DeanParker
- Writer
Dean Parker wrote extensively for stage, television, radio and print. The proudly class-conscious writer won awards for his 1998 teleplay Share the Dream and TV movie Old Scores. He was also skilled at adapting the work of others, from novelist Ronald Hugh Morrieson (classic movie Came a Hot Friday) to journalist Nicky Hager (The Hollow Men). Parker died on 14 April 2020.
Screenography
Biography
Dean Parker argued that “every time you write for one medium, you find yourself getting better in others. Write for film and you realise the peculiar strengths of radio. Write for TV and you realize how the stage works.”
Parker was in a position to know. His resume included generous quantities of all the above, plus many opinion pieces as well. In later decades he worked from "a tiny office space" at Auckland Trades Hall, where he did "regular office hours" on a computer without a modem (so he couldn't be distracted).
Awards
2013 Arts Foundation Laureate Award
2010 Qantas Film and Television Awards
Nominated for Best Screenplay - Film: for Life's A Riot
1998 TV Guide Television Awards
Best Television Drama Script: for Share the Dream
“He knew a lot about all sorts of things, from the origins of trade unionism to our literary history. He had the instincts of a social historian, but with a very mischievous eye to go with his nose for gossip.”