Aardman Animations - Peter Lord, David
Sproxton, Nick Park
Bristol’s Aardman has won four Oscars, and over the past 40
years has established itself as a world leader in model animation. It’s been a
productive year for the studio that takes years to make its lovingly crafted
films - it’s just delivered two movies for Sony in less than six months, Arthur
Christmas and The Pirates! Aardman is a fully integrated company, with
successful TV, commercials and digital divisions too. Credits: Chicken Run, Wallace
and Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Flushed Away, Arthur Christmas, The
Pirates!
Archer Street Films - Andy Paterson,
Anand Tucker
Production started in Scotland last month on Archer Street’s
latest, the long gestating adaptation of The Railway Man. Oscar winners Colin
Firth and Nicole Kidman lead the stellar cast in the £12m film about the true
story of a Scottish prisoner of war and his journey to confront his Japanese
captors. Archer Street was launched after the success of producer Paterson and
director Tucker’s 1998 hit Hilary and Jackie. Credits: Girl With a Pearl
Earring, Beyond the Sea, Burning Man
Bedlam Productions - Gareth
Unwin
Bedlam’s Gareth Unwin partnered with See-Saw on the The King’s Speech,
for which Unwin became an Academy Award winning producer. Working across film
and TV, Bedlam is now shooting Zaytoun, about an Israeli fighter pilot who is
shot down over Lebanon, and is readying The Lady Who Went Too Far with The
King’s Speech writer David Seidler. Credits: The King’s Speech.
Between The Eyes - Ben Pugh, Rory
Aitken
Set up in 2005 to make films, ads and music videos, Between the Eyes’
first film was the Bafta-nominated Shifty. This year sees the release of its
anticipated second feature, Welcome to the Punch, directed by Eran Creevy, a
British attempt at a glossy action thiller like Heat. Credits: Shifty, Welcome
to the Punch
Big Talk Productions - Nira Park, Matthew
Justice, Kenton Allen
Big Talk is one of the UK’s most highly regarded
production outfits that’s enjoyed success across film and comedy TV. It also
has a track record of finding and working with young and upcoming talent – many
of which, like Edgar Wright and Joe Cornish, have now graduated to the big
time. Big Talk is taking Ben Wheatley’s black comedy Sightseers to Cannes this
month, where it plays in Directors’ Fortnight. Credits: Shaun of the Dead, Hot
Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Paul, Attack the Block, Sightseers, Rev
(TV), Spaced (TV), Him and Her (TV)
Blueprint Pictures - Graham Broadbent,
Pete Czernin
Riding high after its latest film – John Madden’s The Best Exotic
Marigold Hotel – topped the UK box office earlier this year, Blueprint’s next
release is Ol Parker’s Now is Good. After their success producing 2008’s In
Bruges, Blueprint is reteaming with director Martin McDonagh and star Colin
Farrell for upcoming black comedy Seven Pyschopaths. Boss Pete Czernin is a
close friend of David Cameron, while Broadbent was previously a co-founder of
Dragon Pictures and Mission Pictures with Damian Jones. Credits: Becoming
Jane, In Bruges, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Now is Good.
Cloud Eight -
Christian Colson
Christian Colson hit the big time with Slumdog Millionaire. A
frequent producing partner for Danny Boyle, Colson won an Oscar for his work on
the film and was also nominated this year for 127 Hours. Colson most recently
produced Boyle’s upcoming art heist thriller Trance, starring James McAvoy and
Rosario Dawson. Credits: The Descent, Eden Lake, Slumdog Millionaire, The
Scouting Book for Boys, Centurion, 127 Hours
Cowboy Films - Charles Steel
‘A
serious talent’ is how one rival describes Cowboy Films’ Charles Steel, who has
found success focusing on both feature films and TV drama. Run by Steel,
working alongside producing partner Alasdair Flind and TV development producer
Sara Murray, its most recent credits include Kevin Macdonald’s feature doc
Marley and C4’s drama hit Top Boy. Cowboy is producing MacDonald’s next film,
How I Live Now, a teenage love story set against World War 3 which is set for a
June shoot. Credits: Marley, Top Boy (TV), The Last King of Scotland, Fire in
Babylon.
