Proudly Asian Theatre, St Martins Youth Arts (Melbourne) and for independent New Zealand artists Julia Croft, Alice Snedden, Rose Matafeo, Alice Canton, and Rutene Spooner.
As a screenwriter/producer, I created the NZFC-funded short film, Eleven, which was selected to screen at over 15 international festivals including the Berlinale, and won Best Short Film at the New Zealand Film Awards 2014. I went on to write and produce a second NZFC-funded short film, Theodora, and I’m now developing several episodic projects.
I’ve also worked as an Arts Advisor at Creative New Zealand, and a Creative Producer for Notable Pictures.
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