maja bodenstein
Film, TV and Games Writer
BIO
Maja is a London-based, Emmy-nominated writer of German/Chinese heritage who grew up in Beijing and Hong Kong and works across film, TV, and games. She is trilingual (English, German and Mandarin) and was selected for the inaugural BEATS Fellowship program, a mentoring scheme aimed at British East Asian creatives backed by ScreenSkills and the BFI. To date, she has been selected for the Canneseries Writers Club 2025, London Games Festival’s Ensemble 2024, Film London’s Breaking the Glass Ceiling leadership course in 2023, Reclaim the Frame’s Filmonomics 8, as well as Asian-European co-production labs Ties that Bind and Bridging the Dragon.
Her feature script THE MANIKIN placed third on the Brit List in 2023 and her game THE PIRATE QUEEN WITH LUCY LIU, a VR narrative game by Singer Studios starring and executive produced by Lucy Liu, was nominated for the Outstanding Emerging Media Emmy 2024 and won the Storyscapes Award at Tribeca Film Festival 2023. She co-wrote an episode for TELL ME EVERYTHING (Noho Film & TV/ITV, 2024) and has multiple original feature films and TV series in development.
Maja works across a variety of genres and is especially passionate about telling Chinese-inflected stories to a global audience – bringing cultural authenticity to her work while keeping entertainment front and centre.
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She is currently working on her directorial debut short film, HANDSTAND.
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For an up-to-date CV, please see Maja's Casarotto client page.
WORK
Writer and Narrative Designer of Emmy-nominated THE PIRATE QUEEN WITH LUCY LIU
​Interactive VR experience, Meta Quest/Steam PCVR​​​​
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​Nominated: EMMY FOR OUTSTANDING EMERGING MEDIA PROGRAM
Winner: TRIBECA IMMERSIVE STORYSCAPES AWARD 2023
​THE PIRATE QUEEN is a narrative experience with escape room mechanics inspired by the life of the legendary Chinese pirate Cheng Shih/Shek Yeung, who manoeuvred her way from working on a flower boat to leading the largest pirate fleet in history.
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Maja was also the writer and co-director on a​​ prior version of the game, THE PIRATE QUEEN: NIGHT OF SUCCESSION, which won the DISCOVERY AWARD: BEST DEBUT at RAINDANCE IMMERSIVE 2021.
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✨ OFFICIAL TRAILER HERE ✨
Writer on TELL ME EVERYTHING (Season 2)
TV Series, ITVX​​​
Co-writer on Season 2, Episode 1.
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​Rooted in truthful observations about life growing up in the 2020s, this six-part series highlights some of the very specific challenges faced by this generation, and the related effects on their mental health.
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✨ OFFICIAL TRAILER HERE ✨
Maja is also developing feature films with Joi Productions and Gingerbread Pictures, as well as original TV projects with Lime Pictures, Joi Productions, Headline Pictures and Studio 21.
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She has also written a chapter for a yet-to-be-announced graphic novel, and has had short fiction published in Volume 3 of THE GOOD JOURNAL and STORYCITIES.
CONTACT
Maja is represented by Ellen Gallagher at Casarotto Ramsay:
Tel: +44 (0)20 7287 4450 | ellen@casarotto.co.uk