Misha Manson-Smith

Misha Manson-Smith (born January 10, 1978) is a British director and screenwriter. He is known for directing high-end television dramas including The Feed, Kiss Me First and No Offence and for creating satirical comedy series with Marc Wootton that blur fiction and reality. He has been nominated for three BAFTAs including the Breakthrough Talent Award for Directing.
==Career==
===2004-2012: Documentary to drama===
Manson-Smith started working professionally as an editor on Peabody and Emmy Award winning documentaries for directors including Greg Barker and James Miller.
In 2004, Miller was shot and killed by the Israeli Defence Force while filming HBO documentary feature film Death In Gaza. Manson-Smith came on as editor and director to complete it, interweaving Miller’s own story with those of the children caught in the crossfire. It premiered at the Berlin Film Festival and won many accolades, among them three Emmy Awards, including Exceptional Merit in Non-Fiction Filmmaking. It also won a BAFTA Award and Manson-Smith was nominated for the BAFTA Award for editing.
Manson-Smith also started writing and directing fiction with short Nine and a Half Minutes. Produced by Ollie Madden and starring David Tennant, it premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
Manson-Smith went on to develop and direct broadcast pilots including BAFTA-nominated Delta Forever (2008) starring Daniel Kaluuya and Ophelia Lovibond, Coming Up: Brussels (2009) starring Peter Capaldi and Stanley Park (TV series)|Stanley Park (2011) starring Holliday Grainger and Sharon Horgan.
In 2011, it was announced that Manson-Smith had been hired to direct the feature film Sex Education.
===2012-present: Drama breakthrough===
In 2012, Manson-Smith directed single drama Excluded for BBC Two, starring Craig Parkinson, Monica Dolan and Letitia Wright. Sam Wollaston wrote in the Guardian “It's all brilliant – immediate, tense, funny, sad, touching, relevant.”
In 2014, Manson-Smith created neo-noir action comedy In Deep (2014) with writers Thomas Eccleshare and Tom Joseph for BBC Three. Manson-Smith directed the pilot, casting Ashley Walters after Daniel Kaluuya dropped out to take a role in Sicario.
In 2015, Manson-Smith developed Hoff The Record, an improvised comedy about Craig Roberts directing a biopic of David Hasslehoff. Manson-Smith wrote and directed the pilot for BBC Two and wrote on the first season for Dave with Mickey Down and Konrad Kay. It won the International Emmy Award for Comedy Series.
In 2016-2019, Manson-Smith directed episodes of Paul Abbott’s No Offence, which was BAFTA nominated for Best Drama Series and won the RTS Award for Best Drama Series. Manson-Smith returned to direct action sequences on the second season and the final episodes of the third season.
In 2017, Manson-Smith was lead director on the second season of Danny Brocklehurst’s Ordinary Lies, starring Con O’Neil, Rebekah Staton, Joel Fry and Kimberley Nixon, who won the Best Actress BAFTA Cymru Award.
In 2018, Manson-Smith was the lead director on cyber-thriller Kiss Me First for Netflix and Channel 4. Adapted by Bryan Elsley from Lottie Moggach’s novel, the series combined live action drama with motion capture animation, winning an RTS Award. Among many unusual aspects of the production, Manson-Smith used the actual lenses made for Apocalypse Now.
In 2019, Manson-Smith directed David Thewlis in episodes (and additional action sequences) of sci-fi thriller series The Feed for Amazon Studios. It was selected for the Cannes Series and Tallinn Black Nights Festivals. In 2020 it was nominated for Best Drama Series at the National Film Awards.
===Collaborators===
Manson-Smith has developed several films with writer George Kay, with short Barbados becoming their first produced work. Starring Michael Sheen and produced by Fred Berger and Funny or Die, it was selected for the Toronto International Film Festival.
Manson-Smith frequently collaborates with actor Marc Wootton. My New Best Friend won the Rose D'Or and a British Comedy Award, with Guardian critic Barbara Ellen writing that it “transcends student TV and becomes a sociological document for the cut-throat nature of our times”. Manson-Smith and Wootton reteamed on controversial BBC psychic satire High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman, earning Manson-Smith a BAFTA nomination.
