Brynley Stent is an award-winning writer, comedian and actor based in Tāmaki Makaurau. A graduate of Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School (2013), Brynley has built a multifaceted career across television, theatre and live comedy, working both independently and within collaborative writers’ rooms.

As a writer, Brynley has worked professionally in television for nearly a decade. Her credits include Jono and Ben, Funny Girls, Golden Boy and Double Parked, alongside children’s series The Vloggingtons and My Favourite Dead Person. She has also contributed as a staff and development writer on shows including Homebound 3.0, Vince and Tom Sainsbury’s Small Town Scandal.

As an actor, Brynley has appeared across comedy and drama for South Pacific Pictures, MediaWorks and Greenstone, with notable roles including Kelly-Anne Johnson on Shortland Street, as well as appearances in My Life Is Murder and The Educators.

Brynley is also a celebrated comedian, appearing on Taskmaster NZ, 7 Days, Celebrity Treasure Island and Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont-Spelling Bee. Her solo show Soft Carnage earned her the Billy T James Award in 2021, which recognises up-and-coming New Zealand comedians with outstanding potential.

Brynley co-hosts the comedy docuseries Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club alongside Kura Forrester, which won the New Zealand Screen Award for Best Presenters.

Cushla Dillon has played key roles in the NZ film industry for several decades, most notably as an award-winning feature film editor of drama and documentary (No Māori Allowed 2022, The Justice of Bunny King 2020, The Price of Peace 2014, Trouble is My Business 2008) but also as co-director and editor of the 2023 NZIFF festival sellout King Loser. She attended the Screenwriting Programme at Amsterdam’s Binger Lab in 2007, was a recipient of Seed Development funding for her script ‘The Great Destroyer’ in 2017 and is currently script-editing and developing ‘Null’, a feature-length script with writers Nic Gorman and Ro Bright.

Tim Worrall (Ngāi Tūhoe) holds a BFA from Elam, Auckland University and an MA from IIML, Victoria University of Wellington. He has worked as an artist, designer, tohunga tā moko, book editor, screenwriter, director and showrunner. 

Recently he has been: showrunner of thriller drama series RAPU; writer of feature film KA WHAWHAI TONU; co-lead writer and lead director for the drama series HEAD HIGH; co-writer, co-director for anthology feature WE ARE STILL HERE; writer of TVNZ documentary series ORIGINS; story liner and director on action-drama series VEGAS; writer and director of TAPPY for the series Beyond the Veil. 

His past screen credits include: PŪKANA; SHORTLAND STREET; JACKSON’S WHARF; RADIRADIRAH; ONLY IN AOTEAROA; THIS IS PIKI; and FRESH. He is also a foundation member of the Māori collective STEAMBOX FILMS and has made the short films: THE ROAD TO WHAKARAE; TITS ON A BULL; MEKE; KOTUKU RERENGA RUA; MĀORI TIME; and SAVAGE RITES. 

Tim was selected as a Fellow of the Sundance Native Lab, 2022.  

He lives in Rotorua with his wife Taria Tahana, and their two sons, Tiki and Tanu. 

Malinna Liang is a Chinese-New Zealand writer based in Auckland. Her credits include My Life is Murder Aotearoa, Homebound 3.0, N00b, and the upcoming Good Bones. She is currently developing several exciting projects for both screen and stage. Her prose has been published in Landfall and A Clear Dawn: New Asian Voices. In a previous life, she made a powerful stand against racial stereotypes by dropping out of law school and quitting piano - because change, as they say, begins with you.

I've spent over two decades making film and television that challenges, informs and entertains. I co-wrote and co-directed the feature films WARU and WHINA, created and co-wrote and directed the semi-autobiographical comedy SPINAL DESTINATION for Neon/Sky, and co-wrote, and co directed, TESTIFY for Warner Bros NZ. From the story of a transgender community worker, to a Maori mine clearance specialist in Cambodia working with rats, from teen boys in a boot camp to a comedy series of my time in the spinal unit, to Maori artists in Palestine. My signature is bold storytelling with emotional intimacy and unflinching social critique.

Right now I'm developing a slate of projects in different genres that push what indigenous storytelling can be. KOHA and MAHUIKA (features), MOKO MERE (historical drama series), RACISTS ANONYMOUS (comedy series). HE TOHU, an eco horror animated short that's 80% Te Reo Māori. Animation represents an exciting new frontier for me, another powerful tool for reshaping the world through a Māori lens.

Todd Karehana (Ngai Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāti Tarāwhai, Ngai Tamaoki, Ngāti Ruapani ki Waikaremoana) is a Māori and Queer writer-director. Since completing his MA in Screen Production (First Class Honours) at the University of Auckland in 2017, he has taken on leading roles as a writer, story consultant, storyliner, and script editor across series and features including Ahikāroa, The Exceptional Squad, The Taneatua Express, The Panthers (Season 2), The Child, We Are Still Here, and Ture.

