DEAD FUNNY! SHOSHANA'S GOING SOLO

The Emmy Award-winning writer is starring in a macabre new comedy

- Donna Brookbanks

Not many New Zealanders could say they have an Emmy Award displayed on the bookcase in their lounge, but then Shoshana McCallum isn't your average Kiwi. "I'm a workaholic!" the actor and writer declares.

In 2021, housebound by COVID, Shoshana banded together with two good mates to make Inside, a TV series inspired by the lockdown. Starring Friends Like Her actress Morgana O'Reilly and comedian Josh Thomson, it would go on to kickstart the production company Luminous Beast, which Shoshana set up with fellow writers and actors Dan Musgrove and Peter Salmon.

Inside was subsequently nominated for an International Emmy. "It was just the weirdest moment," Shoshana marvels. "We really didn't believe it!" Because of lockdown restrictions, they couldn't fly to the States to be there for the ceremony, so she, Dan and Pete got together with their spouses - Dan is married to Westside star Antonia Prebble and Pete to Morgana - to watch the livestream while outside and socially distanced.

"We won!" she laughs. "Our Emmy was presented by Method Man from [hip-hop collective] Wu-Tang Clan.