DJ Films - Damian Jones
A
blue chip producer whose most recent film The Iron Lady won Meryl Streep an
Oscar, Damian Jones has just produced the upcoming Fast Girls. Hoping to cash
in on Olympic fever, it charts “the rollercoaster journey of a British female
sprint team.” Jones was previously partnered with Graham Broadbent at Mission
Pictures, but set up on his own in 2003. He’s just signed a first look deal
with Pathe UK. Credits: The Iron Lady, Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll, The
History Boys, Kidulthood. Welcome to Sarajevo.
DNA Films - Andrew Macdonald, Allon
Reich
Known for its brilliant deal making, DNA is behind some of the most
distinctive UK films of recent years. DNA was the recipient of large amounts of
lottery cash soon after the creation of the UK Film Council in 1997 and went on
to strike a joint venture with Fox Searchlight which yielded films like 28
Weeks Later and The Last King of Scotland. DNA is putting the finishing touches
to Dredd, Alex Garland’s re-imagining of Judge Dredd which is directed by Pete
Travis. Forthcoming projects include a Garland supernatural thriller that he
will direct, a project with BBC Films and Fox Searchlight, a contemporary
musical, as well as a variety of TV projects. Credits: 28 Days Later, The
Last King of Scotland, Sunshine, Never Let Me Go
Ealing Studios - Barnaby Thompson
Ealing
Studios is the UK’s only vertically integrated film studio, making its
particularly British brand of films like St Trinian’s as well as owning
legendary facilities Ealing Studios. Its Ealing Metro arm also focuses on
international sales and distribution. Ealing is now in development on another
of its hugely successful St Trinian’s films. Other upcoming Ealing productions
include Nina Simone biopic Nina, written and directed by Cynthia Mort and the thriller
Vanished directed by Pete Travis. Credits: The Importance of Being Earnest, St
Trinians, Dorian Gray, Burke & Hare
EON – Barbara Broccoli, Michael G.
Wilson
The home of the James Bond film franchise, Eon is very much a family
business and is run by original 007 producer Albert R ‘Cubby’ Broccoli’s
daughter Barbara and stepson Michael G Wilson. Their first film in charge of
Eon was 1995’s GoldenEye and they are set to release Skyfall later this year,
with Sam Mendes directing Daniel Craig in his third outing as 007. Credits:
Quantum of Solace, Casino Royale, Die Another Day, GoldenEye, Octopussy,
Moonraker, Live and Let Die, You Only Live Twice, Goldfinger, Dr. No.
Ecosse Films – Douglas Rae,
Robert Bernstein
Ecosse has a strong reputation in both film and TV. Last year
it released Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights, and is set to shoot Girls Night
Out this year, based on the true story of Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret
being let out of Buckingham Palace for one night to join the VE celebrations in
1945. New films in development include: Treasure Island, On Green Dolphin
Street and American Adulterer. It’s also remaking its BBC1 drama Mistresses for
ABC in the US. Credits: Mrs Brown, Becoming Jane, Brideshead Revisited, Nowhere
Boy, Wuthering Heights.
