Film and TV production and distribution outfit, Fifth Season, has fully acquired UK indie Story Collective.
Fifth Season (Severance) backed Story Collective, the indie behind Disney+ hit, A Thousand Blows, with a minority investment when it launched in 2021.
As part of the deal, Story Collective co-founder Simon Vaughan is to step down from the company and will now run a new indie, Storyworks, with a first look deal in place with Fifth Season. Co-founder Helen Jackson will step down from the company too with fellow co-founder Damian Keogh staying on as Story Collective CEO while also becoming SVP, managing director, international scripted for Fifth Season.
The Story Collective has built a series of creative partnerships since its launch including Ben Donald’s Cosmopolitan Pictures (The Mallorca Files), James De Frond and Tom Davis’ comedy-drama production company, Mighty Pebble Pictures and Artis Pictures, led by drama producer Kate Croft, and Maia Pictures, helmed by ex-Channel 4 commissioner Rachel Springett.
Vaughan said: “It is exciting to see The Story Collective being consolidated within Fifth Season to help deliver the scaled enterprise we all set out to build together when we formed the company four years ago. And also exciting for my new venture to be partnering with Fifth Season from the off — the projects on our combined slates going forward are truly extraordinary and I sense that the best is yet to come.”
Fifth Season CEO Graham Taylor said: “The Story Collective was built by Damian, Simon, and Helen on an ethos of creative collaboration, which we backed and have admired from its inception – and it feels like a natural evolution to be consolidating in this way four years later, as we double down on our ambitions as a UK studio. Fifth Season’s offering now has even greater firepower, and an undeniable nexus of talent connections and projects to put our weight behind.”
Staff Reporter
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