Everett De Roche
Everett De Roche (1946–2014) was an American-Australian screenwriter who worked mainly in Australia’s film and TV industry. He was best known for thrillers and horror, with credits like Long Weekend, Patrick and Roadgames.
Born in Lincoln, Maine, he moved with his family to San Diego when he was six. In 1968, at age 22, he emigrated to Australia with his wife and worked as a journalist for the Queensland Health Education Council.
Driven to write, he created a spec script for Division Four and was invited to write for the show nine months later. From 1970 to 1974 he was a staff writer at Crawford Productions, mainly on police shows, before becoming a freelancer.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he became one of Australia’s leading thriller screenwriters. He often worked with director Richard Franklin, who praised his enormous imagination and fast writing pace.
De Roche had cancer for the last three years of his life and died in 2014. He was survived by his wife, six daughters and several grandchildren.
During his career he was nominated for two AFI Awards—Best Adapted Screenplay for Razorback and Best Original Screenplay for Patrick. In 2014 he was awarded the Dorothy Crawford Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession, posthumously.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 15:50 (CET).