Hammer - Simon Oakes
Legendary horror brand
Hammer hadn’t released a feature for over 30 years until it became part of Guy
East and Nigel Sinclair’s Exclusive Media in 2008. Now, after years of false
starts, it’s enjoying huge success with its ‘smart horror’ output, most notably
2012’s Daniel Radcliffe starring The Woman in Black which has taken over $125m
worldwide. Follow up The Woman In Black: Angels of Death is now in the
pipeline, as well as features The Quiet Ones, Boneshaker and Gaslight. It’s diversified
too, launching a publishing imprint through Random House and plans a Hammer
Theatre of Horror. Credits: Let Me In, Wake Wood, The Resident, The Woman in
Black
Heyday Films - David Heyman
One
of the UK’s pre-eminent producers, David Heyman struck gold as the producer of
the Harry Potter franchise for Warners, and his Heyday Films has a first look
deal with the Hollywood studio – one of very few such deals in the UK. War
drama St Nazaire about the British commando raid in 1942, directed by Potter’s
David Yates, is on the cards. November sees the release of space drama Gravity,
starring George Clooney. Credits: Harry Potter films, I am Legend, The Boy In
The Striped Pyjamas, Page Eight.
Independent Film Company - Luc Roeg
A
diversified and highly regarded business which specialises in development,
financing, production, sales and distribution, Independent produced Lynne
Ramsay’s We Need to Talk About Kevin. Projects in development include
adaptations of Bernard Cornwall’s Azincourt and Dean King’s Skeletons on the
Zahara. Credits: We Need to Talk about Kevin, Mr Nice
JW Films - James Wilson
JW Films is one of the production companies behind Jonathan Glazer’s upcoming
Under the Skin, starring Scarlett Johansson. Run by former Fox Searchlight and
FilmFour exec James Wilson, JW Films is also producing Sophie Fiennes’ The
Pervert’s Guide to Ideology. Described as a ‘cineaste’ who is drawn to edgier
material, Wilson is also a director of Big Talk Pictures. Credits: Under the
Skin
Liberty Films - Stuart Fenegan
With a
background in commercials production, Fenegan’s first film was Duncan Jones’s
well received debut Moon. The pair set up Liberty Films together, and are
understood to be working on a massive Ian Fleming biopic that will be directed
by Jones. Credits: Moon.
Neal Street - Pippa Harris
Set up by Sam
Mendes, Pippa Harris and Caro Newling in 2003, Neal Street spans film, TV and
theatre. Its TV arm produced BBC1’s ratings smash Call the Midwife, while its
film operation is readying long delayed Ian McEwan adaptation On Chesil Beach
and is making Nick Murphy’s Blood starring Paul Bettany and Brian Cox. Neal
Street’s theatre division, run by Newling, produced Shrek The Musical. Credits:
Revolutionary Road, Starter for Ten, Jarhead.
Number 9 Films - Stephen Woolley,
Elizabeth Karlsen
Number 9’s Stephen Woolley together with partner Elizabeth
Karlsen hardly need any introduction, having produced some of the UK’s most
distinguished films from the 1980s on. Upcoming releases include Mike Newell’s
highly anticpated Great Expectations and Neil Jordan’s Byzantium and it’s also
readying John Crowley’s Carol. Credits: Mona Lisa, Ladies in Lavender, Little
Voice, Interview with the Vampire, Crying Game, How to Lose Friends and
Alienate People, Made in Dagenham
Origin Pictures - David
Thompson
Launched by the former head of BBC Films in 2008, Origin is in
pre-production on Nelson Mandela biopic Long Walk to Freedom in South Africa
which stars Idris Elba and is directed by Justin Chadwick. It’s been a busy few
years for Origin, which is active across film and TV, producing the Rebecca
Hall starring The Awakening as well as BBC2’s The Crimson Petal and the White.
Origin has a deal with Fremantle Media Enterprises for TV distribution and
producer/financier Anant Singh backs the company through Distant Horizon, the
international production and distribution company. Credits: The Awakening, The
Crimson Petal and the White (TV)
Passion Pictures - John
Battsek
Passion is the name in feature documentaries in the UK, having produced
over 25 films starting with the Oscar winning One Day in September in 1999.
