Wildseed Studios, the Bristol-based firm that promotes and invests in new film-making talent, has added Elena Wurlitzer to its creative team as senior development executive to push forward its growing slate of kids and family scripted entertainment.
Elena, pictured, has more than 15 years’ TV development and production experience at companies such as Disney, CBeebies, Super RTL and DHX Media.
Having worked as a script writer, series developer and producer around the world, she made the shift to creative production on children’s digital platforms several years ago, where her work won plaudits including an International Emmy Award nomination.
She has now joined multi award-winning Wildseed to help drive its development slate.
The firm was founded in 2013 by former Aardman Animations head of broadcast Miles Bullough and ex-BBC head of children’s co-production and acquisition Jesse Cleverly as a development and production studio for live action and animation, focused on working with new talent on scripted entertainment for kids, family and young adults.
Its movies, series and shorts have been seen on Netflix, BBC3, Disney, Sky and channels all around the world.
Elena said: “I’m delighted to be joining Wildseed at such an exciting time for the business, where I can continue my passion for working with the best creative voices in an environment where the discovery and nurturing of new talent is firmly centre stage.”
Having already produced projects for Disney, BBC, Alibaba (China) and Fullscreen, Wildseed is currently experiencing a period of rapid growth. It is delivering two new original series, The Last Bus for Netflix and Dodo for Sky, with multiple additional projects in development with Viskids, global streamers, as well as other territory-specific premium broadcast platforms.
It is also working with writer Paul Neafcy and directors Drew Casson, Nour Wassi (The Last Bus), Joel Mackenzie, Tom Gran & Martin Woolley (for VIS Kids) and Jack Bennett (Dodo, pictured), who were all were involved with Wildseed’s early pilots and talent initiatives and are now all working on premium projects for global platforms.
Wildseed co-founder and creative director Jesse Cleverly said: “Wildseed has based its entire approach around finding and mentoring the most vivid and exciting new voices. With ever more platforms seeking unique creator-driven properties to attract highly selective audiences, the need for such talent has never been more pressing.
“Now that we have Elena here, we can take our hugely successful approach to the next level and cement Wildseed’s reputation as a premium supplier of creator-driven scripted content for kids, family and youth audiences.”
Co-founder and managing director Miles Bullough added: “We’re really excited to welcome Elena to the Wildseed team.
“Her skillset and experience are exactly what we need to maintain our reputation for excellence in creative development and to set about enabling another wave of new talent with whom we can make more great shows.”