STUDIO21 - Key Persons
Anne Thomopoulos, a former senior vice president at HBO, began her career there with the mandate to create a dramatic series department. She did so developing OZ, HBO's ground-breaking one-hour drama series. Subsequently, she established the acclaimed miniseries division developing and overseeing From the Earth to the Moon. The 12-part miniseries won numerous awards, including three Emmy® Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Her subsequent miniseries include
Carrie Stein has worked in the entertainment industry for over 25 years in all phases of the business, including feature film, television development, and production. Carrie's specialty over the last 15 years has been developing and packaging scripted series for the global market, including coproductions, pre-sales and original production in local markets. Carrie is one of only a handful of executives who is able to navigate the US, UK, Canadian and European markets both creatively and commercially.
She is currently film and TV consultant for Aftershock Media and was previously executive vice president of global scripted series at Kew Media where she was responsible for building a high end scripted slate as well as working with producers under the Kew banner, identifying distribution targets and establishing strategic partnerships.
Prior to that she was EVP of global production at Entertainment One, CEO of Alchemy Television having started her career as an agent at ICM Partners.
Job Titles:
- Industry Leader
- President of HBO Independent Productions
Chris Albrecht is an industry leader in the modern-day business of pay television with a number of landmark achievements. Currently, he oversees Legendary Global, a joint venture formed with Legendary Entertainment, focused on developing, financing and producing premium scripted television for the global market. The venture leverages the collective relationships of the partners and Legendary's rich resources to create partnerships with international producers, platforms and buyers across the globe.
With more than 25 years' experience in the international entertainment business, Jenkinson leads Studio21's mission to discover, develop and connect fresh writing talent with the global content business.
An award-winning journalist, he has written extensively on the people, shows, channels, companies and creative strategies that make the worldwide commissioning, acquisition, production, distribution and broadcast sectors work.
As founder of C21Media he runs a portfolio of market-leading brands, including Channel 21; C21Media.net; Content London, LA, Nigeria, China and Canada; FutureMedia; Drama Quarterly and a variety of associated products and services.
He is also chief executive of C21Media Enterprises, an investment company which backs high-growth-potential businesses in the content industry. Investments to date include Rose d'Or, Content Academy, Writers Room and Blonde Mamba.
He is a passionate about story, and a voracious consumer of the best the content business has to offer.
In 2019, Elizabeth Bradley founded a boutique content development and sales company dedicated to nourishing the supply of global television on streaming platforms.
She has 20+ years in entertainment, with 12 years as a senior executive at Netflix. She led international launch teams, programming and buying TV and film content from studios, distributors and producers around the world for Netflix's global service, before turning her focus to commissioning scripted English-language TV from outside the US.
Shows commissioned for Netflix by Bradley include Sex Education (starring Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson, created by Laurie Nunn), The End of the F***ing World (written by Charlie Covell, starring Alex Lawther & Jessica Barden, coproduction with Channel 4), Collateral (written by David Hare, starring Carey Mulligan, coproduction with BBC), Alias Grace (written by Sarah Polley, starring Sarah Gadon, coproduction with CBC), Anne with an E (written by Moira Walley Becket, coproduction with CBC), The Spy (written & directed by Gideon Raff, starring Sacha Baron Cohen), and Giri/Haji (written by Joe Barton, starring Kelly Macdonald, Justin Long, Will Sharpe, coproduction with BBC).
Bradley is based in Los Angeles, and has a degree in Economics from Northwestern University.
Emma Frost is an accomplished showrunner, exec producer and feature film writer, working both in the US and the UK.
She is currently writing and showrunning an 8-episode character driven thriller for Apple.
Frost's limited TV series The Spanish Princess for Starz, on which she serves as show runner/EP alongside her real life and sometime TV show running partner, Matthew Graham. The show is a follow up to Frost's critically acclaimed series The White Princes, (2017), and her BBC1/Starz coproduction The White Queen (2013), which starred Rebecca Ferguson and was nominated for three Golden Globes, including Best TV Movie or Miniseries, and 4 Emmys, including Outstanding Miniseries.
