A Writers Intensive for Series Development

Brita McVeigh has contributed to the development of over 600 film and television projects in New Zealand, Australia, the U.S., Germany, and the U.K. Brita began as a writer and filmmaker, pivoting into a consulting career through working with Taika Waititi on EAGLE VS SHARK and BOY, and now works with independent artists, established production companies, and on the development slates of FX USA, Warner Brothers, and Netflix. Her acting, writing and dreamwork intensives, Acting for Humans, Inner Work and Entering Dreamwork have drawn over 1,000 creatives (actors, writers, directors etc) across New Zealand and Australia. Brita has recently returned to writing through a collaboration with Emily Perkins.

Emily is a writer from Aotearoa New Zealand, making work for the page, stage and screen. Her novels (most recently 2024’s LIONESS) have twice won Best Book of Fiction at the New Zealand Book Awards, as well as Best First Book of Fiction for her debut collection of stories. Other recognition for her fiction includes the Believer Book of the Year (US), the Geoffrey Faber Prize (UK), and long-listing for the Women’s Prize UK. For the stage, she has adapted Henrik Ibsen’s A DOLL’S HOUSE and written the original play THE MADE, both developed with Auckland Theatre Company. Her screenwriting credits include co-writing the feature film adaptation of Eleanor Catton’s novel THE REHEARSAL with director Alison Maclean, and work on television drama AFTER THE PARTY. She has extensive experience teaching creative writing, and has worked as an advisor and contributor to story rooms across many projects. Emily is an Arts Foundation Laureate and in 2017 was made a Member of the NZ Order of Merit for services to literature. She lives in Wellington.

Hamish Bennett (Te Arawa, Patuharakeke, Kāi Tahu) is a director and screenwriter. In 2023, he co-wrote and co-directed his second feature film, Uproar, which celebrated its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. In 2019, Hamish wrote and directed his debut feature film, Bellbird, which premiered in competition at the Sydney International Film Festival.   During the early stages of his career, Hamish directed two award-winning short films. In 2011, his short film The Dump earned him Best Short Script at the New Zealand Writers Guild Awards. In 2014, Ross & Beth claimed both the jury and audience prizes at the New Zealand International Film Festival.   Beyond his creative work, Hamish has over twenty years of experience as a school teacher, and has recently returned to Aotearoa with his whānau after two years living in Rarotonga.

Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu (Ngāpuhi/Te Rarawa) is a writer and director of Māori and Pākehā descent from Aotearoa. Josephine wrote Titty and Bash (Dir. Awanui Simich-Pene) for Waru (2017), which premiered at TIFF. In 2018, Josephine was awarded the Māori Screen Excellence Award from the NZFC, alongside her fellow Waru filmmakers. Her directorial debut short film Ani (2019) premiered at the Berlinale Film Festival and went on to screen at TIFF. Ani has since been acquisitioned by Fox Searchlight Shorts. Ani won Best Short Film by a Māori Director at Wairoa Film Festival, Best Film and Best Cinematography at Show Me Shorts. Her latest short film, When We Were Kids (2020) won best short at NZIFF, and Best Short at MWFF. Josephine is an alumni of the 2020 TIFF Filmmakers Lab where she was awarded the Canada Goose Fellowship. Her first feature film We Were Dangerous premiered in competition at SXSW in 2024, where she won the Special Jury Prize for Filmmaking. We Were Dangerous has since screened at festivals worldwide and was the Opening Night film for the NZIFF 2024. Aside from her own filmmaking/storytelling journey Josephine moonlights as a screenwriter for various NZ television series. 

Mingjian Cui is a Chinese writer & director. Born and raised in the city of Nanjing by the Yangtze River, she has spent most of her adult years in the US and Aotearoa.  As a film major in the States, Mingjian learned the fundamentals of screen production by participating in over 40 student shorts, working in both ATL and BTL positions. She wrote & co-directed the bilingual miniseries “Inked” (2021), along with her friend Zijun (Jimmy) Yang; In 2022 & 2023, she co-wrote & co-directed the Chinese scenes in the New Zealand drama series “Far North” (created & directed by David White).  As a participant of “A Wave in the Ocean”, an Aotearoa pop-up Film Intensive led by Jane Campion & Philippa Campbell, Mingjian has been exploring and developing her creative voice as a bilingual director by making works deeply connected to self and reflecting her journey as part of the new generation of the Chinese diaspora. Her latest “Awito” short film is now in post production.

