vanessaVanessa Alexander

Vanessa Alexander moved from Los Angeles to a small New Zealand farming town at the age of fourteen and has been based in NZ ever since.

Over the last 10 years she has won SPADA ‘Young’ Filmmaker of the Year, a Jury Prize at the Oporto Festival, a Gold and Silver World Medal at the New York Festival, Best Series and Best Children’s Series at the NZ Screen Awards, a Telly Award, and the Prix Grande at the Danube Television Festival.

In 2003 Being Eve, the TV series Vanessa produced and directed for South Pacific Pictures,  was nominated for an International Emmy and went on to sell to over 20 countries including Australia, the U.S. and Canada. She has also produced and/or executive produced a number of short films for the New Zealand Film Commission, including the Oscar-nominated Two Cars One Night.

In 2003, Vanessa completed two months with the development team at Working Title UK, and went on to train as a script/story editor with the UK based script consultancy team ARISTA. The following year Vanessa was one of eight writers, internationally, invited to take part in the European script programme eQuinoxe. The script she took there (A Life in Romance) is currently in development with Tim White and herself as Producers.

Vanessa has worked as a TV drama director (Outrageous Fortune, Being Eve, Mercy Peak, Maddigan’s Quest), a script producer (for TV 3’s bro’Town, The Pretender), storyliner (Burying Brian), and served on the NZ Film Commission Board and Development Committee. She is currently juggling her industry work as a writer/director and a part-time role as a university lecturer (University of Auckland – Screen Production).