Michael Shanks (filmmaker)
Australian filmmaker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
- Together (2025)
- The Wizards of Aus (2016)
Michael Shanks | |
|---|---|
Shanks at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival | |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Notable work |
|
| Website | michaelshanks.com.au |
Career
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 views creating the series "as [his] film school".[1][2]
In 2013, Shanks wrote and directed the short film Time Trap.[1] He also directed music videos for Guy Pearce.[4][5] He directed a segment of a 2015 episode of the Adult Swim series Off the Air.[6]
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.[4][7] Originally devised as a six-part online series, it aired on SBS 2 as three thirty-minute episodes.[8][7][9]
Shanks directed the sketch comedy series The Slot in 2017.[10][11][12] Two years later he directed the short film Rebooted.[13][14][15]
His feature directorial debut, Together, screened at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.[16] Starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple who encounter a supernatural transformation,[17][18] the body horror film was distributed by Neon, who acquired the film for $17 million.[19][20][21]
In September 2025, Shanks is set to direct and produce his script, Hotel Hotel Hotel Hotel, which, prior to being picked up by A24,[22] was included in 2021's The Black List of the "most-liked" unproduced screenplays.[23]
In March 2026, Shanks was announced as the writer of an untitled science fiction comedy feature acquired by Sony Pictures, with Adam McKay attached to direct. The project is being produced by McKay and Todd Schulman through Hyperobject Industries, alongside Andrew Mittman, with Kai Dolbashian serving as executive producer.[24]
Influences
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, Ari Aster,[1] David Lynch, Thom Yorke, John Carpenter, Peter Jackson, Bong Joon Ho, and M. Night Shyamalan as influences.[2]
