Paul Donovan
Co-Founder
Paul co-founded Deadpan Pictures to focus on producing drama with humour – smart, character-driven stories with a bone dry wit. His role is to ensure that Deadpan is the best it can be at what it does best. Having surrounded himself and Ailish with a top quality team Paul’s main job now is to stay out of their way. With 30 years experience (some good, some just experiences) Paul has a wide network of international contacts he can bring projects to.
Ailish McElmeel
Co-Founder
Ailish co-founded Deadpan Pictures to bring comic Irish talent to the international stage. Ailish is drawn to drama with something socially relevant to say, and it must be said with humour and heart. Having found her niche in producing darkly comic female-led drama (Can’t Cope, Won’t Cope) she’s relieved to have finally made a darkly comic male-led drama (Northern Lights). With an ace team now assembled, Ailish core remit, alongside Paul, is to steer the Deadpan team to success.
Our Team
Eleanor White
Development Executive
Eleanor’s background is in theatre, where she’s worked on plays that explored everything from mechanophilia and mental health to trauma and crocodiles. She is thrilled to be developing television and is particularly passionate about stories that blend heart, humour, the weird and the authentic.
Gillian Naughton
Executive Assistant
Gillian recently returned to Ireland after spending years in Los Angeles working for production companies such as Hungry Man and 1st Avenue Machine. Since moving back to Dublin, she has worked on Netflix and Academy films productions before joining the Deadpan team. These days, you can find her coordinating at Deadpan HQ with a much paler complexion.
Our Partners
Sam Atwell
Head of Development
With a background in acting, writing, directing and producing Sam now has overall responsibility for the development slate in Deadpan. Hailing from a land down under, Sam fell in love with Ireland and all the shenanigans that comes with finding, hearing and shaping stories. He is passionate about developing television to make people laugh, cry and fist pump the air.
Trisha Flood
Production Executive
Before becoming Production Executive at Deadpan Pictures, Trisha had been a Freelance Producer and a Line Producer for over ten years, working on numerous feature and short films as well as commercials and educational videos. She is now happily working 9-5, and sitting at an actual desk.
Aisling Kiely
Development Producer
After many years in the UK teaching production companies such as Working Title Television, Roughcut TV and BBC Studios how to successfully pronounce her name, Development Producer Aisling [Ash-ling] is thrilled to be back in Ireland. With the chance to bring Irish stories to an international stage, Aisling is looking for returnable series and stories that reflect less familiar versions of Ireland; all, ideally, with a sharp comic undertone.