Manson-Smith and Wootton relocated to Los Angeles to create entertainment industry satire La La Land for Showtime. Notable for its casting of cult figures including Tommy Wiseau and Daryl Hannah, it was nominated for the Rose D’Or and received positive reviews, with Heather Havrilesky writing in Salon that La La Land "may be the single funniest thing I've seen on TV in the past year.”
In 2019, it was announced that Manson-Smith and Wootton were to team with Sacha Baron Cohen and his production company Four by Two Films on Gooseberry "an audacious collision of comic thriller and immersive theatre". Manson-Smith shot the pilot with Lionsgate for Comedy Central in Los Angeles in 2020, but the series was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
===Commercials===
Manson-Smith has written and directed numerous commercials described variously as "beautifully observed" "remarkably authentic" and "perfectly deadpan". His "brilliantly conceived" campaign for Google starring Nick Mohammed, Olly Alexander and Jessica Barden was selected for the APA’s top 50. In 2023, he directed commercials for Swarovski starring Aimee Lou Wood.
==Personal Life==
Manson-Smith and his wife Alex Manson-Smith, a writer, live in London Fields with their two sons.
==Filmography==
Year 	Title 	Network 	Director	Writer	EP 	Notes
2004 	Nine and a Half Minutes 	BFI 	Yes 	Yes 	No 	Short film
2004 	Death in Gaza 	HBO 	Yes 	No 	No 	Feature documentary
2004 	My New Best Friend 	Channel 4 	Yes 	Yes 	No 	6 episodes
2008 	Delta Forever 	BBC Three 	Yes 	Yes 	No 	Pilot
2008 	High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman	BBC Three
BBC America	Yes 	Yes 	No 	8 episodes
2008 	Coming Up: Brussels 	Channel 4 	Yes 	No 	No 	Single drama
2010 	La La Land 	Showtime 	Yes 	Yes 	Yes	6 episodes
2011 	Stanley Park 	Lionsgate
BBC Three	Yes 	No 	No 	Pilot
2012 	Excluded 	BBC Two 	Yes 	No 	No 	Single drama
2013 	Dancing on the Edge 	BBC Two 	Yes 	No 	No 	Uncredited
2013 	Lucky Country 	BBC Two 	Yes 	Yes 	Yes	Pilot
2014 	Pramface 	BBC Three 	Yes 	No 	No 	6 episodes
2014 	In Deep 	BBC Three 	Yes 	No 	Yes	Pilot, co-creator
2015 	Hoff The Record 	BBC Two
Dave 	Yes 	Yes 	No 	Pilot
2016-2019	No Offence 	Channel 4 	Yes 	No 	No 	4 episodes
2017 	Barbados 	Funny Or Die 	Yes 	No 	No 	Short film
2017 	Ordinary Lies 	BBC One 	Yes 	No 	No 	3 episodes
2018 	Kiss Me First 	Netflix
Channel 4	Yes 	No 	No 	3 episodes
2019 	The Feed 	Amazon Studios	Yes 	No 	No 	2 episodes
2020 	Gooseberry 	Lionsgate
Comedy Central	Yes 	Yes 	Yes	Pilot, co-creator
==Awards and Nominations==
Year	Award 	Category 	Work 	Result
2004	Rose D'Or 	Comedy 	My New Best Friend 	Win
2004	British Comedy Award 	Best New Comedy 	My New Best Friend 	Win
2005	British Academy Television Craft Award	Best Editing: Factual 	Death in Gaza 	Nomination
2008	British Academy Television Craft Award	Breakthrough Talent: Fiction	High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman	Nomination
2009	British Academy Scotland Award 	Comedy 	Delta Forever 	Nomination
2011	Rose D'Or 	Comedy 	La La Land 	Nomination
2013	Shots Award 	Branded Commercial 	Google Analytics in Real Life 	Win
2013	Cannes Lion 	Commercial 	Google Analytics in Real Life 	Nomination
2013	IVCA 	Commercial 	Google Analytics in Real Life 	Win
2016	New York Festivals 	Best Performance 	Clic Sargent: One of the Gang 	Win
2016	Kinsale Shark Award 	Editing 	Clic Sargent: One of the Gang 	Win
2018	British Arrows 	Craft 	Kit Kat: Double Act 	Win
Category:1978 births
Category:British directors
Category:Screenwriters
Category:British people