International Emmy winner, Shoshana McCallum is a writer, actress and producer in Auckland, New Zealand. Credits include Step-Dave (for which she won the 2016 SWANZ Best TV Comedy Script) Westside, Head High, Stand Up Girl, My Life is Murder and Creamerie.   In 2020, she co-created the critically acclaimed, Emmy award-winning INSiDE with Dan Musgrove and Peter Salmon. Shoshana was nominated for both Best Comedy script (Creamerie) and Best Drama script (INSiDE) at the 2021 NZTV Awards. She won the Fulcrum Media’s Woman to Watch Award at New Zealand’s WIFT Awards 2022.  Shoshana was co-Showrunner and co-Head Writer for Madam, a sexy drama-comedy series for Three, which won Best Pilot at Rhode Island International Film Festival 2024, Best Comedy Series at Berlin Series Festival 2024, and was the Australasian Best Comedy winner at the Asian Academy Creative Awards 2024.  Most recently Shoshana debuted her one woman show, Merely Beloved - a black comedy about grief, love and avoidance.   Shoshana is represented by Stacey Testro International.

Sophie Henderson is a screenwriter from New Zealand. Her first screenplay, FANTAIL premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival and won a People’s Choice Award at Melbourne Film Festival. In 2021 her film BABY DONE with Taika Waititi’s Piki Films starring Rose Matafeo won over audiences both at home and overseas, screening at the Toronto Film Festival. The same year, Sophie’s film THE JUSTICE OF BUNNY KING starring Essie Davis and Thomasin Mckenzie premiered at Tribeca where it received a Nora Ephron Award Special Jury Mention. Her next feature, WORKMATES is due for release in 2025.

Louise Fox’s career has traversed television, film, theatre and radio as an actor, writer, director and producer. Louise recently spent two years in-house at Matchbox/NBCu as a development producer, wrote on SIGNIFICANT OTHERS for ABC and Fremantle and PROSPER for Stan and Lionsgate. She has projects in development with the BBC, Synchronicity (Scotland), Easy Tiger (Aus), Motive Pictures (UK), Chapter One (UK), SBS, See-Saw and TAP.

Louise is the co-creator and showrunner of the 3 seasons of ABC’s GLITCH, awarded Best Drama at the 2015 AACTA Awards and Most Outstanding Drama at 2016 Logies, and still on Netflix. She has written on numerous award-winning drama series, including LOVE MY WAY (for which she won an AWGIE for best screenplay), the Star Wars live-action series, CAMELOT (Starz) and THE KETTERING INCIDENT (Porchlight Films). She wrote an episode for the acclaimed first season of ITV drama BROADCHURCH. Louise also wrote the acclaimed Australian feature, DEAD EUROPE (SeeSaw).

Tony Ayres is an award-winning Australian showrunner, writer and director, and a founding member of Matchbox Pictures. In 2018, Tony established his production company Tony Ayres Productions (TAP), developing and producing feature films and television for global audiences and international marketplaces. Tony’s feature films and TV shows have been nominated for more than 100 Australian and international awards, and he has won more than 60 of these awards, including an International Emmy, a BAFTA, a Golden Horse (the Asian Oscars), six AACTA awards, and six Logies. Tony was the creator/showrunner on THE SLAP, NOWHERE BOYS and global number one Netflix hit, CLICKBAIT. He co-created and was an Executive Producer on GLITCH, STATELESS and FIRES. He has executive produced acclaimed shows such as BARRACUDA, SEVEN TYPES OF AMBIGUITY, WANTED, CREAMERIE, THE DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND, OLD SCHOOL, UNDERGROUND: THE JULIAN ASSANGE STORY, THE STRAITS and FAMILY LAW. Tony directed feature films CUT SNAKE (2015), THE HOME SUNG STORIES (2007), and WALKING ON WATER (2002). His films premiered at A-list festivals, including Berlinale and Toronto Film Festival.