In movies, Frost recently adapted YA novel All These Beautiful Strangers for Bruna Papandrea's Made-Up Stories, to be directed by John Polson (SWIM FAN). Also for Made-Up stories, she has co-written (with Matthew Graham) Hitchcockian marriage and murder thriller As Long As We Both Shall Live.
For Lynette Howell-Taylor's 51 Entertainment she has adapted Jennifer Donnelly's dark fairytale Stepsister. Frost has written the movie screenplay Switched On for Focus Features, based on John Elder Robison's autobiographical book about Aspergers, to be directed by Sam Gold. Frost also penned the screenplay Zelda, which will star Jennifer Lawrence and be directed by Ron Howard, produced by Imagine. Next up is a movie for Netflix based on a best-selling novel.
Frost and Graham's Amsterdam-set, character driven true-crime show Judas is in development with HBO Max and Amblin. Frost & Graham's original TV drama series Exposed for Michael Ellenberg was the subject of a bidding war between multiple US cable networks and the pilot was commissioned by TNT.
Also with Graham, she is also developing a US TV show based on Neil Gaiman book, Interworld; and irreverent comedy drama Hail Satan for C4 in the UK.
Prior to this, Frost adapted Daphne du Maurier's Jamaica Inn for BBC1. Sarah Dunant, on BBC Radio 4 Front Row, called it ‘terrific' ‘the adaptor and director are to be congratulated'.
Frost's original BBC4 film Consuming Passion won great critical acclaim with Caitlin Moran writing ‘Consuming Passion pops with focus and energy' ‘…wholly admirable - the kind of blue-skies thinking that's going to get us through this recession', and The Times gave it 5 stars, ‘Frost's script was wickedly clever'.
Frost has written on Amazon's Philip K. Dick adaptation, The Man in the High Castle; and Sky Atlantic's The Tunnel.
She was lead writer on three series of Channel 4's multi-award-winning drama Shameless, seasons 2-5. Her Series 5 episode starring Anne Reid was the BAFTA nominated episode at the 2009 BAFTA television awards. She also worked on Julia Davis's award-winning comedy Nighty Night.
Frost has written movie scripts for Working Title Films, Sony, BBC Films and Origin Pictures. She is also a playwright and her play Airsick, for The Bush Theatre, London, received critical acclaim.
Frost graduated the prestigious WGA Showrunner Training Programme in 2016. Screen International named her one of 2009's ‘Stars of Tomorrow' on their movie talent list.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Founder and CEO of Script Angel
Hayley McKenzie is the founder and CEO of Script Angel, a professional writer development and training organisation for the global content business.
Formerly a development and script executive, Hayley has over 20 years' experience in the content industry including at BBC Studios, ITV Studios, and Channel Four Television.
Hayley is an international speaker and moderator on script and talent development, including at Cannes Film Festival, Story Expo L.A, Zagreb Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival, LOCO London Comedy Film Festival, National Writers' Conference, Creative Europe Media Programme, London Screenwriters' Festival and Content London Drama Summit.
With a passion for developing diverse voices, Hayley's mission is to discover and develop the next generation of diverse screenwriting talent and stories for the international content industry.
Mark is an experienced executive producer and media entrepreneur, who has successfully combined senior roles in TV and media investment with innovation in unscripted TV, launching global TV formats including Supernanny, Robot Wars and Paradise Hotel.
He is currently chair, C21Media; director, Rose d'Or Awards and vice-chair, Media for Greensill Capital.
Mark started his career as a producer in BBC News, before joining Mentorn and subsequently launching its international production and distribution business.
Job Titles:
- Writer, Executive Producer
- Writer, Executive Producer and Showrunner
Matthew Graham is a writer, executive producer and showrunner working in both the UK and the US.
Matthew began his writing life at the relatively tender age of 22 writing in children's drama before taking up a post as staff-writer on BBC's flagship soap, Eastenders.
He went on to write on the seminal, BAFTA nominated drama This Life as well as on major BBC dramas such as Spooks" (aka "MI:5" in the US) and Hustle, which aired on AMC.
