Hey hey.

I’m Mike: emerging screenwriter. I work primarily in the genre of horror.

I also write noir, gritty crime realism, and psychological thrillers.

My CV – writing for audiobooks, podcasts and the screen.

–> I’m an emerging screenwriter, looking to work on film and TV sets. With writer/director Linda Niccol, I was shortlisted for a number of US screenwriting awards in 2023.

–> My career 2005-2023 was all about writing fiction for the page. I won numerous short story awards in New Zealand, Australia and the US.

–> I can be most useful helping with turning stories and voices into written words. 

–> I’m wanting to work on screenplays in the film and TV industry and I want to take on scriptwriting work when it’s available. 

–> I’m also an experienced actor and extra and I run an improv theatresports troupe – so lots of experience performing to audiences.  

–> I am looking for fresh partnerships and to develop screenplays, teleplays, outlines, treatments and ideas based on my acclaimed horror and literary fiction. But I also want to do rewrites of other people’s work to become as good at the screenwriting craft as possible.

In October 2023, I published my best-ever horror collection Bloodalcohol with publisher Next Chapter. I’ve also been selling audiobooks to Audible, and selling high-concept horror to the world-class horror podcast Chilling Tales for Dark Nights. 

The following are some of the screenwriting projects I’m working on 2023-2025.

I specialise in writing about Westerners trying to improve their lives through desperate means – and encountering horror as they do so.

Reach out and let’s have a conversation if you are interested in optioning some of these projects for film and TV – or if you would like me to work on your screen project rewrites.

‘Thrall’

Feature film

A Christian teen tries to save his starstruck sister from a black metal band committing horrifying publicity stunts to impress a sinister music producer.

Screenplay and treatment/one page outline available on request. Previously unpublished.

‘Rewilding’

Feature film

Exhilaration turns into a fight for survival as a conservationist couple who have helped nature reclaim a chunk of New Zealand find themselves battling to contain wild forces with little love for mankind. 

Based on the acclaimed story ‘We Created a Country’ from the collection Bloodalcohol (Next Chapter, 2023)

Screenplay and treatment/one page outline available on request.

‘The Devil Took Her’

Feature film

Searching for clues in her journal, Sacramento widower Patrick must discover why his wife Melanie vanished after becoming obsessed with a monstrous California serial killer preying on the lost and the lonely.

Based on the acclaimed story from the collection ‘The Devil Took Her’ (The Sager Group, 2022)

‘Butterfly Tongue’

Feature film

Stuck in a stifling town in New Zealand’s Far North, 14-year-old Venus can’t wait to get away from a hardened biker mum and a sleazy dad with a big appetite for women – but as Venus counts down towards turning 18 and escaping, she’s forced to confront her father’s beastly side and the terrifying reason mum left dad. 

Based on the story from the collection Bloodalcohol (The Sager Group, 2022)

‘WorldStar & Son’

Feature film

A bullied Christchurch teen captivated by YouTube streetfight videos finds that his wish for his jellyfish-father to toughen up could come true, as the two form a daddy-son tag team during a scorching summer and take on their tormentors.

Previously unpublished. 

‘Bloodalcohol’

Feature film

A South Island road trip turns murderous as alcoholic drifter Tracey bullies her lover, the giant Adam, into killing for the ultimate drink, while Adam fights to keep his family safe from Tracey and her ravenous thirst.

Based on the story from the collection Bloodalcohol (Next Chapter, 2023)

‘Luke’s Lesson’

Feature film

After Hamilton brothers Luke and Danny are inspired by a charismatic carnival pastor who gives them Bible comics warning of eternal damnation, Luke tries to improve his favour with God by brutally cleansing the sins of everyone he can reach – beginning with his deadbeat dad. 

Based on the story from the collection Bloodalcohol (Next Chapter, 2023)

‘Test of Death’

Feature film

A terminally ill Auckland teacher must persuade his best friend to help him undergo a mysterious Buddhist practice that allows life to go on after death – until it all starts falling apart and the friends have to try stop the inevitable end.

> Finalist at Filmquest 2023 (for 20-page screenplay sample);

> Semi-finalist in Genreblast Script Contest 2023.

Based on the award-winning story from the collection The Devil Took Her (The Sager Group, 2022)

‘Godzone’

TV (streaming) anthology series

Horror anthology based on Botur’s award-winning horror fiction. Treatment and outlines available on request.

Ten New Zealand towns. 

Ten fresh faces.

Ten tales of terror.

Join ten Kiwis confronted by the scary parts of paradise in New Zealand’s mountains, farms and forests, schools, cities and suburbs – each person troubled, each trapped, and each battling through personalised horror as they try to get out of shitty situations.  

Beautiful, bittersweet and brutal, we bring you bespoke horrors from Godzone. 

Synopsis and characters

Based on the award-winning horror fiction of acclaimed Kiwi author Michael Botur, GODZONE puts a very modern spin on an old favourite genre. Each story is original, fresh, culturally diverse and counterintuitive. Our heroes each carry a cross to bear. They are mothers, stepfathers, daughters and siblings troubled by alcohol and drug dependency, the sting of separation, the pain of or the burden of ambition. 

These are stories based on real, everyday horrors we’ve all encountered in our anxious, crowded 2020s – mostly young, all diverse and modern. No dinosaurs, no tropes, no “Seen it before” horror cliches.

Every character’s crisis is tailored to him or her. These are well-drawn characters trapped in terror we can all relate to. We meet:

·         A man on a scenic South Island road trip under pressure to hide his child from a vampire with daddy issues and a drinking problem (‘Bloodalcohol’)

·         A Far North teen trying to flee her parents’ shocking small town secret (‘Butterfly Tongue’).

·         An inner-Auckland punk who takes urban exploration too far and must try to escape a locked coal cellar – with only the ugliest of creatures to help her (‘The Writing on the Rat’).

·         A 16-year old so desperate to fake his age that he finds himself at the mercy of two deranged brain surgeons who won’t let him go until he accepts his new identity (‘Fake ID.’)

·         Two Capital City schoolgirl sweethearts struggling to suppress a murderous incident in their youth (‘The Day I Skipped School.’)

·         A Christchurch jock whose ex-girlfriend’s family takes him hostage until he atones for breaking her heart (‘I Came To Say Sorry’).

·         A central Auckland scenester obsessed with getting into the 27 Club to be among rockstars whose party never ends (‘Underground’).

·         Two competitive Middlemore medical students whose race for success comes with a killer cost (‘Racing Hearts’).

·         The protective bigger brother in a troubled Hamilton family persuaded by a sinister preacher to savagely cleanse his family’s sins (‘Luke’s Lesson’).  ·         A meek Filipino computer technician pushed to the edge when dealing with his girlfriend’s bratty 11-year-old in Northland’s subtropical forest (‘The Beast Released’).