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Aussie wins Sir Peter Ustinov TV Scriptwriting Award

An Australian has won an International Emmys script prize for the third year running.

Melbourne screenwriter Joe Brukner has been awarded the Sir Peter Ustinov Television Scriptwriting Award from the International Emmys for his one hour script Judas.

The award is given to non-American novice writers under the age of 30 and carries $2,500, a trip to New York City, and an invitation to the International Emmy Awards Gala in November. Part of the weekend itinerary will be a reading of his script in front of an audience.

Bukner completed a BA from the University of Melbourne and went on to receive an MFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

His script sees an immortal Judas Iscariot now living a quiet, secluded life in Venice, California. But 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.

“I first came up with the idea while visiting the Denver Art Museum,” Bukner told TV Tonight. “So I found a quiet place in the Western American Art exhibit and wrote the outline on my phone until the museum closed that night. Very thankful for portable chargers.”

Bukner recently worked in Australia with Shane Brennan’s Scripted Ink initiative on Catherine S. McMullen’s science-fiction thriller series, Awake.

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