As Head Writer, James Griffin is one half of the creative pair force behind the award-winning Outrageous Fortune. In 2007 he won the Air New Zealand Screen Award for Best Script Drama/Comedy for the series 2 Outrageous Fortune Christmas Special. This same episode also won Best Script at the 2007 Qantas Television Awards.
James also co-wrote the 2006 New Zealand blockbuster hit Sione's Wedding with Oscar Kightley.
He is currently co-writing the 13 x 1/2hr comedy series Diplomatic Immunity which goes into pre-production in February 2008 with production set to run from March to May 2008. The writing team for Diplomatic Immunity also includes Dave Armstrong, Joss King and Tim Balme.
James has been a scriptwriter since 1985, when he joined the TVNZ Drama Department. His first writing credits were on the drama series Gloss and the sketch comedy series Funny Business. Since then his name has appeared as a writer on many shows including Marlin Bay, More Issues, Plainclothes, That Comedy Show, Citylife (which he also devised and was Associate Producer), the mini-series The Chosen, Jacksons Wharf, Shortland Street, Street Legal, and Being Eve. He also wrote the one-off drama The Possum Hunter and the comedy playhouse Double Booking, which won Best Script, Comedy at the 1999 TV Guide Television Awards.
In 1994 and 1995 James was Head of Development at South Pacific Pictures and until 1998 was retained by them as a Development Consultant, overseeing the initial script development of such projects as the Maori supernatural drama series Mataku. From May 2004 to the start of 2008 he was also Head of Development at South Pacific Pictures.
Serial Killers, a television series based on James' award-winning play screened on TV One in 2005 to glowing reviews. The play itself has been performed by four major New Zealand theatre companies and was the winner of the 2000 Chapman Tripp Award for Best New Writer. Serial Killers has also had seasons in the UK. James' latest television credits have been for the award winning drama series Mercy Peak and the weekly satirical series Spin Doctors, which won Best Comedy Script at the 2003 AFTA awards. He was story producer for the hit animated televsion show bro'Town and writes James Griffin Strikes Back, a weekly satirical column in the weekend edition of the New Zealand Herald newspaper.
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