SHEILA NORTLEY AND MY ACCOMPLICE TEAM TO DEVELOP SUPERNATURAL ROMANCE FEATURE OSORO

Award-winning short expands to feature, with Nortley writing and My Accomplice producing

Sheila Nortley, producer of Netflix hits Supacell (s1) and Harlan Coben’s Stay Close, is expanding her award-winning short Osoro into a feature film with UK-based production company My Accomplice (Surviving Earth, The Great Hack). Nortley will write and executive produce the film with My Accomplice’s Jamie Clark as executive producer and Aleksandra Bilić and Dorottya Székely as producers. The project is now in development, with early-stage financing and talent discussions underway.

Following the hit superhero drama Supacell, Nortley is heading back into the world of the supernatural with a romance rooted in grief, memory and identity. Inspired by her own experiences of loss, Osoro offers a fresh perspective on love, grief, and mythology set against the backdrop of noughties Black Britain – a story with universal themes to resonate with audiences worldwide.

Once upon a time, not too long ago – in the era of Snake on Nokia 3210s, 21 Seconds, Tamagotchis and the early noughties UK garage – two teenagers met on the upper deck of a bus. What began as a chance encounter blossomed into a love story and years passed only for them to be torn apart first by life, and then by death.

Alesha Amoah is the picture of success: a motivational speaker whose carefully curated image is built on discipline and control. But when she returns home to care for her ailing mother, old family wounds resurface. When she unexpectedly reconnects with her high school sweetheart, Kadien, the reunion is tender and bittersweet – until tragedy strikes, drawing Alesha into ‘Osoro’, a mystical limbo accessed through an ancestral ritual. In this realm, memories can be relived – but only with an anchor strong enough to bring you back. As Alesha journeys deeper into Osoro, the boundaries between memory and reality begin to unravel. Pursued by the realm’s enigmatic guardian, she must confront the choices that shaped her life, the pain she tried to leave behind, and the haunting temptation of rewriting what was lost.

Osoro is a sweeping supernatural romance about love, loss and the cyclical nature of time – and how some connections transcend even death itself.

Nortley originally created Osoro as a short film in collaboration with Cameron Roach’s Rope Ladder Fiction, which she also co-wrote and directed. Starring Nadine Mills (Supacell, The Strangers), Rima Nsubuga, Shingai Shoniwa (of The Noisettes) and Kaine Lawrence (The Book of Clarence), the short screened at multiple festivals, receiving critical acclaim and scooped multiple awards including Best Film, Best Director (Madrid Indie Film Festival).

Sheila Nortley said: “Osoro is a story about that very human, yet very otherworldly, space between love, loss, grief and memory and how those things stay with us. It’s a sweeping romance, a supernatural love story, and it draws on elements of my own experiences with grief. The short captured this beautifully and developing the feature has allowed us the space to expand that vision into a richer, more cinematic world.”

Aleksandra Bilić, Head of Development at My Accomplice, says: ”Sheila has crafted a story that is both intimate and expansive, weaving romance, grief, and mythology in a way that feels fresh and universal. Osoro embodies the kind of visionary storytelling we are proud to support – projects that challenge expectations and explore rich emotional landscapes. We’re excited to collaborate with her and help bring this film to audiences worldwide.”

London-based Nortley is a rising creative force with a track record spanning international film and television. In addition to Supacell and Harlan Coben’s Stay Close, she has written and produced award-winning shorts and features screened worldwide, including Sable Fable, Limbo, and Moon Over Aburi. She is committed to nurturing emerging talent, having founded Kingdom Drama School and led the mentoring scheme on Supacell.

Nortley is developing Osoro as an independent writer and executive producer, while also serving as Head of Drama and Executive Producer at Osun Group.

Osoro is created and written by Sheila Nortley with Jamie Clark serving as executive producer and Aleksandra Bilić and Dorottya Székely as producers from My Accomplice.