UTA Signs Leah Nelson, Director of Animated Alzheimer's Drama 'Tangles', Ahead of Toronto Premiere
United Talent Agency has signed writer-director Leah Nelson for representation in all areas, an exclusive reported by Deadline on 10 August 2026. The deal lands less than three months after Nelson's debut feature, the animated drama Tangles, world-premiered at Cannes to an emotional ovation and critical acclaim, and weeks before the film screens for North American audiences at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Tangles is an animated feature about a young woman who puts her graphic-art career in San Francisco on hold to return home to Maine and care for her mother after an Alzheimer's diagnosis. Nelson co-adapted the screenplay with Sarah Leavitt and Trev Renney, working from Leavitt's graphic memoir Tangles: A Story About Alzheimer's, My Mother and Me. The film runs 102 minutes and marks Nelson's first feature and first screenplay (Deadline).
The voice cast is stacked with names familiar to comedy audiences. Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Bryan Cranston lead, with Seth Rogen, Abbi Jacobson, Sarah Silverman, Bowen Yang, Pamela Adlon, Wanda Sykes, Samira Wiley and Beanie Feldstein rounding out the ensemble (Deadline). Point Grey Pictures — Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's production company — is among the producing partners, alongside Monarch Media, Lylas Pictures and Giant Ant, the Vancouver animation studio Nelson co-founded (Deadline). Vicky Patel, Steve Barnett and Alan Powell produce. International sales rights sit with Charades, with UTA and CAA handling domestic — the agencies' usual role of shopping distribution deals to studios and streamers (Deadline).
Nelson's path to a Cannes premiere is unconventional. She came to animation from a publicity background, working in short-form content before co-founding Giant Ant, a multiple Emmy Award-winning studio based in Vancouver. In 2018 she also co-founded Kiddo Films, a roster-based commercial production company specialising in live-action comedy and documentary work. She holds a film degree from Emily Carr University (Deadline; Festival de Cannes).
The Tangles project was first announced in September 2022, with Nelson attached to direct from the outset (Deadline). Nearly four years later, the film heads into its Toronto premiere in the Centrepiece sidebar — the festival strand reserved for a curated mix of international cinema, neither gala nor discovery (Deadline).
Nelson continues to be represented by Brillstein Entertainment Partners for management, with UTA now on board for agency duties across film, television and other areas.
