Michael Bennett Email & Phone Number

award-winning Screenwriter | Director | Author

Listed skills include Screenwriting, Feature Films, Script Development, Script Doctoring, and 15 others.

• Writer | Director | Author

  The 10,000 Company

  Feb 2015 - Present - Auckland, New Zealand

  Michael (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue) is an award-winning screenwriter, director and author. Michael's debut novel, BETTER THE BLOOD, a crime thriller, will be published by Simon & Schuster UK in August 2022, with translations into 8 languages. Michael is the 2020 recipient of the Te Aupounamu Māori Screen Excellence Award, for excellence in Māori filmmaking. Te Aupounamu is awarded annually by Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga | the New Zealand Film Commission.From 2011, Michael devoted many years to the fight for justice for Teina Pora, a 17 year-old Māori man imprisoned 21 years for crimes he did not commit. Michael made the documentary THE CONFESSIONS OF PRISONER T (2013), which lead to the discovery of key evidence pivotal to Teina's Privy Council exoneration. Michael wrote the book IN DARK PLACES (2016) about Teina’s case. Michael co-wrote and directed the television feature film IN DARK PLACES, nominated for a record 11 awards in the 2019 NZ TV Awards including Best Screenplay. Michael won Best Director, and the film won Best Film. Michael's debut feature, the multi-narrative MATARIKI, premiered at Toronto Film Festival and won awards internationally. His short films MICHELLE'S THIRD NOVEL, COW and KEROSENE CREEK played internationally including Cannes, Berlin, Locarno, New York, London. Michael has written | directed | created many TV drama and documentary series. Michael co-created and wrote VEGAS (2021), a 6 part crime-thriller filmed entirely in Rotorua, New Zealand. Michael was head writer of MATAKU (the Māori Twilight Zone), co-creator and head writer of KAITANGATA TWITCH (family drama), PET DETECTIVES (family sci-fi) and THE FACTORY (comedy drama). Michael won Best TV Screenplay for COVER STORY, and was nominated as Best TV Director for OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE and TAONGA. Michael teaches screenwriting at South Seas Film School and mentors Māori and Pasifika filmmakers through Script To Screen, Ngā Aho Whakaari, NZFC Fresh Shorts, and Show Me Shorts.