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Vanessa Alexander

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Not to be confused with Vanessa Aleksander.

Vanessa Alexander
BornNew York, U.S
Occupation
  • Screenwriter
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipAustralian/New Zealand/British/American
EducationUniversity of New South Wales
Notable worksVikings: Valhalla
The Great
Tin Star
The Wrong Girl
Love Child
Agent Anna
Power Rangers
Being Eve

Vanessa Alexander is an Australian, New Zealand and British screenwriter, director and producer best known for writing on Vikings: Valhalla and The Great.[1][2][3]

Early life and education

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Alexander was born in New York to a New Zealand father and English mother.[4] She grew up in Laguna Beach, California before relocating to Oamaru, New Zealand in her teens.[4] She was educated at Laguna Beach High School, Waitaki Girls' High School and the University of Otago, where she studied a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature. She also holds a post-graduate diploma in film directing from The Victorian College of the Arts[5] and a Ph.D. in Creative Writing from The University of New South Wales.[6][7]

Alexander lives in Newcastle, Australia, moving there in 2012 after living in Paris.[8]

Career

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Alexander began her career writing stage plays in New Zealand[9] and almost left the industry to apply for medical school after receiving multiple rejections for short film funding.[10] She won an international student playwriting contest in 1990 with a feminist reinterpretation of T.S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land, titled My Nightingale has Come Unzipped.[4] Her first feature film Magik & Rose, which she wrote and directed at the age of 28, was produced by New Zealand director Larry Parr and funded by the New Zealand Film Commission under a low-budget film development scheme.[11] The film was shot in New Zealand's South Island at the Hokitika Wildfoods Festival with a budget of $350,000[11] and was nominated for four New Zealand Film Awards. It also won a jury prize at the Oporto Film Festival in Portugal.[4]

Alexander was a producer for Taika Waititi’s second short film Two Cars, One Night and has been a board member for the New Zealand Film Commission.[12] Her first job in television was as a producer, writer and director for the New Zealand children television series Being Eve.[13] The series was nominated for an International Emmy Award in the Children and Young People category.

Alexander wrote for the Netflix series Vikings: Valhalla[14][15][16] and was also a writer for the comedy-drama television series The Great, which was nominated for numerous awards, including two Writers Guild of America awards for which Alexander was a listed nominee.[17] She has written for the British-Canadian television series Tin Star and the Australian television series Love Child, The Secret Daughter and The Wrong Girl, for which she was nominated for an AWGIE Award. She directed the New Zealand television series Agent Anna.[18]

On 21 January 2021, ViacomCBS International named Alexander as the lead writer for its development of a television series about the Italian baroque artist Artemisia Gentileschi.[19][20] Titled "Artemisia", the series is also being produced by former ViacomCBS International Studios UK managing director Jill Offman and Pan's Labyrinth producer Frida Torresblanco, who said the development "will be a contemporary feminist piece that is at once provocative and transgressive, invoking the spirit of our present moment in an eloquent and elegant way”.[21]

After the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in 2021, Vanessa helped more than 100 Afghan women and their families escape Afghanistan and created a network that coordinated the rescue of more than 300 Afghan women fleeing the Taliban. For this she received the Keys to the City of Newcastle in 2023, [22][23] as well as the 2023 Golden Wattle Award, an annual award given to an Australian who has brought honour and inspiration to their fellow Australians over the previous 12 months. [24]

Filmography

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Film

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Title Year Credited as Notes Ref.
Director Producer Writer Executive
producer
My Mother Practices Drowning 1995 Yes No Yes No Short film [25]
Magik and Rose 1999 Yes No Yes No Directorial debut [26]
Two Cars, One Night 2003 No No No Yes Short film [27]
Henchman 2003 No Yes No No Short film [28]
Tiga E Le Iloa 2004 No No No Yes Short film [29]
His Father's Shoes 2004 No No No Yes Short film [30]
The Man Who Couldn't Dance 2005 No No No Yes Short film [31]
Fish Out of Water 2005 No No No Yes Short film [32]
Karma 2006 No No No Yes Short film [33]
Cargo 2007 No Yes No Yes Short film [34]
Bridge 2008 No No No Yes Short film [35]
Ser un ser humano 2011 No Yes No No Documentary film

Television

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The numbers in directing and writing credits refer to the number of episodes.

