Nicely Entertainment Taps Reel One Alum as Production Head

Nicely Entertainment has established a mini-studio operation in Phoenix, Arizona, and tapped Reel One Entertainment alum David Hickey as head of production to oversee operations.

In his new role, Hickey will oversee all film productions for Nicely, including this year’s first movie on the slate, Mysteries of the Heart, written and starring Ansley Gordon (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Momlenialls, The Single’s Guidebook).

Hickey has 25 years of entertainment experience and over 90 credits in development and production. During his six-year tenure at Canada’s Reel One Entertainment, where he served as creative executive producer, he led more than 70 movies from original story conceptualization to development and production, all licensed to various U.S. buyers, including A&E/Lifetime, TF1, UPTV, Hallmark and Netflix, and major international partners such as TF1 (France), Channel 5 (U.K.), Mediaset (Italy) and Antena3 (Spain). For the past year, he has overseen production on five A&E output movies for Lance Entertainment and Reel One Entertainment as acting production executive.

“In addition to our distribution operations in Los Angeles and Paris, we are focused in 2023 in building a preeminent mini-studio in Arizona, with a goal of shooting approximately four movies per year there,” said Vanessa Shapiro, Nicely’s CEO. “With more than 50 movies released over just three years, we are excited to expand our operations and welcome a creative executive of David’s caliber to head our content production slate. We anticipate this year to be a huge milestone in Nicely Entertainment’s growth, both in the number of productions on our roster and our global distribution footprint.”

“I’ve been observing the growth of Nicely Entertainment over the past couple of years and am impressed by the quality and volume of projects that the company has produced with Vanessa at the helm,” Hickey said. “With its diverse range of projects, from rom-coms to thrillers and teen dramas and more TV series in the pipeline, I’m so excited to work with Vanessa and her team to help build the company into a mini-studio powerhouse.”