Llewellyn Michael Bates

SCREENWRITER / PRODUCER

Llewellyn Michael Bates is an Australian screenwriter and producer who is proud and unhindered by his diagnosed disabilities of dyslexia and childhood PTSD, in the form of clinical depression and anxiety.

His short Nathan Loves Ricky Martin (2016) premiered at the prestigious Sydney Film Festival Dendy Awards and was nominated for a Best Short AACTA award. In 2020, the film was named the 6th best AACTA Short Film of the Decade. Nathan Loves Ricky Martin also screened at Montreal Festival du Nouveau, Holly Shorts Film Festival, Flicker fest and St Kilda Film Festival amongst many others. The script won the Script Pipeline First Look Project.

Watch Out for Australians!! (2018) premiered at the Montreal Festival Du Nouveau Cinema, going on to screen nationally at the St Kilda Film Festival and Revelation Perth International Film Festival. In 2019, Llewellyn’s short Deluge was selected for Screen NSW’s Screenability funding initiative. It premiered at the Sydney Film Festival, before screening at various international film festivals.

Film Victoria, Screen Australia and AFTRS’s diversity initiative Talent Camp WINNER and supported film Fun Times (2020). After the script winning the Los Angeles Screenplay Competition, the film premiered at the Revelation Perth International Film Festival, before the Adelaide Film Festival and Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festivals. The winner of the 2021 Canberra Short Film Festival best screenplay and best film.

Laughter Club (2021) was the recipient of the Adelaide Film Festival and Closer Productions Diverse Voices collaboration. It was also the only Australian selected project the 43rd Drama International Short Film Festival Pitching Lab and was highly commended 2022 Canberra Short Film Festival.

Llewellyn has been nominated for an Australian Writers’ Guild Monte Miller award. His scripts have been finalists in Scriptapalooza, Sacramento Film Festival and the American Screen Screenwriting Conference. His feature film, Burning Elephant and TV Series Taking Sickies were both longlisted for Sundance development labs. China-Arclight optioned his feature Shanghai Go. In 2022 Llewellyn co-wrote Screen Australia-funded Namaste Yoga, which had its premiere at the Cleveland International Film Festival is available to screen on ABC IVIEW

His latest short, Baby, premiered at Slamdance 2024, selected out of five thousand films for one of America’s most prestigious independent film festivals and is currently on its festival run and is being developed into a feature. He is also a participant in the Screen Victoria initiative Behind The Screens. He also works as an arts facilitator at Rollercoaster Theatre helping other disabled creatives by empowering them to tell their own stories through the mediums of theater and filmmaking. Our latest Stage performance, Dream Factory received The Age newspaper’s top ten Fringe performance to watch and two judges’ picks.