Passion is currently working on several new feature film projects, including -
with Cowboy Films - the new feature adaptation of Meg Rosoff’s How I Live Now
which is due to shoot this summer with Kevin MacDonald directing. Credits: One
Day in September, In the Shadow of the Moon, Restrepo, Fire in Babylon, Project
Nim
Peapie Films - Kris
Thykier
Former Freuds PR vice-chairman Kris Thykier set up Peapie Films in
2009, having run Marv Films with Matthew Vaughan for two years previously where
he’d exec produced hit film Stardust. With a focus on international movies with
commercial appeal, Peapie’s slate includes Trash with Working Title Films,
written by Richard Curtis and to be directed by Stephen Daldry. Thykier’s
recent producing credits include his current film I Give It a Year by Dan Mazer
and Madonna’s W.E. Credits: Stardust, Harry Brown, Kick-Ass, W.E., Ill Manors
Recorded Picture Company - Jeremy
Thomas
Legendary producer Jeremy Thomas has made some 60 films and continues to
produce on average two a year. Thomas’ operation employs some 56 people across
RPC and sales outfit Hanway Films. RPC starts shooting a new Jim Jarmusch film
in July, and is readying a feature about The Kinks as well as JG Ballard
adaptation High Rise. Thomas is also considering branching out in to TV
production soon. Credits: Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, The Last Emperor,
Naked Lunch, Stealing Beauty, Crash, Sexy Beast, The Dreamers, 13 Assasins
Revolution Films - Andrew
Eaton
Prolific, nimble and smart, Revolution produces all of Michael
Winterbottom’s films including his latest, the Paul Raymond biopic The King of
Soho. But Revolution isn’t just a one director indie - it makes a range of other
projects, including Ron Howard’s next film, Formula One epic Rush, and last
year’s London Film Festival opener, Fernando Mereilles’ 360. Like many other
film producers, Revolution has also successfully moved in to TV, producing C4’s
Red Riding trilogy as well as Winterbottom’s hit comedy The Trip. Credits: 360,
The Trip (TV), The Killer Inside Me, Red Riding (TV), A Mighty Heart, In This
World, 9 Songs, Jude
Ruby Films - Alison Owen, Paul
Trijbits
Ruby is an entreprenuerial and creative indie that’s on a roll. It’s
diversified into TV with acclaimed dramas such as Toast and Small Island and is
currently shooting Stephen Poliakoff’s Dancing on the Edge. Set up by Lily
Allen’s mother, Alison Owen, in 1999, Ruby was bolstered by the arrival of ex
UK Film Council New Cinema Fund head Paul Trijbits in 2007. With nine full time
staff working from its Clerkenwell offices, Ruby is readying David Yates’
(Harry Potter) next film Your Voice in My Head as well as Saving Mr Banks,
which has Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson attached to star in the true story behind
Disney’s Mary Poppins. Credits: Jane Eyre, Tamram Drew, Chatroom, The Other
Boleyn Girl, Sylvia
Scott Free - Liza
Marshall
Ridley and Tony Scott’s London and LA based production outfit houses
both of the brother’s films, and signalled its intention to bolster its UK
activities with the appointment of former C4 head of drama Liza Marshall as
head of film and TV in late 2010. Scott Free is readying Rowan Joffe’s
(Brighton Rock) psychological thriller Before I To To Sleep, and has executive
produced Eran Creevy’s Welcome to the Punch.
See-Saw Films - Iain Canning,
Emile Sherman
Arguably the most interesting young production company in the
business, the Anglo-Australian See-Saw was launched in 2008 by London based
sales exec Iain Canning and Austalian producer Emile Sherman. Soon after they
hit the big time with The King’s Speech, winner of four Oscars, including best
film. Since then, See Saw has produced Steve McQueen’s Shame. See-Saw Films has
a first look deal with Momentum Pictures in the UK and has a sister company in
Australian/NZ distributor Transmission Films. Credits: The King’s Speech,
Oranges and Sunshine, The Kings of Mykonos, Linear.
