Nexus Studios welcomes Shona Collins to the Original Content team, in the role of senior development producer. Shona is working alongside Christopher O’Reilly and Charlotte Bavasso, co-founders of Nexus Studios, and executive producer Diego Rosner to find and develop their slate of original animation ideas, existing IP and talent.
Shona joins Nexus Studios from Pathe UK where she developed titles including JUDY starring Renee Zellweger, Lenny Abrahamson’s THE LITTLE STRANGER, and MISBEHAVIOUR, starring Keira Knightly, Gugu Mbatha Raw and Jessie Buckley. She was previously a Story Editor at the British Film Institute. Prior to that, Shona was a writer and journalist, developing a sitcom and comedy drama with Eleven Films (SEX EDUCATION), and was a presenter and reporter on two seasons of the Channel 4 prime time TV show HOW TO LOOK GOOD NAKED.
Since her arrival Shona has helped to further realise Nexus Studios’ ambition of being a home to unique voices in animation, shaping a diverse slate featuring a number of adult and family projects in development. Amongst these, is WISHTALES a magical realist specials series with Oscar-winning talent soon to be announced.
Nexus Studios is also in production on Netflix’s first original stop frame commission out of the UK, THE HOUSE. Leading stop frame directors, Paloma Baeza, Niki Lindroth von Bahr, Marc James Roels and Emma de Swaef are now joined by Tony Award-winning playwright and screenwriter Enda Walsh (Steve McQueen’s HUNGER DISCO PIGS), double Oscar winning composer Gustavo Santaolalla (BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, BABEL), and Oscar and BAFTA nominated editor Barney Pilling (THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, ANNIHILATION).
Shona says of arriving at Nexus: “This is a hugely exciting time to be joining such a dynamic studio - jumping straight into a Netflix series, getting to know the super accomplished roster of directors, and honing the existing slate of film, TV and interactive projects. The range of talent and genres Nexus traverses is formidable. The outlook and appetite for animation is so vast and expanding, it’s a rare chance to allow writers and directors the time and space to find their ideal projects - and for some filmmakers to bridge the gap between live-action and animation.”
Nexus Studios co-founders Chris O’Reilly and Charlotte Bavasso state: ‘We are thrilled that Shona has joined us at this particular time. Her impeccable eye for story and writing talent and her story development skills are key additions to our team. Our focus at Nexus Studios has always been to be a home for unique directorial talent, where they are able to create their best work at the highest quality, across a broad range of tones and styles. It’s very exciting to see this ethos now also firmly underpinning our original content slate.’