The Story Collective recruits from See-Saw Films & New Pictures

L-R: Elouise West & Ceci Mazzarella

Fifth Season-backed UK production company The Story Collective has made a pair of senior hires, appointing Elouise West as head of commercial, legal and business affairs and Ceci Mazzarella as head of development.

West arrives from New Pictures, where she has spent the past four years running business affairs on a range of productions, including Des for ITV and Champion, the first TV project from Candice Carty-Williams for the BBC and Netflix.

In her new role, West will be responsible for overseeing business affairs on all company productions as well as the shows being produced within the company’s investment portfolio.

Mazzarella, meanwhile, was most recently at See-Saw Films, where she worked across the development of UK film projects and helped establish See-Saw’s nascent limited series TV slate.

Her credits include Operation Mincemeat and the upcoming feature One Life. She will work closely with The Story Collective’s executive producer Kate Lewis to develop a slate of writer-driven TV projects that “combine attitude with emotion; propulsive, entertaining shows that offer an incisive view on the world we live in.”

The new hires come just days after The Story Collective invested in Kate Croft’s scripted firm Artis Pictures and ex-Channel 4 commissioner Rachel Springett’s Maia Pictures, and as the firm ramps up production on its first scripted commission; Steven Knight’s 12-part series A Thousand Blows (working title), for Disney+.

CEO Damian Keogh said: “As production continues on A Thousand Blows and our development slate grows within our investment portfolio, we feel very lucky that Elouise and Ceci have agreed to join us. Both are highly talented in their fields and, most importantly as we build our ethos, extremely kind, patient, fun and collaborative.”

Launched in 2021 by BBC Studios alum Helen Jackson and Lookout Point duo, Simon Vaughan and Damian Keogh, and changing its name from The Story Company last year, the company aims to work with established and emerging creators & writers to help acquire rights, commission scripts, package projects and manage the sales process on projects.