ShoeBox - Paul Webster
The former boss of
FilmFour, Webster recently launched Shoebox with Guy Heeley and director Joe
Wright. Shoebox’s first film is Hummingbird starring Jason Statham, which wraps
this month. Just before setting up Shoebox, Webster produced Joe Wright’s Anna
Karenina, alongside Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner. It’s now in
post for a likely autumn festival debut. Webster was previously head of
Elisabeth Murdoch’s Shine Picture’s film arm, producing Salmon Fishing in the
Yemen. Credits: Hummingbird
Shine Pictures – Ollie Madden
Shine
Pictures is the film division of Elisabeth Murdoch’s Shine Group, which is
behind Lasse Halstrom’s Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Warner Bros exec Ollie
Madden took over running the business from veteran producer Paul Webster last
year. Shine Pictures has a joint venture with New Regency, and is producing the
Brad Pitt starring The Gray Man, directed by James Gray, through that. Shine is
also producing the big screen version of bestselling Scandinavian thriller
Three Seconds for New Regency and has a sequel to Eastern Promises set up at
Focus Features. Credits: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Brighton Rock, Eastern
Promises, Miss Pettigrew Lives for A Day.
Slate Films/Potboiler – Andrea Calderwood,
Gail Egan
Experienced producers Calderwood and Egan joined forces in 2009 to
co-develop a slate while keeping their standalone companies. They’re now making
their adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s bestselling novel Half of a
Yellow Sun, set during the Nigerian-Biafran War of 1967-1970. Calderwood also
produced HBO’s TV drama Generation Kill. Credits: I am Slave, The Last King of
Scotland, The Constant Gardener
Sigma Films - Gillian Berrie,
David Mackenzie
Scotland’s pre-eminent film production company, the Glasgow
based Sigma has produced director David Mackenzie’s films including Young Adam
and The Last Great Wilderness. It also has strong links with Danish producer
Zentropa, which has seen it contribute to films such as Lars von Trier’s
Dogville and Susanne Bier’s After the Wedding. Sigma’s most recent film,
Citadel, won the audience award at SXSW. Credits: Red Road, Young Adam, Hallam
Foe, Perfect Sense, You Instead.
Sixteen Films - Rebecca
O’Brien
Clever, entrepreneurial and viewed as a ‘national treasure’ by one
fellow producer, Rebecca O’Brien runs Sixteen Films with Ken Loach. Their
latest film, An Angel’s Share, plays in competition at Cannes this month.
Sixteen is adept at working with European partners to raise finance for its
projects. Credits: Land and Freedom, Sweet Sixteen , The Wind that Shakes the
Barley, My Name is Joe, Looking for Eric.
Synchronicity - Colin Vaines
The
Weinstein Company’s former head of European production and co-president of Graham
King’s GK Films, Vaines returned to freelance production in 2010 having amassed
credits including The Gangs of New York. The prolific Vaines was one of
the producers of Ralph Fiennes Coriolanus, co-produced Madonna’s directing
debut W.E and co-exec produced My Week with Marilyn. Dividing his time between
London and LA, he’s now readying the story of gay Welsh rugby star Gareth
Thomas and a ghost story from Bafta nominated chiller specialist David Pirie.
Credits: Coriolanus, W.E.
Toledo Films - Duncan
Kenworthy
Kenworthy set up Toledo Pictures in 1995 soon after producing Four
Weddings and A Funeral through Working Title, continuing to work with Working
Title on Notting Hill and Love Actually. The former chairman of Bafta, his most
recent film through Toledo was Kevin Macdonald’s Roman epic The Eagle. Credits:
Four Weddings and A Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually, The Eagle.
Trademark Films - David
Parfitt
Trademark is run by Oscar winning producer David Parfitt and film
financier Ivan Mactaggart. Still as tenacious as ever, it recently released My
Week With Marilyn which picked up two Oscar nominations. Trademark is best
known for its award winning, prestigious dramas like Shakespeare in Love and
Madness of King George but is actively developing across a range of genres.
Next up is anticipated TV drama Parade’s End, adapted by Tom Stoppard for
HBO/BBC. Credits: My Week With Marilyn, Shakespeare in Love, Madness of King
George.
