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Annabel is a writer, director and editor with a commissioned feature film NINE MILES SKYWARD in late-stage development, a range of spec scripts for both HETV and Film, and six produced short films.
Her writing has opened doors to industry players such as NBC Universal, Out of Orbit, 42, Rough Cut, Boffola/Lookout Point, Bad Wolf, and BBC Studios.
Her debut environmental feature documentary FLIGHT OF THE SWANS, narrated by Academy-nominated Sophie Okonedo is screening at film festivals in 2024 and picking up awards and nominations.
Her short films have screened at over eighty international film festivals, including multiple BAFTA and Academy qualifying ones. They have won fifteen awards with a further ten nominations between them.
She is currently a member of the groundbreaking writers group with author Tanya Frank (ZigZag Boy), developing her autobiographical informed radio play, THE PSYCHOSIS DIARIES, about a young man dealing with the mental health breakdown of his brother.
Annabel is a curious, world-building writer interested in human sustainability, activism culture, nature connection, outsider stories, and community resilience.
She is a BAFTA Connect, BFI Network and DDPTV member. A full WGGB member and was selected for the Directors UK mentorship program in 2019.
She is a freelance script reader for the BFI and a Core Member of Cinesisters, who campaign for the increased visibility of female directors.
Annabel is represented by Steven Russell.
Her writing has opened doors to industry players such as NBC Universal, Out of Orbit, 42, Rough Cut, Boffola/Lookout Point, Bad Wolf, and BBC Studios.
Her debut environmental feature documentary FLIGHT OF THE SWANS, narrated by Academy-nominated Sophie Okonedo is screening at film festivals in 2024 and picking up awards and nominations.
Her short films have screened at over eighty international film festivals, including multiple BAFTA and Academy qualifying ones. They have won fifteen awards with a further ten nominations between them.
She is currently a member of the groundbreaking writers group with author Tanya Frank (ZigZag Boy), developing her autobiographical informed radio play, THE PSYCHOSIS DIARIES, about a young man dealing with the mental health breakdown of his brother.
Annabel is a curious, world-building writer interested in human sustainability, activism culture, nature connection, outsider stories, and community resilience.
She is a BAFTA Connect, BFI Network and DDPTV member. A full WGGB member and was selected for the Directors UK mentorship program in 2019.
She is a freelance script reader for the BFI and a Core Member of Cinesisters, who campaign for the increased visibility of female directors.
Annabel is represented by Steven Russell.
WRITER'S STATEMENT
l lean into story to help make sense of the world. I write to mull things rather than arrive full of answers and conclusions. Although a good ending is essential.
The worlds I build are rooted in curiosity, invitations to slip between the ever-widening cracks in our certainty. Human vulnerability, both personal and collective, are returning themes. Connection to nature and community resilience find space on my pages. I want to question the notion of human supremacy in these shifting uncertain times.
I bring warmth and intricacy to my craft. I can find humour in the darkest moment. I ask difficult questions knowing that we struggle together to find the answers.
IN DEVELOPMENT
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NINE MILES SKYWARD
(writer/director) |
Script available.
Drama feature. |
A withdrawn teen drops school to join environmental activists fighting to protect the woods near her home. An explosive, life-changing adventure ensues, where she discovers how far she will go to save the landscape of her childhood.
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BOTANICA
(writer/director) |
Script available.
Sci-fi TV drama. |
A plant geneticist discovers that plants have a chemical language, she becomes determined to understand and communicate with them, soon she finds herself being influenced by their subtle messages.
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THE DISRUPTORS
(writer/director) |
Script available.
Sitcom. (Web series script available.) |
When radical campaigner and disruptor FLAX (he/him), along with his fellow activist and partner in capitalist crime prevention BOBS (she/her mostly!), decide to promote their extreme lifestyle online, THE DISRUPTORS is born. From their squat in Mitcham, they hope to grab the attention of the world with their TikTok videos, live streams and podcasts about living outside of 'the system.' Their so-called moneyless manifesto is proving to be as unsustainable as fossil fuels. But now they've gone public, and they must try to stand by their openly expressed but not always entirely well-thought-out ideals.
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THE GIRL IN THE TREE
(writer/director) |
Pre-production
Short film. |
A young girl climbs high into a tree to get away from her evil father. She declares she will never come down. With help from her brother, she manages to keep her word.
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BEDTIME STORIES
(writer/director) |
IN DEVELOPMENT
Comedy feature. |
An antique bed transports a romantic dreamer away from her uptight husband back in time to a more opulent and sexually fulfilling Tudor reality.
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DEAF SPACE
(writer/director) |
Script available.
Short film. (Commissioned as a one-shot film by Little Northern Light and Makelight Productions as part of their LOVE IS HARD WON feature film anthology.) |
A deaf architect student discovers she is pregnant. She wants to keep her baby but is desperate to complete her studies and design buildings with the deaf community in mind. Her boyfriend helps her see that she have her cake and eat it.
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CREDITS
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FLIGHT OF THE SWANS
(writer/director/editor) |
Wax Films.
Feature documentary. |
"Flight of the Swans" follows conservationist and extreme sportswoman Sacha Dench as she flies 7,000 km in a paramotor with migrating swans in a bid to understand their catastrophic decline. This journey takes her over some of our planet’s most inhospitable terrain. She will travel from Russia’s Arctic Tundra, over eleven countries arriving back to the UK.
A conservation publicity stunt that will let her understand in real-time what is causing the swan’s devastating demise. (2021) |
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FED UP
(writer/director) |
Wax Films.
Short film. |
Homeless and hungry, Seymour finds he has a secret benefactor. Filmed for Straight 8. (2021)
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THE LAST OAK
(writer/director) |
Wax Films.
Short film. |
The only surviving soldier of an eco-security force must overcome his inexperience and complete an important mission that will guarantee his future in more ways than one. (2020)
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE FILM |
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GRANBAD
(writer/director) |
Wax Films.
Short film. |
A young dyslexic boy inadvertently shows another it isn’t ‘soppy’ to love your family and like spending time with them. (2018)
CLICK TO VIEW THE TRAILER |
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SKIP GIRL
(writer/director) |
Wax Films.
Short film. |
A disempowered man stalks an unconventional woman who is taking his stuff from a skip outside his house. What value has she found in the things that his finicky wife has rejected? (2018)
CLICK TO VIEW THE TRAILER |
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LETTERBOX
(writer/director) |
Wax Films.
Short film. |
A Muslim girl hitchhikes to Glastonbury Festival to keep a promise to her brother, but why is she wearing her mothers ill fitting niqab? (2014)
CLICK TO VIEW THE TRAILER |
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SPIDER ISLAND
(writer/director) |
Wax Films.
Short film. |
Estranged identical twins fight over a mystical white diamond in this children’s action adventure film that flips between imaginative play and real action. (2011)
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BILLY CONNOLLY: TWO NIGHT STAND
(writer/director) |
Universal Pictures.
Live film. |
The 'Big Yin' performs in front of a live audience for the first time in three years, with footage taken from two gigs during his expletive-littered tour, that casts his usual eye over life, sex and dachshunds. (1997)
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