Alumnus Joe Brukner joins global scriptwriting elite

Congratulations to scriptwriter and University of Melbourne Arts Alumnus Joe Brukner, who has received the Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award 2017 at the International Emmy Awards Gala in New York City.

Joe is one of three University of Melbourne graduates to receive the prestigious award since 2015 and is one of eight Australians on the award's honours list since 1999. The 28-year-old Bachelor of Arts graduate won the award for his script JUDAS.

In 2016, Arts/Law graduate Catherine S. McMullen won the award for her screenplay Living Metal. In 2015, Victorian College of the Arts graduate Gabriel Bergmoser won the same award for Windmills: Leo.

Brukner drafted his one-hour-long TV drama pilot JUDAS at his kitchen table in Melbourne and now lives with peers in Los Angeles as he meets with industry players to talk about developing and producing the script.

Joe is meeting with managers, agents and producers about developing more scripts and is working as a television writer.

“It can be overwhelming to be surrounded by such talent but it inspires me to write in my own unique voice and keep working,” Joe says about life in the US compared to student life in Melbourne.

“I’m excited to meet the other attendees from all over the world at the awards,” he says.

“I had plenty of international TV to catch up on before the big night!”

The competition aims to help non-American novice writers under the age of 30 in their television scriptwriting career.

About Joe’s script

Ever since betraying Jesus Christ, Judas Iscariot has walked the Earth as an immortal. Now living a quiet, secluded life in Venice, California, a gruesome murder will tear him from his exile, forcing him to confront the sins of his past and begin his impossible journey towards redemption.

View the Pursuit story featuring Joe. It was first published in 3010 magazine.