About Us
Vanessa Alexander and producer Olivia Olley have been friends and colleagues for a decade and decided recently to develop a slate of projects that can be produced in Australia where they live.
Vanessa Alexander
Showrunner
VANESSA ALEXANDER is an award-winning writer and producer best known for Hulu’s THE GREAT and Netflix’s VIKINGS:VALHALLA. For her work on the former, she was nominated for Best Comedy and Best New Series at the WGA Awards and the series separately picked up three Golden Globe and multiple Emmy nominations. In between writing on season one and two of THE GREAT, Vanessa wrote four episodes and co-executive produced VIKINGS:VALHALLA and the UK black comedy crime series TIN STAR for Sky. Currently, Vanessa is working on the new season of THE ARTFUL DODGER for Disney and developing a new series for Kate Hudson and Working Title/Universal based on a series of much-loved novels.
Prior to this, Vanessa worked in Australia and New Zealand, where across many years she has won Best Drama Series, Best Comedy Script, Best Short Film, SPADA New Filmmaker of the Year from the NZ Film and Television Academy, as well as receiving multiple nominations for Best Screenplay and Best Director. In 2018, she was nominated for an Australian Writers Guild Award for Best Screenplay for the comedy/drama series THE WRONG GIRL while also writing for the award-winning drama LOVE CHILD. In the early 2000’s, Vanessa also received an International Emmy nomination for her New Zealand teen series BEING EVE, which she both produced and directed, and executive produced Taika Waititi’s Oscar-nominated short film TWO CARS, ONE NIGHT.
An experienced writer whose work straddles crime, history, comedy, action and drama, Vanessa has a broad knowledge of history and science, a PhD in romantic comedy, attended clown school in Paris, plays in a ukulele orchestra, and received the Keys to the City of Newcastle for helping over 100 women and children to escape Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power in 2021. With four sisters, two exes, five children, a foster son, and a marriage that ended after a weekend at ‘celebrating sexuality camp’, Vanessa is rarely short of inspiration for a story.
Olivia Olley
Producer
Olivia’s focus is to develop stories with a strong commercial appeal, where underlying themes speak to major issues of our day. Nominated for a 2022 AACTA award, Olivia’s feature documentary EVERYBODY’S OMA, meets those objectives. A story about love, commitment, and Alzheimer’s, the film premiered at the 2022 Sydney Film Festival, followed by the Melbourne International Film Festival. The movie has received 4-star reviews from Australian national publications and came in the top ten of the Australian box office on opening night.
Olivia’s producing career began in advertising. For ten years, she produced content for major national and international brands, winning many awards for her work. In 2018, Olivia was recognized as a "One to Watch" producer by the Australian Screen Producers Association. More recently, she has partnered with US producers to develop a comedy feature and has worked with multi-Emmy-award-winning writers. Olivia has strong relationships with Screen Australia and Create NSW, receiving development and production investment from both screen agencies.
Team
Alissa Herbaly Coons | Researcher
Alissa Herbaly Coons holds a BA in Journalism, an MFA in Creative Nonfiction, and a PhD in Creative Practice with a focus on biographical fiction. She has lived and worked across North America, Europe and Australia, and is ever interested in the dramatic possibilities present in real women’s lives and stories of migration. When Alissa was nine years old, her parents bribed her with the cable money to agree to give up television, sparking a life-long fascination with the medium.
Paige Hally | Development Assistant
Paige Hally is a writer/comedian/note-taker and Big Story Department’s resident problem solver. Thanks to a her bizarre work history she has experience as a video editor, ghost writer for a dog, think tank researcher and sunscreen salesperson.
