Curious Pictures has named Elyse Lawson as Head of Development. The move is in response to the studio's expansion into original production in areas such as feature films, TV series and games. Lawson joins Curious from Anonymous Content, where she was Director of Development, based in the company's New York office.
"Elyse is a great addition to our development team," Holden said. "Her background is in high-end live action production, but she also has a passion for animation. That's going to help her bridge the mix of media that's a big part of our plans for long form content."
Lawson will initially focus on developing feature film projects for Curious Pictures' client, Swarovski Ent.
A graduate of George Washington University, Lawson has worked on such TV series as BLUES CLUES and the reality show SHIPMATES, as well as on Disney's LIZZIE MCGUIRE MOVIE. She also spent two years at VH1, working in a variety of production and associate producer roles. She joined Anonymous Content -- the production company behind BMW Films and other projects -- in 2003, initially working for CEO Steve Golin. She was promoted to Director of Development at the company in 2005.
Holden notes that Curious has made a significant investment in the development of original film, television and videogame content over the past two years. Its current slate of projects includes the first animated feature film from director Michel Gondry (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND), and a digital feature penned by bestselling author James Patterson.
Curious is also slated to break its latest branded entertainment project when the network TV special LITTLE SPIRIT: CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK airs on NBC in December. The special is co-produced and co-owned by Curious, in partnership with Macy's Parade and Entertainment Group and MEC Ent., the branded content division of Mediaedge.
The studio is also growing in the videogame space, using its expertise in animation and long-form production to develop cutting edge games that combine gameplay and interactivity in new forms of storytelling. It produced all the motion capture work for last year's breakout hit ROCK BAND, from Harmonix, as well as its just-released follow-up, ROCK BAND II.
