OUR STORY
Soul Sailor Studio emerged from three decades of theatrical storytelling meeting the visual possibilities of animation. Founded by playwright-novelist Nelson Clark, whose stage works have been produced across the US and Europe, the studio represents a deliberate pivot from the ephemeral nature of live performance to the permanence of animated film.
After years of writing for actors in physical space, Clark recognized that certain stories, those dealing with interior consciousness, spiritual ambiguity, and the architecture of memory, demanded a different canvas. Animation offered not just flexibility, but precision: the ability to make the invisible visible, to slow time, to inhabit impossible perspectives.
Partnering with Lead Animator Büşra Ergin and a curated international team, Soul Sailor operates outside traditional studio systems. Based in Portugal and working with artists across continents, the studio embraces independence as both constraint and creative fuel. Every project is hand-crafted, budget-conscious without compromising vision, and driven by a single question: What story needs to be told this way, and only this way?
This is animation built on theatrical discipline, literary depth, and visual ambition, created by a team that believes the medium is still largely untapped for the stories adults need.
OUR MISSION UNFOLDED
We don't use animation for spectacle. We use it for exactness, to express psychological states, temporal distortions, and emotional textures that live- action cannot capture. Our visual language prioritizes restraint, symbolic density, and deliberate pacing over kinetic excess.
ANIMATION AS PRESICION INSTRUMENT
INTIMATE SCALE, EXPANSIVE THEMES
We specialize in character-driven narratives exploring grief, consciousness, justice, and identity. Each film functions as both standalone short and potential series pilot, designed for festival recognition and long-form development. We build universes quietly, one story at a time.
INDEPENDENT VISION, GLOBAL CRAFT
AUDIENCE AS PARTNER
THE LONG GAME
Our productions are collaborations with animators worldwide, blending diverse aesthetic traditions while maintaining singular authorship. We work outside the commercial animation pipeline, free to explore darker themes, moral complexity, and narrative ambiguity without compromise.
Soul Sailor is for viewers who want to think as much as feel, audiences drawn to psychological transformation, meditative pacing, and stories that resist easy resolution. We trust our viewers to do the work of creating their own meanings alongside us.
We're building a body of work that will endure, films designed for retrospective study, academic analysis, and rediscovery. Festival laurels matter, but legacy matters more. We're here to expand what adult animation can be.
CURRENT SLATE - SHORT FILMS IN PRODUCTION
All written & directed by Nelson Clark; first three projects animated by Büşra Ergin.
Chapel of Bones
Psychological mystery about loss and memory.
Help Me, Rhonda
Supernatural dark comedy with karmic bite.
Return of the Soul Sailor
Psychedelic supernatural comedy with an emotional twist.
The Greyson Scale
Near Death Experience drama exploring consciousness.
Bleak Majesty
Gritty comic tale of political corruption, betrayal, and who really gets played.
Loved Globally
5 Stars
WE BUILD EACH FILM AROUND THREE PILLARS
1. Character-First Drama
2. Visual Poetics
3. Genre with Purpose
Performance, psychology, and emotional truth drive every frame.
Whether supernatural or grounded, the engine is always human.
A carefully designed visual language: color, texture, pacing, symbolic imagery — reveals the internal world of each story. Animation is treated as emotional architecture.
Supernatural, mystery, spiritual, and surreal elements appear only to illuminate something real: grief, guilt, love, memory, consequence.
Our films blend realism and genre into a single dramatic thread.
PRODUCTION-READY SCRIPTS
Original scripts ready for production, each offering distinctive worlds and compelling narratives
The Woman Pope
Historical–spiritual psychological epic
Remember Sara Wilde
A final therapy session becomes a surreal collision of realities.
Fool’s Errand
A Christian university spirals into chaos after its president dies — a sharp comedy of institutional collapse.
Return of the Soul Sailor — Series Concept
Multi-episode supernatural mythology expanding the film’s universe.
Our Harbor
Nestled by the waterfront, our studio breathes the rhythm of the sea, inspiring every frame we create.
Address
Cascais / Portugal
Hours
8am - 8pm