Vertigo Films – James Richardson,
Alan Niblo, Rupert Preston
Vertigo has carved out an impressive business across
production and distribution by knowing its market well and fearlessly backing
ever more commercially ambitious films. Over the past few years it’s made
a name for itself with an eclectic slate including hits Streetdance and
Streetdance 2, as well as Monsters and Horrid Henry. Coming up is The Sweeney,
while it is readying a Pusher re-make starring Agyness Deyn. Vertigo also owns
Berlin post outfit The Post Republic and is a partner is sales outfit
Protagonist Pictures. Credits: The Football Factory, The Business, Bronson,
Streetdance 3d, Streetdance 2, Horrid Henry, Monsters
Warp Films - Mark Herbert,
Robin Gutch, Peter Carlton
Warp has been behind some of the most distinctive
British films of the past decade. Buoyed by the transfer of Shane Meadows’ This
Is England from the big to the small screen, the entrepreneurial Warp Films has
also been developing its TV business and now has at least four drama and comedy
series in the pipeline, including a multinational crime story for Sky Atlantic
and Canal Plus with director Kevin Macdonald attached. Warp’s strong
relationship with Shane Meadows also continues and he’s shooting his Stone
Roses documentary at the moment. Credits: Dead Man’s Shoes, Four Lions, This is
England, Submarine, Kill List, Tyrannosaur
Wildgaze Films - Finola Dwyer,
Amanda Posey
Well respected, old school indie whose most recent credit was the
Oscar nominated An Education. Dwyer and Posey recently formalised their
partnership to develop and make distinctive, high-end films through Wildgaze.
Upcoming features include Nick Hornby adaptation A Long Way Down, which has
Pierce Brosnan attached, and Brooklyn, based on Colm Toibin’s best seller,
which has Rooney Mara attached. Separately Dwyer has just produced Dustin
Hoffman’s directorial debut Quartet. Credits: An Education, The Hamburg Cell,
Fever Pitch, Backbeat
Working Title - Tim Bevan, Eric
Fellner
Working Title’s scale, size and success is unique to the British film
industry. “There’s no other company that does what it does,” says one rival,
who describes it as being like the 51st state of Hollywood. “They are in a
category of their own.” Although several of its recent films haven’t matched
the commercial success that one expects from the producers of Notting Hill and
Bridget Jones, it remains the pre-eminent British production company of its
generation, ranking as one of the world’s – not just the UK’s – leading
producers. Backed by Universal Pictures through to 2015 via a new first look deal
which funds its projects, it’s trusted by the studio to deliver films which
marry a British sensibility with Hollywood production values. Working Title has
made nearly 100 features since 1983 that have grossed over $5bn at the box
office. And that’s not to mention six Oscars and 30 Baftas. The company’s 2012
slate looks strong, and includes Baltasar Kormákur’s Contraband, starring Mark
Wahlberg and Kate Beckinsale, which recently posted the Working Title’s
all-time biggest US box office opening weekend; Les Misérables, by The King’s
Speech director Tom Hooper and starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne
Hathaway; and Joe Wright’s epic love story Anna Karenina, starring Keira
Knightley and Jude Law. It’s now shooting Rush, the Ron Howard directed film
about Formula 1’s Niki Lauda and James Hunt based on a Peter Morgan script, and
Closed, the John Crowley-directed film that stars Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall.
Working Title also has a burgeoning TV division Working Title TV (WTTV),
producing comedy and drama content such as Birdsong and The Borrowers for UK
and US broadcasters. Credits: Senna, Green Zone, State of Play, Frost/Nixon,
Atonement, Hot Fuzz, United 93, Nanny McPhee, Pride and Prejudice, Love
Actually, Johnny English, About a Boy, Bridget Jones’ Diary, High Fidelity,
Notting Hill, Elizabeth, Four Weddings and A Funeral, Wish You Were Here, My
Beautiful Laundrette.