Big Talk, Film4 execs jump into Duck Soup

Duck Soup Films, the UK prodco set up by producers Libby Durdy, Bekki Wray Rogers and Jessica Holyland, has hired two execs from Big Talk and Film4.

Kathryn O’Connor

Kathryn O’Connor and Celine Coulson have both joined Duck Soup as executive producers, with O’Connor focusing primarily on TV dramas and Coulson mainly working on feature films.

The new hires will also cross over on certain projects, with the company noting that its “approach to development often mixes cinematic methods with TV traditions and is bespoke to each project.”

O’Connor was most recently head of Big Talk’s Northern office. During her tenure at the prodco, she exec produced ITV comedy drama Cold Feet.

Prior to that, O’Connor worked as a development producer for ITV Studios and edited scripts for dramas including Footballers’ Wives and Bad Girls.

Celine Coulson

Coulson joins from Film4, the film arm of UK broadcaster Channel 4. Arriving at the company in 2012, she most recently worked as development and production executive.

Her credits include Rose Glass’ Saint Maud, Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite and Lynne Ramsay’s You Were Never Really Here.

Durdy (Made of Stone, This is England ’88), Wray Rogers (This is England ’88 and ’90, Utopia) and Holyland (This is England ’90, Building the Dream) set up Duck Soup Films in 2015. Last month, the Leeds-based prodco became the latest company to join Channel 4’s Indie Growth Fund.