A biography of Mike Bennett

Michael Bennett is of Maori and Te Arawa descent. He is a New Zealand writer/director for film and television. Bennett was born on 5 November 1964 in Reefton. His partner is Jane Holland who is a costume designer for feature films. Bennett and Holland have three children. Mike Bennett trained at the Australian Film and Television School which is located in Sidney, Australia. This article provides a biography of Mike Bennett.

Film

Bennett debuted his feature film as a director at the Toronto Film Festival in 2010. The film is described as being multi-narrative and it was co-written. The first screenplay Bennett produced was Michelle's Third Novel, and it was selected to accompany the film Pulp Fiction at its gala opening in the US. Michael Bennett wrote and directed two short films which screened in numerous festivals, including Cannes, Melbourne and Locarno. The titles of the films are Cow and Kerosene Creek. Bennett also works as a screen doctor and also teaches screen writing works as a script consultant and developer. Awards
He has won awards: The British Council / Writers Foundation Award in 2005 and the New Zealand Film Commission Writers Award in 2008/2009. Projects that are in advanced development include an indie gangster film which is set
in a Mexican drug-running town, "an animated action/adventure comedy set in the sewers under Hong Kong, a supernatural horror film set in the deep New Zealand bush, a crime thriller mini-series about a Maori cop in pursuit of a Maori killer, and a post-apocalyptic action/adventure love story - Salt (based on a Maurice Gee novel)." When he is not working on films or TV, he enjoys running in marathons.

Television

Michael Bennett has worked in television as well, including working as a writer for such series as Outrageous Fortune, Maddigan's Quest, The Lost Children, PET Detectives, Mataku, Street Legal, City Life. He also worked as a script doctor for the Zeena the Warrior Princess series. He also worked as a writer on the Kaitangata Twitch TV series. He acted as director for The Pretender, Kerosene Creek, PET Detectives, Mataku, Mercy Creek, and Outrageous Fortune. He also acted as the producer for PET Detectives and as the executive producer for The Platform.