Michael Maren is a journalist, filmmaker, and former aid worker. His latest film, A LITTLE WHITE LIE, starring Michael Shannon, Kate Hudson and Don Johnson, was released in 2023 to widespread acclaim. Before that, Michael writes, “I wrote screenplays for about a decade and sold them to studios. And before that I was a journalist, working primarily of Africa covering wars and famines. That experience informs much of my film work.”

“Articles about me have often described me as a “disgruntled” former aid worker. I am not disgruntled. I am realistic. To really know what I think, read THE ROAD TO HELL, which Philip Gourevich, in a recent New Yorker article, called “the seminal critique of foreign aid”. As a journalist, I’ve written for The Village Voice, Newsweek, The Nation, The New Republic, Harper’s, GQ, The New York Times Magazine, and many op-eds for The New York Times. For the last decade, I’ve worked as a screenwriter, writing scripts for HBO, Sony Pictures, Phoenix, and working with actors such as Chris Tucker and Reese Witherspoon.”