JohnBanas
- Writer
- Actor
Beginning as an actor, writer and director in Kiwi theatre during the 1970s, John Banas increasingly focused on dramatic writing for television from the 80s on. After relocating to Australia, he established himself as a prolific TV screenwriter with a string of iconic shows, including Blue Heelers and City Homicide. His many New Zealand scripts include Bombshell and award-winning telemovies Siege and How to Murder Your Wife.
Screenography
Biography
John Banas first emerged in the late 1960s as a creative force in Wellington's professional theatre scene. Raised in England and Taranaki, Banas was part of a brash, emerging generation that included some soon to be illustrious contemporaries. "Every young man wants to change the world", he later said. "I was convinced we had to do something exciting and interesting, and make people think about things".
Awards
2017 New Zealand Television Awards
Nominated for Best Script - Drama: Bombshell
2015 New York City International Film Festival
Best Comedy: How to Murder Your Wife
Nominated for Best International Narrative Feature: How to Murder Your Wife
“Scriptwriter John Banas did a great job … A terrific piece of television production and a part of this community and country's history which had to be told respectfully and honestly. And it has been.”