‘Borrowed Time’ Director Andrew Coats Joins Luma Pictures As Director

Andrew Coats, the former Pixar animator who co-directed the Oscar-nominated short Borrowed Time, has joined Luma Pictures as a director for its new live action and animation division.

The 16-year-old Luma Pictures, with studios in Santa Monica, California and Melbourne, Australia, is best known for its vfx work on Hollywood blockbusters like Black Panther, Deadpool, Doctor Strange, The Avengers, and the Guardians of the Galaxy series.

The company is now shifting into producing its own live-action and animation content. It has not indicated yet what that content will be, but promises to “tell highly imaginative and captivating stories through independent filmmaking.”

“Jill Gilbert and Vincent Cirelli have helped to build a unique, creative structure and to assemble the caliber of artists necessary to develop a strong slate of films,” said Payam Shohadai, founder and CEO of Luma. “I’m incredibly excited to welcome Luma’s newest talent who share our vision in producing truly imaginative and moving stories.”

In addition to directing the independent film Borrowed Time, Coats animated at Pixar on films including Incredibles 2, Brave, Cars 2, and Inside Out. Prior to his stint in Emeryville, he was an animator at Blue Sky Studios on Rio, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and Horton Hears a Who!

In addition to Coats, Luma has also announced other creative hires for its new content division:

• Alex Taini as art director and concept artist. Previous experience includes Ninja Theory, Riot Games, Imaginarium, Reel FX, Prime Focus, Marvel, and Bloomsbury.
• Sehaj Sethi, known for her feature scripts The Third Rule and My Husband’s Corpse, hired as staff writer.
• Will Jaymes, known for writing and producing shorts like Beast, hired as staff writer.
• Filmmaker/director Michael Langan (Heliotropes, Choros), whose graduation film Doxology premiered on Cartoon Brew TV in 2008, hired as staff writer.
• Nicole Sanders joins as manager, creative affairs, following her role as creative executive at Miramax.

Original content is slated to begin production in 2019.