Indie Streamer Nebula Launches Film Studio, Names Valentina Vee Director of Motion Pictures in First Overall Deal (EXCLUSIVE)
Nebula is aiming to break into the big-league movie biz with the launch of Nebula Motion Pictures, the new studio arm of the creator-community-focused indie streaming service, and tapping director and cinematographer Valentina Vee as the company’s director of motion pictures.
Under her new overall deal, which marks the first pact of this kind for Nebula, Vee will move in-house at Nebula and focus on the formation of the new film studio alongside Nebula Production vice president Trenton Waterson, an alum of Marvel Studios, to build and scale Nebula Pictures.
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While Nebula has already been adding film titles to its Nebula Originals lineup — which is primarily dominated by TV series, like the highly popular “Jet Lag: The Game” travel competition show — since the service first launched in 2019, those movies were made on a smaller scale than what Nebula is hoping to achieve with its creators moving forward.
Nebula describes the studio launch and Vee’s hire as the most recent step in its “mission to chart a streamlined path from digital creator (UGC) to filmmaker creating premium content.”
In April, the $5-per-month (or $50 annually) platform announced a deal with “Morning Brew Daily” to partner on content for the newly launched Nebula News division, run by news director Jack Kelly.
Vee is an LA-based director and cinematographer, originally from Kazakhstan. She started her career as an assistant director for movies like Eric England’s “Get the Girl” and has directed and shot a variety of film and TV projects, including “Gimme Mo,” an Emmy-nominated TV show for Discovery Life starting “High School Musical’s” Monique Coleman, as well as two seasons of photographer Elia Locardi’s travel show “Moments in Time.” Her commercial clients include TikTok, Meta, Nike, Adobe, Sony Pictures and Dell.
As announced last November, Vee will be directing Nebula’s upcoming short film “Dracula’s Ex-Girlfriend,” written by and starring Abigail Thorn.
“Valentina is one of the most talented filmmakers I’ve ever worked with,” Nebula CEO Dave Wiskus said. “Her resume and reel speak for themselves, but having worked with her on multiple productions, I can confidently say there’s no one on Earth I’d rather recruit for this heist.”
Vee added: “Nebula’s penchant for growing and nurturing new talent makes it easy to see why filmmakers are gravitating toward the platform. What we are creating at Nebula is unprecedented. It will be a safe space where creators will be able to not only pitch their ideas, but to see them come to fruition under their own creative direction. I’m thrilled to be part of the team spearheading Nebula Pictures — with the new path we are charting for creators, I hope to educate and inspire the the next wave of filmmakers to turn their dreams into a reality.”
“Valentina is a powerful and creative filmmaker who brings curiosity and ingenuity to the stories she tells,” Nebula’s vice president of production Trenton Waterson said. “She will no doubt play a pivotal role in our next chapter of production and development as we build Nebula Pictures. I look forward to collaborating with Valentina to empower our creators and expand the definition of what a Nebula Original can be.”
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