Fifth Season, the growing film and TV studio behind hit show Severance, fully acquired UK flagship The Story Collective, which launched in 2021 with its backing and has since produced series such as A Thousand Blows on Disney+.
As part of the deal, Damien Keogh will remain CEO of The Story Collective, but will join Fifth Season as SVP, Managing Director, International Writers, working in a strategic position on a wide range of international projects across the TV studio and distribution divisions.
However, fellow co-founder Simon Vaughan is leaving the company to form a new production company called Storyworks, which will launch with a first-look deal with The Fifth Season. Storyworks works with The Story Collective on certain existing projects.
Meanwhile, Ben Irving will continue to lead Fifth Season’s unique development and production plans in the UK as SVP, Creative Director, International Scripting, and will work closely with Keogh in building the studio’s UK and international production operations. The combined senior leadership team, including Story Collective’s Elouise West and Natasha Neal and Fifth Season’s Charlotte Bloxham, will now work together in both capacities, each leading business, finance and production from Fifth Season’s London office. Damian Keogh and Ben Irving both report to Fifth Season CEO Graham Taylor.
“We founded the company to partner wholeheartedly with incredible creative talent and producers, with a patient, nurturing and collaborative spirit,” Keogh said. “We truly believe in team sports and are proud of the talent and project roster we have assembled at the Collective. Fifth Season has always recognized and encouraged our approach, and joining forces is a natural and exciting next step. We look forward to working more closely with Graham, Ben and the rest of our Fifth Season colleagues.”
Vaughan continued, “I’m thrilled that The Story Collective will be integrated within Fifth Season, delivering on the scale of business that we all set out to build together when we founded the company four years ago. It’s also exciting that my new venture will be partnering with Fifth Season from the off. Our combined plans for the future are truly extraordinary, and I feel the best is yet to come.”
Founded in mid-2021 by former Lookout Point executives Keogh and Vaughan, along with former BBC Worldwide content chiefs Helen Jackson and Jonathan Norman, with support from Fifth Season, The Story Collective has worked on projects including A Thousand Blows for Disney+/Hulu, produced by Oscar nominee Steven Knight and starring three-time Emmy winner Stephen Graham. The company boasts a number of creative partnerships, including Tom Davis and James de Frond’s Mighty Pebble Pictures and Ben Donald’s Cosmopolitan Pictures.
“Story Collective was built by Damien, Simon and Helen on the ethos of creative collaboration, which we have championed and celebrated since our inception, and four years later, as we double down on our ambitions as a UK studio, this combination feels like a natural evolution,” said Graham. “Fifth Season’s offerings are going from strength to strength, and there’s no denying that our talent connections and projects are our focus.”
Story Collective’s projects (now part of Fifth Season’s UK studio division) include shows in development at Apple, BBC, Sky, Netflix, Channel 4, Britbox and Sky Showtime.
