A director's life

Ella Watts is not just passionate about voice directing. She's infatuated. Captivated. Sometimes even haunted.

She lives to pursue the very best in vocal performance, whether that's in games, radio, podcasts or something stranger. Ella sincerely believes that compelling voices can be the difference between a good project and something sensational.

About Ella Watts

As a director, Ella has worked for the BBC, Six to Start, Marvel, Doctor Who and numerous independent podcasts. She takes a particular joy in working with actors, translating scripts into sound and working out how to get the best performance from the whole cast. Ella's head is a rolodex of talent and she takes pride in her ability to cast widely and precisely. Ella is particularly committed to promoting talent from under-represented groups.

Since 2023, Ella has begun to move into the games industry - thanks in no small part to the guidance of her mentor Kirsty Gillmore (Sounds Wilde), as part of the Limit Break mentorship programme. Since then, she has cast and directed her first independent game - a point-and-click adventure called The Beekeeper's Picnic from Afoot Games, which is slated for release in Spring 2025.

Ella was the driving force behind the successful Doctor Who: Redacted podcast, pitching and producing the first season. Her other producing work includes Crowd Network's Eliza: A Robot Story, the BBC Radio 4 stalwart Quote... Unquote and a plethora of independently produced podcasts. These include but are not limited to Re: Dracula, which she directed, and The Tower, which she Executive Produced.

Ella grew up in Australia and Hong Kong and received a Distinction for her Masters degree in Radio. Before that, she worked extensively with Bristol community radio station BCfm, especially its LGBTQ+ radio show ShoutOut. These days, she lives in Manchester.