About CUBA

Nick Marston is Chairman of the Theatre, Film and Television Department at Curtis Brown and joint CEO of Cuba Pictures with Dixie Linder.

He set up Cuba Pictures in 2008, the aim was to collaborate with the agencies’ book authors and screenwriters in order to develop and produce film and television. The first film was Boy A, written by Mark O’Rowe from the novel by Jonathan Trigell, directed by John Crowley and starring Andrew Garfield. They followed that up with Broken, also written by Mark O’Rowe based on the novel by Daniel Clay and directed by Rufus Norris, starring Eloise Laurence. Financed by BBC Films, and released by Studio Canal, it opened Critics’ Week in Cannes and won Best Film at the BIFAs in 2012.

They have produced many films and TV productions including Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. Adapted by Peter Harness from Susanna Clarke’s novel and directed by Toby Haynes, it was transmitted on BBC One in Spring 2015. They have also produced London Road, directed by Rufus Norris for BBC Films, as a co-production with the National Theatre, The Ones Below, written and directed by David Farr for BBC Films and Coalition, written by James Graham and directed by Alex Holmes for Channel 4. And they produced Paula, written by Conor McPherson for BBC 2 and McMafia for BBC1 and AMC, created by Hossein Amini and James Watkins and starring James Norton. McMafia has been sold throughout the world and has won several awards, including the International Emmy Award for outstanding drama series in 2019. Nick served as Executive Producer on all of these productions.

In the past few years they have made two films as co-productions with NT Live, Romeo & Juliet starring Jessie Buckley and Josh O’Connor and Death Of England written by Roy Williams and directed by Cliff Dyer.

Dixie started her career at Working Title Films before moving into producing. She produced amongst others the award Winning The War Zone, directed by Tim Roth. She also produced work for Sam Taylor Johnson including Elton John’s Brit nominated I Want Love.

She joined Cuba Pictures in 2012 as the Head of Film and Television following their success with bafta winning Boy A. During this time, she has produced Broken directed by Rufus Norris. The feature went on to win Best Independent Film and Best Supporting Actor (going to Rory Kinnear) at the BIFAs.

In 2014, Dixie executive produced the Bafta winning BBC adaptation of the bestselling Susanna Clarke novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. After this, she produced James Graham’s honest and comedic Channel 4 single Coalition, which won the Royal Television Society Award for Single Drama. Additionally in 2015, Linder produced the critically acclaimed London Road and David Farr’s gripping thriller The Ones Below. Both premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and had its UK premiere at the BFI 59th London Film Festival.

In 2019 Linder executive produced BBC One’s ground-breaking international thriller McMafia created by Hossein Amini and James Watkins, inspired by Misha Glenny’s bestselling book. McMafia was awarded the International Emmy® for Best Drama in 2019. Series one is currently the fourth most popular drama title on BBC iPlayer to date. A second series is in development for BBC and AMC.

Linder has worked with the National Theatre, executive producing My Country: A Work in Process and LOVE. More recently, during the pandemic, she executive produced Romeo and Juliet, which was nominated for RTS Television Award for Single Drama and was The Stage Awards winner for Digital Project of the Year. She then executive produced Death of England: Face to Face which went on to be nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for Single Drama, an RTS Television Award for Single Drama and a Broadcast Digital Award for Best Drama Programme.

Emma graduated with a degree in Economics. Her first break in the media industry was in International Sales at Bankside Films. She then joined NBC Universal as an Acquisitions Executive, before working in development at Bryncoed Pictures, and as a Script Editor at Mammoth Screen. In 2021, she script edited ITV crime thriller, ‘The Tower’, by Patrick Harbinson, and in 2022, she script edited Disney Plus heist thriller, ‘Culprits’, by J Blakeson. In her spare time Emma enjoys cooking, eating, and hiking.

Sammi graduated with a degree in Theatre and Performance from Leeds University. While at University she was awarded the Berkofsky Arts award where she was able to first explore filmmaking, writing and directing her debut short film. Cuba Pictures is her first role in the media industry and she has spent the last year working on Chemistry of Death for Paramount Plus. In her spare time Sammi loves going to the theatre, and on any given night you can probably find her at The National.