Vanessa Alexander is a multi award-winning writer, director and producer. She earned her place in the industry by writing and directing a feature film for $US 100,000: offbeat buddy movie MAGIC AND ROSE went on to screen at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival Forum for low-budget features, and win a jury prize at the Oporto Film Festival.
Won over by her directing and promotional work on MAGIK AND ROSE, South Pacific Pictures head John Barnett invited Alexander to produce (and later write for and direct) a TV series for teenage girls: nominated for an International Emmy, BEING EVE sold to more than 40 territories including the US, where it aired on Nickelodeon/Noggin.
Alexander’s extensive awards list includes SPADA New Filmmaker of the Year, a Gold and Silver World Medal at the New York Festival, Best Series and Best Children’s Series at the NZ Screen Awards, the Qantas Media Peace Award, the Prix Grande at the Danube Television Festival, A Telly Award and the World Drama Trust International Student Playwright Competition. Her work on the first televised episode of local hit OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE garnered her a Best Director nomination at the 2005 Qantas TV awards.
She has also directed on MERCY PEAK, big-budget SPP/BBC co-production MADDIGAN’S QUEST and POWER RANGERS. As a producer, Alexander has worked on a number of award-winning short films including the Oscar-nominated TWO CARS, ONE NIGHT and more recently CARGO (Venice, London, Melbourne, Tribeca, Paris, Telluride 2008).
In 2003 she spent time on the script development team at Working Title UK, as the first international intern in their training program. The following year she was one of eight writers invited from around the world to take part in European screenwriting lab eQuinoxe, with her screenplay A Life in Romance.
She has consulted on several screenplays in development with the New Zealand Film Commission, taught writing workshops, worked as a script producer, and is a credited writer on several Kiwi drama series (THIS IS NOT MY LIFE, THE PRETENDER, BURYING BRIAN).
Alexander has a BA in English Literature, and an MA in Film from Melbourne University’s Victoria College of Art. She has also done workshops with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Script Factory, and interned as a director with America’s Steven Bochco Productions, on the sets of MURDER ONE and NYPD BLUE.
Alexander is a former Chair of Script to Screen and was a board member of the New Zealand Film Commission. She has served on numerous industry funding and development panels.
Bio provided by NZ On Screen
