I'm Dean Hewison, a writer and director for film, theatre, TV and commercials. I've been making short films since I was 15, picking up a small collection of awards and trophies along the way for various music videos and 48HOURS films - including the National Champion twice, three Wellington winners and two Peter Jackson Wildcards.
In 2012 I directed and co-wrote the Make My Movie-winning feature film How to Meet Girls From a Distance, which premiered at the NZ International Film Festival before being nominated for 6 NZ Film Awards (including Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Film) and winning the Grand Prix du Jury (Best Film) at the Festival Des Antipodes in France. The following year, I directed and co-wrote the 48HOURS 2013 National Champion The Sleeping Plot, also winning the national award for Best Director. On the strength of these, I was given NZ Film Commission funding to make Judgment Tavern, the story of a young girl carrying her father's living head as they search for his body. This had its World Premiere in the 2016 Sydney Film Festival and was chosen by Lee Tamahori to be part of the 2016 NZ International Film Festival's NZ's Best selection. I also directed On the Conditions and Possibilities of Hillary Clinton Taking Me as Her Young Lover - a 44 minute comedy special based on the stage play of the same name that the Democrats unfortunately didn't put to use. My 2018 48HOURS entry Master was the 2018 Wellington Winner, and national winner of Best Script, Best Editing, and Best ULTRA. Most recently, I directed, produced and co-wrote the 2021 48HOURS Grand National Champion Good Girl, also winning the national awards for Best Director and Best Script.
My commercials include a Subway homage to the Fresh Prince, an epic set-change for Tower Insurance, a cheeky Air New Zealand Safety Video for Irish rugby fans, a Wellington Paranormal / NZ Police collaboration for summer safety, a series of How to Dad videos for Purex, 10 dryly funny ads for WorkSafe, 7 action-packed Primo flavour experiments, a quirky spot for Birds Eye SteamFresh Plus, two genre-bending ads for Kellogg's All-Bran (Trust Your Gut and Epic 80s Montage), as well as campaigns for Auckland Transport, NZ on Air's AllTracks, Post-Primary Teachers' Association's Fair 4 Teachers, and 8 videos for Wellington City Council's The Wellington Way. For television I've recently directed two episodes of the second season of Wellington Paranormal, two seasons of the TV2 children's action show Operation Hero, was post-production director for two seasons of TVNZ6's Giggles, and was a writer and editor for Facelift.
Currently I'm developing my next feature Tough Crowd, as well as writing the fourth draft of Everyone Dies which expands the world of Judgment Tavern into a darkly comic fantasy film.
My regular collaborators include:
Alex Clark - producer (Picture Start Films)
Fish & Clips - production company
Matty Warmington - cinematographer & editor (Kaboose Media)
Chris Matthews - cinematographer
Tane Upjohn-Beatson - composer
Sam Dickson - writer
Useful Media - producers
Two Birds - producers
Good Times - producers