South Auckland Scriptwriting Workshop

Script to Screen is presenting a one-day scriptwriting workshop in South Auckland. This is a great opportunity for local storytellers to learn from renowned writer, director, and author Michael Bennett (The Gone, In Dark Places). Michael has worked across a range of genres within feature film, short films, and television, including documentaries, crime thrillers, and drama.

The workshop will dive into writing fundamentals including character, story structure and key moments that make a great story for screen. In the afternoon you will develop your own original story idea and write a scene.

This is a practical and interactive workshop that will help you find the momentum you need to start writing your screen story or move your project forward. It is also a fantastic opportunity to meet other creatives within the community and be inspired by filmmaking's possibilities.

We welcome anyone who wants to tell their stories through film. If you’re a new or emerging filmmaker or a local creative this workshop is for you.

When and where:
Saturday 30th November 2024
9am – 5pm

Friendship House, 20 Putney Way, Manukau, South Auckland
The venue is wheelchair accessible 

Cost: $12.50 (INC BF & GST) Book via Humanitix
Morning tea and afternoon tea provided, BYO lunch

What to bring:

• Pen, paper/notebook or iPad or laptop
  We do not advise participants to take notes on phones.
• Water bottle
• Keep cup
• Lunch (Cafe and foodcourt close by if required)

Morning tea and afternoon tea are provided.

PARKING: We recommend arriving early with plenty of time to find parking. The Westfield Manukau Mall parking has time limits. We recommend parking at the Manukau Station Road car park ($5 for the day) or using public transport. 

ABOUT PROGRAMME MENTORS 

MICHAEL BENNET

Michael Bennett (Ngāti Pikiao, Ngāti Whakaue) is a screenwriter, filmmaker and author. Michael’s short films and feature films have screened and won awards internationally, including Cannes, Toronto, Berlin, Locarno, New York, London, ImagiNative and Dreamspeakers. He is the 2020 recipient of the Te Aupounamu Māori Screen Excellence Award, awarded by the NZ Film Commission for excellence in Māori filmmaking. Michael devoted many years of his recent career to the fight for justice for Teina Pora, a young Māori man wrongly imprisoned for 21 years. Michael made the documentary The Confessions of Prisoner T, which lead to the discovery of evidence pivotal to Teina’s exoneration. Michael directed and co-wrote the TV feature film In Dark Places about Teina’s case, which was finalist for a record 11 awards in the NZ Television Awards, winning Best Film and Best Director. Michael has been head writer or showrunner for many dozens of hours of prime-time television drama including The Gone (NZ / Ireland crime thriller), Vegas (crime thriller), Te Kohu (supernatural drama), and Mataku (the Māori Twilight Zone). Michael’s debut novel Better The Blood, a crime thriller, was published in 2022 in the UK, USA, Australia and NZ, with nine international translations. Better The Blood was a finalist for the fiction prize at the 2023 New Zealand literary awards (The Ockhams) and won Best First Novel at the Ngaio Marsh Awards. Michael is currently adapting his novel for television, and his second novel, Return To Blood, is in bookstores now.

This workshop is made possible thanks to generous support from Foundation North and Te Tumu Whakaata Taonga New Zealand Film Commission.