Simon James Collier

Simon James Collier is a theatre/film producer and writer. Born in Nottingham in 1967, he began his professional life as a picture editor on over 400 books and periodicals, working for organisations such as The Reader's Digest, Longman and Nelson publishers. He then went to work in Hollywood’s film industry, working on TV specials with the likes of Dudley Moore, Jack Lemmon and Bea Arthur.

On his return to England he wrote and published a series of noted children’s books, a number of which were optioned for television, worked for The Walt Disney Company and became an Entertainment Correspondent for the BBC. He co-founded and became CEO of the award-winning "Okai Collier Company", and by the end of 2007 had produced over thirty five theatrical productions. He adapted two of his novels into well-received musicals for the youth market while also producing celebrated productions of The Smilin' State, A Mother Speaks, My Matisse, Carnaval, Preacherosity, Elegies, The Dorchester, and Passion, along with the European Premiere’s of both Purlie ("Nominated for four What’s On Stage 2005 Awards, including Best Off West End Production and Best Musical Revival") and Ruthless! ("Winner of five Musical Stages 2002 Awards, including Best Musical Production.")

In 2002 Collier was responsible for "The Service of Remembrance, Thanksgiving and Hope for World AIDS Day" at "St. Paul’s Cathedral", London. He also conceived, developed and produced "Rowland Lee’s Crusaid Requiem" (2003) at "St. Martin in the Fields". From 2003-2004 he was the General Manager/Executive Director of London’s "Bridewell Theatre".

2005 saw Collier present an inventive showcase of new work, the Inspiration Innovation Integration Season at Hackney Empire, London, become Artistic Consultant to "Jermyn Street West End Studio Theatre" and produce his first documentary - The 411. He also created and was the Project Director of a number of award-nominated social investment projects with organisations including "Southern Housing Foundation", "St. Barnabas", "The Cedar Centre" and "The Mudchute", encouraging youth creativity and expression within the community.

2008 will see Simon to produce three new productions at Hackney Empire, a new musical version of "Bram Stoker's" Dracula and But, You Are Beautiful, his first feature film.

In 2009 Collier will collaborate with Sasha C. Damjanovski on both the stage and film productions of Project Snowflake, a sci-fi comedy/drama set in 2059, publish the latest instalment of his Towards The Light Fantastic series and produce Ghetto Funk Time Machine, a new musical by Omar F. Okai and Daniel Orrells.

Simon has been Chair, Trustee, Consultant or Director of numerous Charities including; "The Globe Centre", "BILAN", "Crusaid", "Dil Save", "U Turn" and "Urban Theatre".

Documentaries

*411: The Bottom Line On Amhurst Road
*The Timber Wharves Gang
*BBC Asian Network: Spotlight
*Get The Message Music Video Project

External links

The Okai Collier Company [http://www.okaicollier.co.uk]
SJC Productions [http://www.sjcproductions.co.uk]

Trivia

* His novel, Mr. Dark, was originally developed for television with animation legends Cosgrove Hall responsible for such shows as Duckula and Danger Mouse
* Simon has written over fifteen children's books
* He has been developing his hugely popular Towards The Light Fantastic series as a radio drama.