Sam writes: 'I kept meeting people who raved about this MA course, and since my scriptwriting sucked I decided to apply. Quite rightly I was turned down, and after a better submission a couple of years later I was accepted. My writing skills accelerated greatly by spending a year intensely focussed on writing, enforced by blessed deadlines, with sage guidance from Yoda [Ken], and with nine classmates giving me feedback. I'm happy to have become one of the people who now rave about this course to others.'

Bio: Sam Kelly wrote and directed the short film Lambs, which won the Jury Prize and Audience Award at the New Zealand International Film Festival 2012, and was invited to screen in competition at the Berlinale, Clermont-Ferrand, Melbourne, and Uppsala international film festivals. He has also made other short films, including winning Wellington's 48HOURS film competition three years running.

His first feature film, Savage, was released in 2020.