Simon Moore
His first produced film was Superhero, a cinema short about a comic-obsessed teenager, starring Ray Winstone. This was followed by Inside Out, a six part comedy drama series for the BBC about two women running an employment agency for ex-cons. This highly regarded series was a finalist for the Samuel Beckett Writing Award.
With Jane Prowse he co-wrote and directed Up on the Roof, an acapella musical following a group of friends over ten years. The show originated at Plymouth Theatre Royal, then transferred to the Donmar Warehouse and subsequently the Apollo Theatre in the West End. The piece was a finalist in the Evening Standard Drama Awards, and was nominated for three Olivier Awards including ‘Best Musical’. Up on the Roof continues to be performed throughout the world, and in 1997 Simon directed a film version of the musical, which was produced by Granada Films.
In 1989 Simon wrote Traffik, a six-hour mini-series for Channel 4 about the world heroin trade. Filmed in Pakistan, Germany and England, it starred Julia Ormond, Bill Paterson and Lindsay Duncan. The series was a critical success throughout the world, winning many awards including the International EMMY for “Best Series”, 4 BAFTA awards, 4 FIPA awards, the top prizes at the BAMPF and Umbria Fiction Festivals, and the UK Critics Award as “Best Series”. In 2000 the series was adapted into a feature film that enjoyed world wide critical and box office success, and won four Oscars, including Best adapted Screenplay for Stephen Gaghan. An American TV mini-series has also been made, based on the original format.
In 1991 Simon wrote and directed the feature film Under Suspicion for Columbia Pictures and Rank, a private eye movie set in 1950’s Brighton, starring Liam Neeson and Laura San Giacomo.
This was followed by a stage adaptation of Stephen King’s novel Misery, which Simon also directed for its world premiere at the Criterion Theatre, London, starring Sharon Gless and Bill Paterson. The play was regularly performed around the world.
In 1993 he wrote the spec script, The Quick and the Dead, a Western for Tri-Star pictures about a female gun-slinger, starring an exceptional cast including Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio. The picture was directed by Sam Raimi, and opened as the number one film at the US box office
In 1995 Simon’s adaptation of Gulliver’s Travels was made by Hallmark Entertainment and Jim Henson Productions for NBC and Channel 4. This mini-series was the first ever adaptation to feature all four books of Swifts classic, and was a massive popular and critical success in the USA, where it had over 57 million viewers on its first showing. The series won many awards worldwide, and Simon won the EMMY for Outstanding Writing and the prestigious US HUMANITAS award.
Simon then wrote and co-produced The Tenth Kingdom, a ten-hour fantasy series that explored the world of fairy stories from an adult perspective. Aired in April 2000, It was the first ten-hour mini-series on US Network television for over twenty years. It was also a success throughout Europe and was the highest rated German mini-series ever.
In 2001 Simon completed a six-hour adaptation of James Gurney’s cult Dinotopia books, which describe a utopian world where humans and dinosaurs co-exist. The $85m mini-series aired on ABC in America, and Sky and Channel 4 in the UK. It was a major ratings success, and a 13 part TV series and an animated series have been made based on the original.
In 2002 Simon wrote a four-hour television adaptation of The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen, made for Hallmark television, starring Bridget Fonda.
He has since written The Star for Sony Pictures, which tells the Nativity story from the point of view of all the animals involved, and WW3, an eight-hour mini series about world terrorism seen from the point of view of children. Recently Simon has written Food, a four-hour international mini-series about all aspects of the food trade, for Kudos and Invisible Girls, a four-hour drama for RHI/Lifetime.
World Productions developed Indefensible with Simon based on the The Life and Trials of Edward Marshall Hall.
Simon Moore is represented by Rochelle Stevens