In 1998, Matthew created and wrote his first original piece for television - limited series The Last Train, about a group of disparate survivors in a global apocalypse, which was adapted for the ABC in the US.
This led to more original work for both BBC and ITV before Matthew co-created the internationally acclaimed hit Life On Mars which won 2 International Emmys and a BAFTA People's Award.
Since then, Matthew has been working predominantly in the States, writing and running SyFy mini-series Childhood's End, an adaptation of the Arthur C Clarke novel. Matthew exec produced alongside Akiva Goldsman and Michael DeLuca. The show was nominated for the Critics' Choice Awards. He also recently contributed a stand-alone story for Amazon Prime's Electric Dreams" alongside writers such as Jack Thorne and Ron D. Moore.
Nick Bain is a creative professional with more than 10 years in the Film/Media industries. He has built a career as a playwright, nominated for Amnesty International's Freedom of Expression Award.
An expert in script, story content development and production, he has lived and worked in many different international territories including Russia, India and Africa and has an intimate understanding of the creative process.
After working on animated series, Coderman and Raju the Autorickshaw (Amazon) his first Hollywood feature film (Associate Producer) with Warner Bros, The Man Who Knew Infinity was globally released in 2016. He also wrote on The List (2013) and this year, his gangster feature Suruli (Writer) (2020) is slated to open in theaters across Europe and Asia.
Job Titles:
- Chartered Accountant
- Partner
Ravi is a Chartered Accountant and creative who has specialized in high growth and inventive businesses, principally in media, marketing, and technology. He has developed several games and tools for creative invention and has advised global brands and agencies on their creative strategies.
Ravi started his career in the city and has since worked across the world at KPMG, Shore Capital Plc, and Possible, a WPP company. He currently advises C21 Media, manages Platform Worldwide, and is a School Governor responsible for technology.
Ravi's recent adventures include a 360° live streaming project for the Vodafone Foundation, which involved broadcasting a live tour of the National Gallery to schoolchildren in Kakuma, Kenya, as well a producing a series of international art projects to raise awareness for diabetes, heart failure, and degenerative brain diseases. He holds a number of patents and design rights for a range of educational toys and games.
Simon Mirren has written, produced and directed over 300 hours of primetime US network television, ultimately show running the global hit franchise, Criminal Minds, now concluding its 15th season. It is in global syndication.
Most recently Simon created the hit series Versailles, set in the 17th Century French court of King Louis XIV. The show is currently airing Season 3 which has been sold to 194 countries.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Writer - Director - Producer
He is Writer/Executive Producer of the upcoming limited series James Baldwin In Paris for UK-based Impact X Studios. After winning the prestigious Fox Writers Intensive in 2013, Caise inked a development deal with FX Networks, in conjunction with Fox Broadcasting Co and 20th Century Fox Television. He was also selected as a WGA Writers Access Project winner.
Prior to joining the writing staff of Heroes on NBC, Yule's work and contributions as a New Media Producer and Director won an Emmy Award for Interactive Media Programming for The Heroes Digital Experience. Caise also wrote and directed Heroes: Going Postal, a web series premiered in Hall H at Comic-Con in 2008. Recently, Caise was a Writer-Producer on Tales, a scripted Hip Hop anthology series airing on BET. As Producer-Director of two hit music video shows, Pump It Up UP! (Fox) and Night Tracks (TBS), he was an early influencer who also served as acting coach to the biggest names in hip-hop including: Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem.
An award-winning filmmaker, his film Boy's Night Out, about homophobia and HIV/AIDS, played festivals worldwide. Notable writing credits include: Free Of Eden starring Sidney Poitier, for Showtime Networks; and the film Way Past Cool, where he also produced alongside Ira Deutchman, Milos Forman, and Norman Lear.
In addition, he's produced the comedy On Edge, starring Jason Alexander; the drama Tweek City, and the film Warrior Queen, filmed entirely on location in Ghana, West Africa. His first feature film Swishbucklers was released in 2010.