Known as ’the fifth Flush’ Vanessa is an award-winning writer and producer best known for writing on The Great (Hulu) and Vikings: Valhalla (Netflix). For her work on the former, she was nominated for Best Comedy and Best New Series at the WGA Awards, for the latter she was made a Co-Executive Producer of season 2. In the past, she has also written for Tin Star and been nominated for an AWGIE for writing for her work on the Australian comedy/drama The Wrong Girl, where she also wrote on the acclaimed drama Love Child.

 

Prior to this, Vanessa worked extensively in New Zealand where she also won many awards. She was the lead director of the acclaimed series Outrageous Fortune, the first female director of the Power Rangers series, and the Executive Producer of Taika Waititi's Oscar-nominated short, Two Cars, One Night. Her New Zealand teen series, Being Eve, won a multitude of awards internationally and received an International Emmy nomination.

 

Outside of her screen work, Vanessa has a B.A. in English Literature, a P.G. Dip in Directing, a Masters in Film and Television Theory and a Ph.D in Creative Writing from University of New South Wales. With a British mother, and Kiwi father, five children, one foster son, two ex-husbands and a mid life crises at a clown school in Paris, Vanessa is rarely short of inspiration for a story. Her experience directing Power Rangers put her in good stead to wrangle 4 menopausal mothers.

 

Vanessa is a member of WGGB, AWG and WGA.