Michael Shanks | |
|---|---|
 Shanks at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival | |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Notable work |
|
| Website | michaelshanks.com.au |
Michael Shanks is an Australian filmmaker, actor and composer, known for directing Together (2025) and The Wizards of Aus (2016). He also created the YouTube channel timtimfed, which has been active since September 2006. [1] [2]
As a grade 12 student, Shanks won the 2008 film competition run by The Escapist to produce a web series pilot episode. [1] [3] The pilot developed into Doomsday Arcade, a 25-part web series. Shanks has stated that he views creating the series "as [his] film school". [1] [2]
In 2013, Shanks wrote and directed the short film Time Trap. [1] In 2016, he both directed and starred in the SBS comedy-fantasy series The Wizards of Aus. Shanks plays a wizard who emigrates to Melbourne and faces backlash from the local community. Originally devised as a six-part online series, it aired on SBS 2 as a 3 x 30 minute television series. [4]
In 2019, Shanks directed the short film Rebooted. [5] His script Hotel Hotel Hotel Hotel was included in 2021's The Black List of the most-liked unproduced screenplays. [6]
His feature directorial debut, Together, screened at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. [7] Starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple who encounter a supernatural transformation, [8] the body horror film was distributed by Neon, who acquired the film for $17 million. [9] [10] [11]
Shanks has named Lord of the Rings, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Monty Python as early creative inspirations. He has also named filmmakers Edgar Wright and Ari Aster, [1] David Lynch, Thom Yorke, John Carpenter, Peter Jackson, Bong Joon Ho, and M. Night Shyamalan as influences. [2]
