Crew and Production Biographies

Nira Park (Producer)

Nira Park was selected as one of Variety magazine’s Top Ten Producers to Watch in 2005 and as one of the Breakthrough Brits at the UK Film Council’s inaugural ceremony in Hollywood. Having produced both series of Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright’s award-winning C4 comedy series Spaced, Nira went on to produce their sleeper-hit Shaun of the Dead and the team’s follow up movie, Hot Fuzz. She also produced the double BAFTA award-winning Channel 4 sitcom Black Books.

Nira is currently in production on Edgar Wright’s Scott Pilgrim vs the World for Universal Pictures and following that she will produce the Simon Pegg and Nick Frost penned-Paul, to be directed by Greg Mottola in the spring for Working Title Films. She continues to develop an extensive slate of films and television series in her role as CEO of Big Talk Productions.

James Griffiths (Director)

With a First Class Honours in Fine Art, James Griffiths moved into directing music videos and commercials. Off the back of his short film, Break Point, artist became subject when his work was the focus of an MTV documentary and was included in Film4’s ‘Directors to Watch’ series. James went on to direct four episodes of MTV’s Top Buzzer, scripted by Johnny Vaughan and Ed Allen.

His 2006 short film The One and Only Herb McGwyer Plays Wallis Island, written by comedians Tim Key and Tom Basden, premiered at the Toronto Shorts Festival, earning the Best Short Film award at the Edinburgh Film Festival and a BAFTA nomination. This success led to the development of a first feature through Big Talk Pictures. James is also set to direct an adaptation of the off-beat indie novel, The Flawless Skin of Ugly People for Big Talk. Free Agents marks James’ terrestrial television debut.

Chris Niel (Writer)

Chris Niel was born in London. He spent five years as an actor, training at The Drama Studio London before switching careers to become a talent agent, representing actors and performers such as Robert Carlyle, Matt Lucas and David Walliams, Naveen Andrews, and Brendan Gleeson.

As a writer his credits include Family Values for the Channel 4 Sitcom Festival, co-writing Wonderful You, a 7 x 1 hour comedy-drama series for Hartswood Films/ ITV, and Intuition, part of the Twisted Tales comedy-thriller series for BBC3. He has four children and lives in Whitstable, Kent with his second wife – an agent.

Big Talk Productions

Big Talk was founded in 1995 by Nira Park. It has established itself as one of the UK’s leading film and television producers, with an impeccable track record in developing breakthrough talent, such as Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright. Their cult television series Spaced paved the way for the hit films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

In 2007 Matthew Justice (Hallam Foe, Blade) joined Big Talk as MD to build on the phenomenal success of the company. In 2008, BBC Creative Head of Comedy, Kenton Allen (That Mitchell and Webb Look, The Royle Family and the Oscar-winning Six Shooter) joined the team to principally focus on growing its television activities. This also marked the completion of the strategic investment from BBC Worldwide. Big Talk has a slate of original TV comedy and drama with all the major UK broadcasters and continues to attract exceptional talent. It now boasts Simon Curtis (Cranford, Five Days), Robert Popper (Peep Show, Look around You) and Luke Alkin (former Acting Head of C4 Drama) as part of the core creative team.

Bwark Productions

Independent production company Bwark Productions was founded by Iain Morris and Damon Beesley, both former commissioning editors for comedy and entertainment at Channel 4.

Bwark’s sitcom The Inbetweeners, written and produced by Beesley and Morris, debuted on E4 in 2008 and later aired on Channel 4. The show went on to win Best New Comedy and Best Male Newcomer at The British Comedy Awards, with further award nominations in 2009. The company is currently working on a second series of The Inbetweeners while producing a US pilot version for ABC. They are also making The Scum Also Rises, a new sitcom for BBC2.

Previous credits include Sharon Horgan’s sitcom Angelo’s for Five, Sven Stacey’s Guide to Showbiz by Gareth Tunley for Paramount, three live stand-up DVDs for Jimmy Carr, and various pilots for Channel 4, BBC3, MTV and Five.