Shirley started 2011as the writer/producer of teen dance film Break It Down! Her feature film Muggs was optioned by Global Entertainment Media this year. In 2010, she wrote Stella and the Celestials for Liquid Animation and the teen comedy Synch or Swim for James Cameron’s Sanctum producer Leesa Kahn. Other recent credits are the pilot for the drama Kaleidoscope for Caravel Pictures, the CGI animated feature Genies for Madrid-based Lolafilms, the story for the thriller Murder on the Reef for Wonderland Media and a book adaptation Seducing Mr. Maclean for Caravel Pictures.

Most notably, Shirley worked on Walt Disney Pictures’ Dinosaurs and other Disney tentpole features Meet The Robinsons, Lion King 1½ and Home on the Range which starred Cuba Gooding, Judi Dench and Roseanne Barr.

She has also written a quirky outback feature entitled Split for award winning Launch Pictures, the action-adventure film The Marine for WWE Films starring John Cena and a screenplay based on the internationally successful television series The Saddle Club for Crawfords Productions.

The film John Henry which she wrote for Walt Disney Pictures won international film festivals and was a finalist in its category for the Academy Awards. She has also developed projects for Disney such as Sundiata and Wagadu. She wrote the chart topping American Legends starring James Earl Jones, the humorous short The Cat starring Julie Andrews and two titles for Disney’s Enchanted Tales video series.

Other feature credits include For Real, a hip-hop love story for New Millennium Studios and the urban comedy How to Make Your Man Behave which was later released internationally as Two Can Play That Game. Her screen adaptation of the opera Aida was the source material for Elton John’s successful Broadway production of the same name. Recently, in television, she wrote for The Saddle Club and the award winning Mortified for the ACTF that aired on Disney, the BBC and the ABC. Shirley’s own sitcom Hard Wired was funded by the same company.

Previously, she scripted The Lena Horne Story for Sony Pictures and ABC with Janet Jackson to star. She then went on to prepare The Gladys Knight Story for TV. Shirley’s other TV movies include BET’s thriller Incognito, TNT’s Passing Glory, USA’s family drama Colour of Rage for Wilshire Court and Misha, a holocaust drama for ABC.

Her other writing credits include projects for numerous independent production companies including the teen drama Hothouse Flowers and TV movies for Stephen J. Cannell Productions, Fox Television and NBC. She created series for Proctor and Gamble, Hanna Barbera and Crawfords. Her sassy stage comedy Lullaby Eve has been produced in N.Y., Los Angeles and Sydney and has been adapted for the screen.

Shirley is a member of the Queensland Screen Industry Council and the Queensland College of Art Advisory Board at Griffith University. She has been a teaching fellow at Bond University’s Centre for Screen and TV, has lectured at the International Film College and was a mentor for the NSW Film & Television Office.