A professional Film and TV drama Writer/Director, Shani developed his early career directing a short film, Vengeance, one of six finalists for an Oscar nomination and distributed by 20th Century Fox in support of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Commando.

 

Subsequently, he became Head of Production at Dandelion Distribution and String of Pearls plc, where he directed Frightmares starring John Hurt.

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Shani has written and directed four feature films: After Midnight for Film 4; Double X for New World; the independent cult classic Guru in 7; and Ride the Snake, currently streaming on Amazon, Apple TV, Tubi and YouTube.

 

He has developed several feature film screenplays with the UK Film Council, Telefilm Canada, Film 4, the Yorkshire Media Production Agency, Lifetime International, and Miramax. His most recent screenplay, 77 Minutes, beat 2000 other entries to win Best Horror Screenplay at the Austin Film Festival.

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As a drama director, Shani has worked for nearly every UK broadcaster, including the BBC (Doctors, Grease Monkeys, Casualty, Holby City, winning a Peabody award as part of the BBC’s DoNation Week for directing a Casualty/Holby special; Mersey TV (Brookside, Grange Hill, Hollyoaks); Lime Pictures (Hollyoaks Bollywood Special); Tiger Aspect/Sky (Le Hip Parade); Hewland International/Sky (Dream Team); Carlton TV (developed a sitcom Rags to Riches); Sony TV Asia (Soul Asia, Welcome to Suriname).

 

He has directed commercials in Kuala Lumpur and TV drama series: Doctori de Mame for Media Pro in Bucharest; four seasons of Makutano Junction for Mediae in Kenya; and Mpeke Town, a 13-part drama series again for Mediae in Uganda.

 

Shani also lectures at the Met Film School, Ealing Studios.