Dean Leo Parker (20 August 1947 â€" 14 April 2020) was a New Zealand
screenwriter, playwright, journalist and political commentator based
in Auckland. Known for the screenplay of iconic film Came a Hot Friday
which he co-wrote with Ian Mune, the television film Old Scores and
recent play Midnight in Moscow and was awarded Laureate of the New
Zealand Arts Foundation in 2010.Parker was born in Napier, Hawke's
Bay. He went to school at Napier Marist and St John's College,
Hastings.[1]By 1969 he was living in London, England. While of mainly
Irish ancestry, he knew little of the Irish struggle until The
Troubles began that year in Northern Ireland. Parker joined the
Northern Ireland Civil Rights Solidarity Campaign, led by the
International Socialists (now known as the Socialist Workers Party),
and immersed himself in literature on the Irish struggle. He continued
his involvement with the International Socialists into the early
1970s, attending branch meetings in West London, with his old Napier
friend, Blair Peach. Peach was later killed while participating in a
1979 anti-National Front rally.Parker worked as a writer for much of
his life and was prominent in his union, the New Zealand Writers
Guild. His plays included Midnight in Moscow â€" which The Press
reviewer Alan Scott called "entertaining and thought-provoking" and
"one of his best to date" â€" 2005's Iraq-set Baghdad, Baby, and an
adaptation of Nicky Hager's exposé The Hollow Men. He won awards in
New Zealand for teleplay Share the Dream (starring Joel Tobeck), and
co-writing the successful big-screen comedy Came a Hot Friday.[2] The
1985 film centered on two conmen in small town New Zealand, and was
adapted from the novel by Ronald Hugh Morrieson.
screenwriter, playwright, journalist and political commentator based
in Auckland. Known for the screenplay of iconic film Came a Hot Friday
which he co-wrote with Ian Mune, the television film Old Scores and
recent play Midnight in Moscow and was awarded Laureate of the New
Zealand Arts Foundation in 2010.Parker was born in Napier, Hawke's
Bay. He went to school at Napier Marist and St John's College,
Hastings.[1]By 1969 he was living in London, England. While of mainly
Irish ancestry, he knew little of the Irish struggle until The
Troubles began that year in Northern Ireland. Parker joined the
Northern Ireland Civil Rights Solidarity Campaign, led by the
International Socialists (now known as the Socialist Workers Party),
and immersed himself in literature on the Irish struggle. He continued
his involvement with the International Socialists into the early
1970s, attending branch meetings in West London, with his old Napier
friend, Blair Peach. Peach was later killed while participating in a
1979 anti-National Front rally.Parker worked as a writer for much of
his life and was prominent in his union, the New Zealand Writers
Guild. His plays included Midnight in Moscow â€" which The Press
reviewer Alan Scott called "entertaining and thought-provoking" and
"one of his best to date" â€" 2005's Iraq-set Baghdad, Baby, and an
adaptation of Nicky Hager's exposé The Hollow Men. He won awards in
New Zealand for teleplay Share the Dream (starring Joel Tobeck), and
co-writing the successful big-screen comedy Came a Hot Friday.[2] The
1985 film centered on two conmen in small town New Zealand, and was
adapted from the novel by Ronald Hugh Morrieson.
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