Workshop: Screenwriting with Gavin Strawan

What makes a character feel real, a conversation compelling, or a story impossible to put down? Award-winning screenwriter and novelist Gavin Strawhan leads this practical workshop exploring how to create memorable characters and use dialogue to bring stories to life across different formats. Drawing on decades of experience in television and his more recent success as a crime novelist, Gavin will share techniques for developing distinctive voices, deepening character relationships and using dialogue to build tension, reveal motivations and move a narrative forward. The workshop will also explore story structure and the ways writers can create engaging, believable interactions between characters. Gavin’s career has taken an unconventional path. Born in Adelaide, he trained as a nurse before joining the circus, moving to Sydney and writing for the Australian soap opera Neighbours. He subsequently came to New Zealand to help establish Shortland Street, beginning a long and influential career in New Zealand television. He went on to co-create popular series including Go Girls, Nothing Trivial and Filthy Rich, and served as showrunner and writer on the mystery thriller This Is Not My Life. His other screenwriting credits include the true-crime drama Black Hands, the series Testify, and the historical television films What Really Happened - Votes For Women and What Really Happened - Waitangi. He also co-created the Australian series Bad Mothers and the thriller Hyde & Seek. Gavin has also established himself as a crime novelist. His debut, The Call, won the 2023 Allen & Unwin Fiction Prize and was shortlisted for two categories at the 2025 Ngaio Marsh Awards. His second novel, Slash, published in May 2026, continues the story of former police sergeant Honey Chalmers in a dark, suspenseful crime thriller. In 2024, Gavin won the University of Auckland’s Phoenix Prize for his Master of Creative Writing dissertation, a dark comedy novel titled The Mother Project, reflecting his continued exploration of fiction alongside his screen career. Suitable for writers of all experience levels and across multiple disciplines, this workshop offers an opportunity to learn from a highly experienced storyteller whose work spans television drama, comedy, crime and fiction. Supported by: Film Queenstown Lakes Workshop capacity: 18 participants.