NIA ALAVEZOS
Writer | Director | BAFTA Cymru Nominated Producer
ABOUT
Nia Alavezos is a writer, director, and BAFTA Cymru nominated producer based in South Wales. Nia's first chance at writing and directing, and what changed the course of her creative endeavours, was Timeless Gifts - Sun & Moon's 2021 Christmas short. Her breakout film Passenger was commissioned by Ffilm Cymru, BBC Wales, and BFI Network Wales in 2022. Passenger wrapped Spring 2024 and premiered at the Aesthetica Short Film Festival in November. She is currently working on developing her first feature film with funding and continued support from Ffilm Cymru Wales.
She produced Spectre of the Bear, also commissioned by Ffilm Cymru’s Beacons short film scheme. Spectre has completed its festival run and was recently nominated for a 2024 BAFTA Cymru award for Best Short Film. Nia just finished producing Sivan Raphaely's 2D animated film The Smell of Chicken, which made its debut at the 2024 Manchester Animation Festival, and is wrapping up producing Laura Tofarides' stop motion short Ymenydd; due to complete by early 2025.
Additionally, Nia is working with Josh Hicks, the director of Spectre of the Bear, in bringing his hilarious comic Glorious Wrestling Alliance to life through funding with Creative Wales. Josh and Nia secured additional funding from Creative Wales as part of their new Young Content Fund to create a proof of concept trailer for Freshly Served, an exciting new anime-inspired project based on Josh's comic of the same name.
In 2019 she made the great pilgrimage across the pond from sunny Los Angeles to pursue her dreams of living abroad.
Before packing her bags and deciding to leave America behind, Nia was a Production Coordinator at DreamWorks Animation TV; working on The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants for Netflix. Previously she was at Renegade Animation, where she was a Coordinator on The Tom and Jerry Show. She also helped out as a Marketing and Development Coordinator for all of Renegade's original content.
Nia's worked at BuzzFeed as an Editorial Fellow, learning about their editorial process while focusing on social sharing and viral media; not to mention becoming an expert at creating cat gifs.
She is also a graduate from Curtis Brown Creative and studied under Catherine Johnson in their Summer 2017 Writing YA and Children's Fiction course.
When Nia's not making films, learning Japanese, or writing fan fiction; she spends her time thinking about her next trip abroad and eating around the world.
PROFESSIONAL HISTORY
PRODUCER, FREELANCE
November 2019 – Present
Collaborating with writers and directors in securing funding via Ffilm Cymru Wales, BFI, and Creative Wales; assisting in preparing pitch bibles, script editing, VO directing, handling budgets and schedules for short films and TV pilots ranging from 6 to 15 minutes in length; recruiting for said projects and assisting in overseeing production until final delivery; creating detailed schedules that outline each project’s festival strategy after completion.
CONTENT DIRECTOR, ANIMATED WOMEN UK
February 2023 – Present
Working closely with the Social Media Director in brainstorming various content strategies for AWUK socials; continuing to monitor each campaign’s performance and identify ways to improve the content strategy based on meeting KPIs, metrics, and driving engagement through our posts; coordinating, writing, and sending out various newsletters and email campaigns; maintaining the AWUK Discord account as a moderator; other duties as assigned in correlation with the Social Media Director.
CREATIVE PRODUCTION MANAGER, SUN & MOON STUDIOS
May 2023 – November 2024
Responsible for coordinating workflows for creative teams from short form projects to long form series work; oversaw the entire process from client brief to completion; managed budgets and production schedules across the studio; worked closely with the creative and marketing teams to ensure projects were completed on time, within budget, and to the highest standards; coordinated and created Sun & Moon’s social media content, including hosting the studio’s successful podcast Animated Chats.
SENIOR PRODUCTION COORDINATOR, SUN & MOON STUDIOS
January 2020 – May 2023
Managed day-to-day production and crew for Games Workshop’s Hammer and Bolter; worked closely with the director and producer to maintain the schedules and ensure milestones and quotas were met from animatics, comp, to final client delivery on each episode; other duties as assigned.
