AustLit

Film and television director, and occasional script-writer.

Pino Amenta began his career as a television director in the mid to late-1970s, through shows such as Chopper Squad (1978). In the 1980s, he worked on such television series as Young Ramsay (1980), Bellamy (1981), Taurus Rising, Sons and Daughters, and The Flying Doctors. Amenta also directed several mini-series during this decade, including All the Rivers Run (1983), The Flying Doctors (1983), Anzacs (1985), My Brother Tom (1986), and Sword of Honour (1986).

During the 1990s, Amenta directed episodes of programs including Banjo Paterson's 'The Man From Snowy River' (aka Snowy River: The McGregor Saga, 1996), Good Guys, Bad Guys (1997), Blue Heelers (1998-99), Farscape (1999-2002), Crash Zone (1999), and Chuck Finn (1999).

Since 2000, Amenta has directed episodes for Round the Twist (2000), Flat Chat (2001), Guinevere Jones (2002), Marshall Law (2002), Noah and Saskia (2004), Silversun (2004), Last Man Standing (2005), All Saints (2005-2009), City Homicide (2007-2010), and Packed to the Rafters (2008-present).

Amenta's brief foray into script-writing was restricted to the 1990s, beginning with scripts for the sit-com Acropolis Now (1989-1991). In the mid-1990s, he also co-created three sit-coms: All Together Now (1991-1993), created with Philip Dalkin and John Powditch; The Bob Morrison Show (1994), created with Dalkin, Alan Hardy, and Jon Stephens; and Us and Them (1995), created with Dalkin, Hardy, and Powditch. His sole non-sit-com scripts were for the Australian Children's Television Foundation program Crash Zone in 1999.