Machete and the Ghost

JAMES GRIFFIN: a Whakatane-born, Hawkes Bay-raised palagi writer who has invented and written heaps of television drama and comedy including Outrageous Fortune, Westside, The Almighty Johnsons and 800 Words. When he’s not writing TV he writes plays like Serial Killers; he helped his mate Oscar write the two Sione’s Wedding films; for years he wrote a weekly column for the Weekend Herald paper; and he’s also managed to write three books for Upstart Press, two about rugby and one about beer. He has no medals from the Queen, as yet.

OSCAR KIGHTLEY: a Samoan-born writer whose critically acclaimed collaborative work for stage and screen has helped change the face of popular culture in New Zealand. This includes such awesome works as the stage stuff he did/does with the Naked Samoans; the legendary TV series bro’Town; and the two Sione’s Wedding movies he wrote with his mate James. His first job when he left school was as a journalist and in the intervening decades has worked as a television presenter, sportscaster, playwright, actor, screen-writer and director - including that flash All Blacks documentary they made not so long ago. And one time in 2008 he got a medal from the Queen for services to theatre and television.