Nine Perfect Strangers

Bruna Papandrea is the award-winning Founder and CEO of Made Up Stories, a development and production company formed in January 2017 with offices in Los Angeles and Sydney.   

Made Up Stories is committed to amplifying distinctive voices to tell unforgettable stories about the diversity of human experience, driven primarily by multifaceted females on and off-screen.  Through Made Up Stories, Bruna recently produced the film adaptation of the inspiring international bestseller, “Penguin Bloom,” directed by Glendyn Ivin and starring Naomi Watts, Andrew Lincoln and Jacki Weaver, that recently premiered on Netflix, and “The Dry,” based on the Jane Harper novel, from director Robert Connolly and starring Eric Bana, which has broken records at the Australian box office upon release in January 2021 and has since been acquired by IFC Films domestically and will be released on May 21, 2021. Previously, she produced celebrated filmmaker Jennifer Kent’s “The Nightingale,” which made its world premiere at the 2018 Venice Film Festival where it won two awards before it was released theatrically by IFC Films and won six AACTA Awards including Best Film in 2019; and rising filmmaker Abe Forsythe’s “Little Monsters,” starring Lupita Nyong’o and Josh Gad, which made its world premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was distributed by Neon and Hulu.

On the television side, Bruna and Made Up Stories executive produced “The Undoing,” starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant, directed by Susanne Bier and created by David E. Kelley, which was HBO’s most watched series of 2020 and was nominated for four Golden Globes®, as well as, the recent hit Amazon Prime Video series “Tell Me Your Secrets” created by Harriet Warner, starring Lily Rabe, Amy Brenneman, Hamish Linklater, and Enrique Murciano. Additional projects in various stages of production include: the limited series “Nine Perfect Strangers,” based on best-selling author Liane Moriarty’s book, written by David E. Kelley and John Henry Butterworth, and starring Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Luke Evans, Regina Hall and Manny Jacinto for Hulu; the Netflix thriller “Pieces of Her,” adapted from Karin Slaughter’s book, created by Charlotte Stoudt and directed by Minkie Spiro, starring Toni Collette and Bella Heathcote; “Anatomy of a Scandal,” based on the international bestseller by Sarah Vaughan, created by David E. Kelley and Melissa James Gibson that S.J. Clarkson is directing, starring Sienna Miller and Michelle Dockery, for Netflix; the Spectrum Original series “Long Slow Exhale” created by Pam Veasey, directed by Anton Cropper, and starring Rose Rollins; the anthology series “Roar” for Apple TV+, based on Cecelia Ahern’s short story collection, created by Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, and starring Nicole Kidman, Cynthia Erivo, Merritt Wever, and Alison Brie; and “Wolf Like Me” for Peacock, written and created by Abe Forsythe and starring Josh Gad and Isla Fisher.

Prior to Made Up Stories, Bruna executive produced the HBO hit series “Big Little Lies” starring Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley and Laura Dern. The series was adapted by David E. Kelly from the bestselling novel by Liane Moriarty, directed by Vallee, and won an astounding five Golden Globes® and eight Emmys®, including Best Limited Series for Bruna and her fellow executive producers. She returned to her executive producer role on the series’ second season, which added multiple Academy Award®-winner Meryl Streep to its ensemble cast, and was nominated for five Emmy® Awards. Bruna’s producing credits also include Jean Marc Vallee’s “Wild,” David Fincher’s “Gone Girl,” Andrew Jarecki’s “All Good Things,” Noam Murro’s “Smart People,” Noah Hawley’s “Lucy in the Sky” and Jonathan Teplitzky’s “Better Than Sex.” She also executive produced the highly acclaimed “Milk” from Gus Van Sant.

Bruna is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the Television Academy, and the Producer’s Guild of America where she serves on the board of directors and the producer’s counsel. She is also an ambassador for Reframe, the joint Hollywood initiative between Women In Film and the Sundance Institute to further gender parity in the media industry.  In April 2020, Bruna co-created the “It Takes Our Village” industry initiative to raise funds to support the film and tv crews behind the camera who were unemployed due to COVID-19, the majority of whom are below- the-line workers with no contractual safeguards. In just one month, “It Takes Our Village” raised almost $1 million for those hit hardest by Hollywood’s shut down.