Michael Bennett (Writer)

The Gone

It follows Theo Richter, an Irish detective who teams with Kiwi cop Diana Huia to find a young Irish couple vanish from an infamous rural North Island New Zealand town. Amidst the search and a race against time, the pair have to contend with a community’s growing disquiet that the disappearances may be linked to a series of historical murders.

Release Date2023-05-07

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count6

Vote Count16

Vegas

A business owner is thrust into New Zealand's dark underbelly after a million-dollar drug deal goes wrong on a blood-stained night, setting off a chain of events between dangerous factions.

Release Date2021-04-19

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count6

Vote Count4

The Convert

Munro, a soldier turned lay preacher, comes to New Zealand to minister to the first British colonists, but he is converted by the powerful chief Maianui to serve a different purpose.

Release Date2024-03-14

DepartmentWriting

JobScreenstory

Vote Count188

Kaitangata Twitch

Kaitangata Twitch is a children's adventure/fantasy series that aired on Maori TV in New Zealand in 2010. Based on the children's book of the same name, written by renouned New Zealand children's author, Margaret Mahy, it follows the adventures of thirteen year old Meredith, who can hear voices calling to her from a nearby island, Kaitangata, in the bay of her small hometown. A legend of pre-European New Zealand, the frequent rumblings of small earthquakes and the disappearance of a young Pakeha girl, fifty years earlier, all shroud the mystery surrounding the island.

Release Date2010-05-02

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Episode Count6

Vote Count1

Jubilee

Billy (Cliff Curtis) is trying to organize the biggest celebration the town of Waimatua has even seen - the 75th Jubilee of their school. In doing this, feckless Billy is trying to redeem himself in the eyes of his family, especially his frustrated wife Pauline (Theresa Healey). However trouble arrives with the return of a local former All Blacks Captain, an old flame of Pauline's.

Release Date2000-04-13

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Vote Count2

After Midnight

A college professor teaching a course called "The Psychology of Fear" brings his students (including a psychic) to his home, one dark and stormy night to tell scary stories. The first involves a young couple whose car breaks down by an old, abandoned house. The second has four trendy teenage girls getting lost in a bad part of town and chased by a pack of vicious dogs. Last, a woman on crutches confronting a stalker at the answering service where she works the night shift.

Release Date1989-11-03

DepartmentProduction

JobLine Producer

Vote Count63

In Dark Places

In Dark Places is the gripping story of an innocent man, imprisoned for two decades for a crime he did not commit, and an ex-cop's heroic battle to win him his freedom.

Release Date2018-07-22

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Michelle's Third Novel

A shocking expose on new methods of artistic inspiration.

Release Date1994-09-23

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Kerosene Creek

One summer’s day, Jayde and Wiremu tag along with their older siblings on a trip to a local swimming hole; young passions ignite by the Rotorua hot pool. Later, tragedy occurs and Jayde faces lost innocence and the ritual of tangi while bearing a secret.

Release Date2004-11-27

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count2

Matariki

A random act of violence leaves eight people in crisis, searching for hope and new beginnings, as the Matariki constellation (Maori New Year) rises in the Southern skies.

Release Date2010-11-18

DepartmentWriting

JobWriter

Vote Count1

Cow

Two old men with Confucian beards are adrift in the ocean, a placid Friesian cow in tow. A surreal study on how quickly a minor event can evolve into something far more extreme, the film features no dialogue; rather, a guitar duet that escalates to a duel.

Release Date2001-10-31

DepartmentDirecting

JobDirector

Vote Count1

Ross & Beth

The story of a humble farming couple, a sudden upheaval and an unlikely saviour.

Release Date2014-07-01

DepartmentProduction

JobExecutive Producer