VOLUNTEER, ANIMATED WOMEN UK
May 2019 – February 2023
Prepared and sent out the monthly newsletters; collaborated with other volunteers in establishing and continuing to grow AWUK's branch and overall presence in South Wales; wrote blog posts for AWUK involving local animation events, trending animation topics, and other related subjects; coordinated the creation of designs, such as the "Female in Focus" logo for the AWUK Newsletter and the AWUK business card designs; was responsible for posting on social media accounts; other duties as assigned.
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR, PAINTING PRACTICE
July 2019 – January 2020
Available credits: His Dark Materials and GWR advertising campaign
Coordinated multiple undisclosed projects across film, TV, and advertising simultaneously; assigned VFX sequences to artists for any pre-vis and post-vis shots required; worked closely with directors, leads, and supervisors on the numerous projects to track and manage artists; managed workflow of all departments in order to meet internal and external deadlines; helped maintain each project's individual schedule and budget; organised dailies and review meetings with heads of departments, took notes in each session, and followed up on assets as needed; updated the production databases daily with any notes and important information regarding the different assets and shot statuses; notified relevant crew members as needed with any changes or updates in the schedule; oversaw client deliveries of all temp shots and final turnover packages.
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR, WILDSEED STUDIOS
May 2019 – June 2019
Broke down episode animatics for the Incredible Ant. Determined what new backgrounds, props, FX, characters, and special animation poses were required. Assisted with any other duties as requested.
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR, DREAMWORKS ANIMATION
July 2018 – April 2019
Credits: The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants
Broke down each episode from the script and locked animatic; oversaw all designs up to final animation, including all backgrounds, characters, props, and FX; constantly tracked 8 or more episodes simultaneously throughout different stages of production; coordinated up to 200 designs per episode and guaranteed on-time final deliveries of each episode to Netflix; was responsible for coordinating animation deliveries, production schedules, and acting as a liaison between our overseas studio and all in-house production teams.
Supervised production assistants and was always the first point of contact for any questions or concerns that surfaced throughout the production process; worked closely with the production team to review and brainstorm different ways to improve how our department completed tasks; scheduled, set up, and drove all meetings, including animatic screenings for internal and executive approval; assigned designs to a team of 10 or more artists; ensured all designs were reviewed and revisions were assigned efficiently; coordinated all puppet/stop motion/live action/mixed media shoots.
MARKETING AND DEVELOPMENT COORDINATOR, RENEGADE ANIMATION
September 2017 – July 2018
Read through pitch bibles and reviewed content with the Head of Development during weekly development meetings; brainstormed and pitched ideas to the Head of Development based off of any pre-existing development projects or any news articles/books/social media content; developed my first pre-school animated show and pitched to relevant studios for acquisition; maintained Renegade’s database of development projects, tracked projects on Renegade’s server, and maintained production folders and pitch bibles; coordinated designs from development projects to relevant freelance and in-house artists.
Managed Renegade’s social media accounts; coordinated original content promoted on the studio’s Facebook and Instagram accounts; worked with PR team to help Renegade grow a stronger online presence; created and wrote a comic called Renegade Rants; posted these to Renegade’s Facebook and Instagram accounts.
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR, RENEGADE ANIMATION
August 2016 – July 2018
Credits: The Tom and Jerry Show – clients included Warner Bros. Entertainment and Cartoon Network
Broke down episode animatics; determined keys needed for backgrounds, characters, and props; kept artists fed with work and up-to-date with design/production changes; filled out the lead sheet and shipping memo for each episode prior to shipping; tracked each assignment in FileMaker throughout the design process; followed the schedule closely and made sure deadlines were successfully achieved; worked closely with the Production Manager to keep schedule on track and to promote great team communication.
Responsible for setting up conference rooms for design reviews, technical reviews, storyboard pitches, and launch meetings; prepped designs for the Director to review during daily design meetings, took review notes, and communicated notes back to artists; shipped each completed episode to our overseas studio for animation; acted as design liaison for our overseas studio throughout the season and coordinated any design notes from them; uploaded and managed designs on the FTP and Renegade's server.
