Duncan Sarkies

{{Infobox comedian

| name = Duncan Sarkies

| image =RSNZ honours 2024 Wellington-106753 (cropped) Duncan Sarkies.jpg

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| birth_place = New Zealand

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| medium = Stand-up, screenwriter, playwright, novelist

| nationality = New Zealand

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| notable_work = Two Little Boys (novel)
Two Little Boys (film)

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Duncan Sarkies is a New Zealand screenwriter, playwright, stand-up comic, and novelist. He is best known for having co-written the script of Scarfies with his brother Robert Sarkies, who directed the film.

Early life and education

Duncan Sarkies grew up in the South Island city of Dunedin.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

He is the brother of film director and screenwriter Robert Sarkies.

Career

Sarkies' is known for his creation of "eccentric plots and darkly comic portrayals of 'the outsider' and the disturbed".{{cite web | title=Duncan Sarkies | website=Academy of New Zealand Literature | date=14 November 2022 | url=https://www.anzliterature.com/member/duncan-sarkies/ | access-date=10 January 2025}}

He co-wrote, with his brother Robert, the script for Scarfies, a black comedy-crime thriller released in 1999.

He also wrote New Fans, the tenth episode of the comedy series Flight of the Conchords.

Sarkies debut novel, Two Little Boys was published in March 2008, and was made into a film of the same name, released in 2012.[http://sit.ac.nz/pages/about/TwoLittleBoys Two Little Boys] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120729022745/http://www.sit.ac.nz/pages/about/TwoLittleBoys |date=29 July 2012 }}, Southland Institute of Technology.[https://web.archive.org/web/20080820035506/http://www.duncansarkies.com/ Two Little Boys]. Duncan Sarkies website, 2008.

In 2013 he published another novel, Demolition of the Century.

Sarkies took the part of Declan the Werewolf in Taika Waititi's 2014 film What We Do in the Shadows. Also in 2014, he was script editor on the 2014 ABC Television (Australia) series Soul Mates. He contributed to the writing of four episodes of Maximum Choppage, which aired on the ABC in 2015.

He directed, wrote, and co-created the 12-episode fantasy podcast series The Mysterious Secrets of Uncle Berties Botanarium'', released in 2016 through Howl.

He has been a contributor to the American TV series, What We Do in the Shadows since 2019.{{cite web | title=Duncan Sarkies | website=NZ On Screen | url=https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/duncan-sarkies/screenography | access-date=10 January 2025}}

Sarkies assisted with story development for the documentary Wilbur: The King in the Ring, Julia Parnell's feature film that premiered at Doc Edge in 2017, after starting life as a short film in 2015 for Loading Docs.

Other activities

As part of the 2022 Aotearoa New Zealand Festival of the Arts, Duncan hosted a series of online talks with New Zealand writers Pip Adam, Kirsten McDougall, and Rose Lu.

Recognition and awards

Sarkies' work has been praised by critics for its originality.

His awards and fellowships include:

1994: Sunday Star-Times Bruce Mason Playwriting Award{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Bruce Mason Playwriting Award|url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/43979/bruce-mason-playwriting-award|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150614114518/http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/43979/bruce-mason-playwriting-award |archive-date=14 June 2015 |access-date=2020-08-15|website=teara.govt.nz|language=en}}
1995: Chapman Tripp Theatre Award for Best New Zealand Play, for his 1994 work Saving Grace
1998: Louis Johnson New Writers' Bursary
2000: Montana New Zealand's Hubert Church NZSA Best First Book of Fiction Award, for his book of short stories Stray Thoughts and Nose Bleeds
2015: Grimshaw Sargeson Fellowship
2023: Residency at the Michael King Writers Centre in Auckland