Title Year Credited as Network Notes Ref.
Creator Director Writer
Being Eve 2001–02 No Yes (6) No TV3 Producer
Story and script editor (series 2) 		[36]
Mercy Peak 2003 No Yes (2) No TV One [25]
Outrageous Fortune 2005 No Yes (2) No TV3 [37]
The Pretender 2005 No No Yes (2) Script producer (series 1) [37]
Maddigan's Quest 2006 No Yes (2) No [37]
Power Rangers Operation Overdrive 2007 No Yes (3) No Toon Disney [1]
Power Rangers Jungle Fury 2008 No Yes (6) No [1]
Burying Brian 2008 No No No TV One Storyliner [37]
Power Rangers RPM 2009 No Yes (3) No ABC [1]
This Is Not My Life 2010 Developer No No TV One Script producer
Storyliner 		[37]
Agent Anna 2013–14 Yes Yes (3) Yes (5) [37]
The Wrong Girl 2016–17 No No Yes (2) Network Ten [37]
Love Child 2017 No No Yes (2) Nine Network [37]
The Secret Daughter 2017 No No Yes (1) Seven Network [37]
Extreme Engagement 2019 No No No Netflix Executive producer [25]
The Great 2020 No No No Hulu Staff writer (season 1: 9 episodes)
Story editor (season 2) 		[37]
Tin Star 2020 No No Yes (1) Sky Atlantic [37]
Vikings: Valhalla 2022–present No No Yes (2) Netflix Co-executive producer (season 2) [37]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Meet Vanessa Alexander, international screenwriter extraordinaire". ScreenHub Australia. 8 April 2021. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  2. ^ "Vanessa Alexander - The Screen Guide". Screen Australia. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  3. ^ Cordero, Rosy (25 September 2021). "'Vikings: Valhalla': Michael Hirst's Historical Drama Introduces Series Heroes—Netflix Tudum". Deadline. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d NZ On Screen. "Vanessa Alexander | NZ On Screen". www.nzonscreen.com. Archived from the original on 12 July 2021. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  5. ^ "The director, Vanessa Alexander – Magik and Rose". www.magikandrose.co.nz. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  6. ^ "Vanessa Alexander | Arts & Social Sciences – UNSW Sydney". www.arts.unsw.edu.au. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  7. ^ Alexander, Vanessa (2021). Searching for Utopia on the Small Screen: Comedy of Remarriage in Television Sitcom. University of New South Wales Library: School of the Arts & Media, Arts Design & Architecture, UNSW. (2021). Web.
  8. ^ "The desperate search for Newcastle CBD childcare". www.abc.net.au. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  9. ^ NZ On Screen. "Vanessa Alexander: Magik and Rose, Being Eve, and more... | NZ On Screen". www.nzonscreen.com. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  10. ^ "Interview with Vanessa Alexander – Producer / Behind the scenes / Being Eve / Key Collection / Reviewed resources / Drama / Secondary teaching resources / Teaching and Learning / Home – Arts Online". artsonline.tki.org.nz. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  11. ^ a b "Film Festival: Magik and Rose". NZ Herald. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  12. ^ "New Chair for NZ Film Commission". The Beehive. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  13. ^ "What went right with Eve?". NZ Herald. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  14. ^ "Netflix's 'Vikings' Sequel Spinoff Confirms Its Cast". 26 January 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  15. ^ "'Vikings: Valhalla': Sam Corlett, Frida Gustavsson, Leo Suter, Bradley Freegard Among 10 Cast In Netflix Series". 26 January 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  16. ^ "'Chilling Adventures of Sabrina' Vet Sam Corlett to Star as Leif Eriksson in Netflix's 'Vikings: Valhalla'". 26 January 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  17. ^ "Writers Guild Unveils 2021 TV Award Nominees". 3 February 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  18. ^ "Great Southern - Agent Anna". greatsouthern.tv. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
  19. ^ "ViacomCBS International Studios Ramps Up Development Slate, Drives into Nonfiction". 21 January 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  20. ^ "ViacomCBS International Studios Unveils Slate". 21 January 2021. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  21. ^ "ViacomCBS International Studios Developing Series On Celebrated Artist Artemisia Gentileschi". 9 October 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  22. ^ "How Vanessa built an army of support to help women escape the Taliban". Newcastle Herald. 29 April 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  23. ^ "Humanitarian work helping women fleeing war-torn Afghanistan earns Newcastle writer key to the city". ABC listen. 9 March 2023. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  24. ^ Suzette (31 August 2023). "2023 Golden Wattle Award Winner". Wattle Day. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
  25. ^ a b c "Vanessa Alexander | NZ On Screen". NZ On Screen. Archived from the original on 10 July 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  26. ^ Stratton, David (5 June 2000). "Magik and Rose". Variety. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  27. ^ "Two Cars, One Night nominated for Academy Award". The Beehive. New Zealand Government. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  28. ^ "Henchman". New Zealand Film Commission. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  29. ^ "Tiga e Le Iloa / Hidden Pain". New Zealand Film Commission. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  30. ^ "His Father's Shoes". New Zealand Film Commission. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  31. ^ "The Man Who Couldn't Dance". New Zealand Film Commission. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  32. ^ "Fish Out Of Water". New Zealand Film Commission. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  33. ^ "Karma". New Zealand Film Commission. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  34. ^ "Cargo". New Zealand Film Commission. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  35. ^ "Bridge". New Zealand Film Commission. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  36. ^ "Being Eve". South Pacific Pictures. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  37. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Vanessa Alexander". The Agency. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
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