Shirley has written for films with a cumulative box office of over half a billion dollars. She has multiple films slated for production in 2025 – including a hip-hop drama for Born Hungry, and legal drama Hearts of Stone for Full Circle Prods. She has recently delivered work on Maddfilms’ crime drama The Hostage. In 2024, she formed Magi Pictures with Michael Rymer and together they have film and series projects in the pipeline.

Writing for Walt Disney Studios, Shirley worked on over two dozen projects ranging from features Dinosaur, Home on the Range and Meet the Robinsons to the Holocaust drama Misha. The short, John Henry, which she wrote for Disney, won international film festivals and was shortlisted in its category for the Academy Awards.

Her screen adaptation of the opera Aida was source material for Elton John’s successful Broadway production.