New York-based animation studio Curious Pictures has appointed Elyse Lawson to head of development. The move reflects the studio’s expansion into original production in areas such as feature films, TV series and games. Joining Curious from Anonymous Content, where she was director of development, Lawson will initially focus on developing feature film projects for Swarovski Ent., a client of Curious Pictures.
‘Elyse is a great addition to our development team,’ says Susan Holden, managing partner at Curious. ‘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. And while I felt we needed someone who was L.A.-based for this position, Elyse came very highly recommended.’
A graduate of George Washington University, Lawson has worked on such TV series as Blues Clues and the reality show Shipmates, as well as 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 in 2003 and was promoted to director of development in 2005.
Curious has made a significant investment in the development of original film, television and video-game content over the past two years. The studio’s 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 (Along Came a Spider).
On television, Curious has the TV special Little Spirit: Christmas in New York set to air on NBC this month. The program 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. Curious also expanding in the are of interactive entertainment. It produced all the motion-capture work for last year’s breakout hit Rock Band from Harmonix, as well as its recently released follow-up, Rock Band II.