Between 2020 and 2023, Todd served as co-creator on two scripted series: Ngā Hau E Whā, an LGBTQA+ high-school drama that received NZ On Air development funding, and The River, a supernatural audio drama that won Best Experimental Audio at the 2023 imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.

Todd has also contributed to the sector in key advisory and leadership roles: as a Funding Advisor at NZ On Air, an external advisor to Te Māngai Pāho and Fresh Shorts, and a board member of Ngā Aho Whakaari and Proud Voices on Screen.

As a director, Todd has led the creation of award-winning short films spanning documentary and fiction, including The Spectacular Imagination of the Pōhara Brothers, My Brother Mitchell, Young and on the Paepae, Night Ride, and Socks. He recently completed Jane Campion’s prestigious, Netflix-funded two-year director’s intensive, A Wave in the Ocean.

Todd is passionate about nuanced stories that give voice to working-class, Māori, and queer lives

Anapela Polata’ivao, born in Samoa with roots in Vailoa, Vaiusu, Faga’e, and Safune, is a graduate of Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School. In 2002, she co-founded Kila Kokonut Krew with Vela Manusaute, marking the beginning of her impactful career in the arts. Anapela has received numerous accolades, including Best Actress awards at the 2012 Fresh Shorts Awards and Spain’s International Short Film Festival for Night Shift, as well as Best Director at the 2016 Auckland Theatre Awards and Actress of the Year at the 2018 Wellington Theatre Awards. As a director, she has helmed award-winning productions, including Wild Dogs Under My Skirt and The Savage Coloniser Show by Tusiata Avia for the F.C.C. In 2017, she established her own company, T.A.P.A, directing productions like Think of a Garden and Alofagia: Le Opera, featuring the popular trio Sol3 Mio. Anapela was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM) for her services to Pacific performing arts and recently headlined the feature film Tinā, earning the Best Actress award at the 2025 NZ Screen Awards. She also directed the NZ Opera's production of The Monster in the Maze and was awarded the CNZ Senior Pacific Artist Award this year. 

Stacey Leilua (Waikato Tainui / Ngāti Te Ata / Fusi, Safotulafai / Papa Sataua) is a graduate of the Unitec School of Performing and Screen Arts, with extensive experience in writing, directing, and producing. She served as one of the directors of Kila Kokonut Krew, contributing to the development of The Factory throughout its various stage seasons. Stacey has also performed in influential F.C.C. productions, including Tusiata Avia’s Wild Dogs Under My Skirt and The Savage Coloniser Show, touring extensively with both works. Wild Dogs Under My Skirt won the Fringe Encore Series at New York’s SoHo Playhouse in 2020, and Stacey received the 2024 Wellington Theatre Award for Outstanding Performance for The Savage Coloniser Show. In addition, she played the lead role of Ata Johnson in NBC Universal’s Young Rock for its three seasons, filmed in Australia and Memphis, earning a Hollywood Critics Association Award nomination for Best Actress (the show also won the HCA Award for Best Broadcast Network Series). Stacey is an alumna of Script to Screen’s South Shorts Programme, and served as the creative producer for NZ Opera’s The Monster in the Maze.  She is currently completing her Moana Pacific Dramaturg residency with Playmarket and CNZ.

Vela Manusaute was born in Niue and arrived in New Zealand in 1979. He became the first Niuean to graduate from Toi Whakaari in 1996. He co-founded Kila Kokonut Krew and gained recognition as part of the comedy duo The Brownies, winning Best Male Comedy at the Chapman Tripp Awards. His debut play, Taro King earned a Best Writer nomination, and in 2005, he won the Philip Fuemana NZ Music Award for producing nine original Pacific albums from his South Auckland studio. Vela conceived the stage musical The Factory, and in 2014, he and his partner Anapela Polata’ivao received the Arts Foundation’s New Generation Award. His short film The Messiah won Best Screenplay and Best Art Direction at the 2020 Short Fest Pacific Rim Film Festival, and he directed an episode of Teine Sā. In that same year, he co-created the first Tongan bilingual drama web series, Brutal Lives / Mo'ui Faingata'a for Kingston Productions, winning Best Pacific Programme at the 2023 NZ Screen Awards. In 2021, Vela won the Adam NZ Best Play by a Pasifika Playwright award for Sons of Vao, underscoring his commitment to Pacific and South Auckland storytelling. Sons of Vao will debut in 2026 as part of the Auckland Theatre Company's upcoming season.

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.