Nascent LA Studio Happy Accidents Makes First Senior Hire
EXCLUSIVE: The nascent LA studio run by industry vets Holly A. Hines and Eric Jarboe has signed a creative content boss and struck a deal with an IP platform.
Happy Accidents was launched earlier this year by the Ginny & Georgia EP and former COO of the Motion Picture Corporation of America (MPCA) to forge film and TV projects with a focus on international. It has snapped up Meredith Willis, who has worked across the likes of CSI, The Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother, as SVP of Creative Content in LA and London, where she will oversee development and production of feature and TV projects.
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Willis was most recently Director of Development for Ellen Pompeo’s Calamity Jane Entertainment under a deal with ABC Studios, where she covered both scripted and unscripted television and film. Prior to that, she worked at Denver & Delilah for almost three years in television development and production, and was previously in CBS Studios’ current department. She worked with Hines several years ago at Fremantle.
“We’re committed to fostering relationships with industry-leading talent and those who stand out in their field – Meredith exemplifies these attributes, and we are thrilled to have her at Happy Accidents,” said Hines and Jarboe. “With Meredith’s profound understanding of the film and TV landscape, her wealth of experience in both development and production, and her extensive creative and agency relationships, she shares our commitment to working with both established and emerging talent, and to shepherding extraordinary domestic and international productions.”
The company has also partnered with story lab Truly*Adventurous in an IP deal for international indies, studios and networks outside North America. Truly*Adventurous said its library consists of more than 70 original IPs, of which more than 30 are in active development with partners such as Netflix, Amazon, Sony and Universal.
Happy Accidents is focusing on the production and distribution of films, scripted and unscripted series, documentaries and formats, with a view to working with international partners to develop, finance, and produce original content. It says it will distribute owned and third-party content globally.
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