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT, RENEGADE ANIMATION
August 2015 – August 2016
Credits: The Tom and Jerry Show – clients included Warner Bros. Entertainment and Cartoon Network
Coordinated designs to a team of over 15 artists, both in-house and freelance, from storyboards to animation; tracked all the background, prop, and character designs that were submitted by artists on FileMaker and FileZilla; used Photoshop and Flash to prep designs for the Director to be reviewed and took notes during those sessions; prepped design packets for artists’ assignments.
Managed Renegade's server and made sure all designs were organized and up-to-date; delivered episodes to the TD department for scene assembly; coordinated kickbacks at various points of production from the Director, TD department, and Post Production Supervisor.
HEAD OF CONTENT, WINNIN INC.
May 2015 – July 2015
Was in charge of all the content for Winnin U.S.; edited headlines and articles for Winnin U.S.; created different content for all the social channels focused on trending topics in the U.S.; created Vine compilations and memes focused on popular videos and trending topics; collaborated with the U.S. editorial team on what type of content to promote; created a content schedule to cover different verticals daily.
EDITORIAL FELLOW, BUZZFEED
January 2015 – May 2015
Learned about BuzzFeed's editorial process through their intensive training program; created content for the website with a high emphasis on social sharing and viral media; brainstormed and pitched ideas to make current pop culture events into readable and shareable content for the internet.
LEAD PROGRAMMING INTERN, FLORIDA FILM FESTIVAL
August 2012 – May 2014
Organized past and present film submissions, wrote blurbs for films, assisted in festival programming, created award ballots, assisted coordinators in cataloging, and programmed the 2012 and 2013 Brouhaha Film & Video Showcase.
STREET MARKETING TEAM LEADER, FLORIDA FILM FESTIVAL
January 2014 – May 2014
Developed and executed a marketing plan for the documentary film The Front Man, which was in competition at the 2014 Florida Film Festival.
VOLUNTEER, FLORIDA FILM FESTIVAL
February 2012 – April 2012
Checked in filmmakers and any additional errands requested by the staff.
FILMS
PASSENGER, 2024
An anime-inspired short about a vengeful spirit who tries to possess
Cora’s body, but over time they form a dysfunctional relationship.
Writer & Director: Nia Alavezos
Starring: Ami Okumura Jones & Kanako Nakano
Producers: Louise Condie & Alderney Middleton
Assistant Director: Louis Jones
Art Director: Erinn Lucas
Storyboards: Dave Dymond
Character Designs: Erinn Lucas & Dylan Shipley
Background Development: Jack Hurley
Background Build & Modelling: Owen Simons
Background Design & Paint: Alistair Boubli & Erinn Lucas
Layout: Erinn Lucas
Animation: Dan Keeble & Erinn Lucas
Technical Director & Compositor: Dan Keeble
SFX & Mixing: James Keeble
Editor: Dan Keeble
Composer: Jordan Rees
Executive Producers: Louis Jones for Sun & Moon, Jude Lister for Ffilm
Cymru Wales, Matthew Rogers for BBC Cymru Wales
Production Company: Sun & Moon Studios
Funded by: Ffilm Cymru Wales, BBC Wales, BFI Network Wales
SPECTRE OF THE BEAR, 2023
One man’s obsession with crisps becomes unhealthy… and it’s not because
he’s eating them. Tom’s all-consuming quest for the truth takes him on a
journey into the unknown in this animated comedy short about nostalgia,
corporate conspiracy and bear-shaped potato snacks.
Director: Josh Hicks
Writer: Ioan Morris
Producer: Nia Alavezos
Starring: Craig Roberts & Bill Nighy
Animation: Tom Lucas & Dani Abram
Design & Layout: Ioan Morris
Background Design & Paint: Ioan Morris, Josh Hicks & Bethan Wegener
SFX & Mixing: Dai Shell
Casting Director: Michael Llewellyn Williams
Storyboards, Compositing & Editing: Josh Hicks
Composer: Ioan Morris
Executive Producers: Jude Lister for Ffilm Cymru Wales, Chris Walsh-Heron
for BBC Cymru Wales
Production Company: CPE Productions
Funded by: Ffilm Cymru Wales, BBC Wales, BFI Network Wales
CONTACT
LET'S CHAT!
Contact me if you fancy talking about all things animation or if you need any help on a project; from story development, writing scripts and editing, to directing and production support, I'm happy to help!
よろしくお願いします