Blake Ayshford is a multi-award-winning screenwriter and producer.  He Script Produced and was EP on the AACTA winning Mystery Road: Origin for which he was also nominated for Best Screenplay. In 2020 Mystery Road was voted one of the Top 20 international series by the NY Times. Blake was Producer and Script developer on the 2022 feature Here out West, which opened the 2022 Sydney Film Festival. Most recently he EPed, Script Produced and was one of the co-creators of ABC’s new drama, House of Gods, a tale of power, intrigue and faith drama set amongst the inner workings of a Shiite Mosque in Western Sydney which premieres on ABCTv in early 2024. He is the 2018 creator of  Fighting Season and was Showrunner on the AACTA and Logie award winning Devils Playground starring Toni Collette. Blake also wrote an episode of the BBC/ Netflix drama Requiem for New Pictures and two episodes of the Matchbox Pictures/ABC miniseries Barracuda, which he also script produced with Belinda Chayko. Barracuda won the 2016 AWGIE for Best Television Miniseries Adaptation. His feature film Cut Snake starring Sullivan Stapleton premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014.

Alice Snedden is a writer, comedian and improviser from Auckland. A 2017 Billy T nominee, she has been the head writer of multi-series TV3 shows, JONO AND BEN, FUNNY GIRLS and GOLDEN BOY, is a writer/co-director on STARSTRUCK (BBC/HBO MAX) and host of Alice Snedden’s Bad News (The Spinoff) and podcast Boners of the Heart.

Anahera Gildea (Ngāti Tukorehe) is a poet, short story writer, essayist and ‘artivist’. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including Cordite, The Spinoff, Newsroom, Sport, Landfall, Takahe, and JAAM. Her first book Poroporoaki to the Lord My God: Weaving the Via Dolorosa was published by Seraph Press (2016) and her collection, Sedition was published by Taraheke (2022). She is the co-editor of Te Whē, a bilingual literary journal, is the co-chair of Te Hā o Ngā Pou Kaituhi Māori, and sits on the board of ReadNZ Te Pou Muramura. She has a Masters of Creative Writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters, as well as Graduate Diplomas in Psychology and Teaching, and is currently completing doctoral research at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington, developing a critical literary theory based on Māori intellectual traditions.

Louise Fox’s career has traversed television, film, theatre and radio as an actor, writer, director and producer. Louise recently spent two years in-house at Matchbox/NBCu as a development producer, wrote on SIGNIFICANT OTHERS for ABC and Fremantle and PROSPER for Stan and Lionsgate.  She has projects in development with the BBC, Synchronicity (Scotland), Easy Tiger (Aus), Motive Pictures (UK), Chapter One (UK), SBS, See-Saw and TAP. Louise is the co-creator and showrunner of the 3 seasons of ABC’s GLITCH, awarded Best Drama at the 2015 AACTA Awards and Most Outstanding Drama at 2016 Logies, and still on Netflix.

She has written on numerous award-winning drama series, including LOVE MY WAY (for which she won an AWGIE for best screenplay), the Star Wars live-action series, CAMELOT (Starz) and THE KETTERING INCIDENT (Porchlight Films). She wrote an episode for the acclaimed first season of ITV drama BROADCHURCH. Louise also wrote the acclaimed Australian feature, DEAD EUROPE (SeeSaw).

Rosabel Tan is a writer, strategist and producer of Peranakan Chinese descent. She is the Director of Satellites — currently working on an archive of Asian diaspora artists and art-making in Aotearoa, as well as a visiting artist programme — and Programme Manager for The Next Page, a national training programme for early-career magazine editors. Rosabel is a founding editor of arts and culture journal The Pantograph Punch and was the inaugural Curator: Asia for the 2022 Auckland Writers Festival and a co-programmer for Verb Festival 2023.

Todd Karehana is a writer and director passionate about bold, innovative screen craft. He has nine years of experience across the New Zealand screen sector with organisations such as Pango Productions, Kura Productions and NZ On Air. Karehana graduated from The University of Auckland with a Master of Arts in Screen Production in 2016. He has held various story and writing roles on the Māori drama series AHIKĀROA, the children’s animated series THE EXCEPTIONAL SQUAD and the indigenous anthology film WE ARE STILL HERE.

In 2022, he directed YOUNG AND ON THE PAEPAE for TVNZ and the short documentary NIGHT RIDE for Loading Docs. He was also a Funding Advisor at New Zealand On Air. Recently, Karehana co-created the immersive audio drama series THE RIVER and is completing A Wave in the Ocean, a two-year intensive film program under Dame Jane Campion and Phillipa Campbell.