LONDON – Thursday 11 December 2008. More than £2 million of Lottery money is being invested in 15 British film production companies to develop new feature films through the UK Film Council's Development Fund.
The investment is being awarded through the fund's Production Company Vision Awards, a new initiative designed to help creative producers with a vision for the future of UK film to develop projects that will broaden the quality, range and ambition of films and talents being developed in the UK.
As part of the Development Fund, the Vision Awards will provide companies with up to £150,000 over two years, to enable them to nurture talent and to generate, source, research and develop feature film projects with a degree of creative autonomy.
The funding can be used to meet the ambitions of each company's individual strategy and will be used in a number of different ways: establishing new alliances with writers, directors and producers; creating talent hubs, enabling producers to give more time to nurturing distinctive filmmakers; investment in development executives and new producers; encouraging companies to branch out and make more ambitious films which can compete in the global marketplace; ensuring a commitment to greater inclusion and diversity and to work with disabled film talent.
Tanya Seghatchian, Head of the Development Fund, says, "We want to provide a supportive arena for creative producers with forward-thinking UK production companies who have a clear vision and commitment to UK film. We were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm for the scheme from the production community and the number of applications that we received. Given the strength of those who applied we have decided to give 15 awards rather than the 10 originally envisaged. We hope that by enabling producers to benefit from research and development funding, with a degree of flexibility and autonomy, they will work with us to build a more dynamic, talent-driven home for filmmakers and to broaden the quality, range and ambition of films being developed here in the UK."
The companies to receive Production Vision Awards are:
- Blueprint Pictures – launched in 2004 by Graham Broadbent and Peter Czernin, Blueprint has most recently produced Becoming Jane and Martin McDonagh's In Bruges which opened this year's Sundance Film Festival.
- Dan Films – run by Julie Baines and Jason Newmark, has produced British independent films such as Michael Winterbottom's debut feature Butterfly Kiss and has worked with international partners on films including Chris Smith's Creep and Triangle.
- Ecosse Films – run by Robert Bernstein and Douglas Rae, the company behind the Oscar®-nominated Mrs Brown and currently in prep on Nowhere Boy.
- Fiesta Productions – Esther Douglas and Fiona Neilson were Screen International 'Stars of Tomorrow', produced Richard Laxton's Life & Lyrics and have developed films with UK directors Mike Newell, Mat Whitecross and Jeremy Lovering as well as Danish director Susanne Bier and Brazilian writer Braulio Mantovani.
- Free Range Films – Kevin Loader and director Roger Michell are long-time collaborators having made The Buddha of Suburbia, The Mother, Enduring Love and Venus.
- Left Bank Pictures – set up by Andy Harries, producer and long-time collaborator with writer Peter Morgan (The Queen), Left Bank has just produced Tom Hooper's The Damned United.
- Origin Pictures – newly launched by former Head of BBC Films David Thompson who is currently exec producing Armando Iannucci's In the Loop, Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road and Martin Campbell's Edge of Darkness. The company is developing a wide ranging slate of films, many of which are with new and emerging screenwriters including Emma Frost, Blake and Dylan Ritson and Daisy Donovan.
- Potboiler Productions – Simon Channing Williams and Gail Egan are the producers of the Oscar®-winning film The Constant Gardener, as well as all of Mike Leigh's films. They are developing ambitious projects with both established and emerging writers and directors.
- Qwerty Films – producer Michael Kuhn is behind Saul Dibb's The Duchess, Johnny Campbell's Alien Autopsy and Chris Smith's Severance.
- Revolution Films – headed by Andrew Eaton, long-time collaborator with writer/director Michael Winterbottom and producer of 24 Hour Party People, Cock and Bull Story, In This World. Working with writers including Tony Grisoni and Nick Hornby, and with directors including Marc Evans, Mat Whitecross, Tracey Emin, James Marsh, Julian Jarrold and Anand Tucker.
- See-Saw Films – Iain Canning and Emile Sherman are the producers/executive producers behind Control, Candy, Rabbit Proof Fence and Hunger and are developing projects and film ideas with Anton Corbjin, Paul Andrew Williams and Steve McQueen amongst others.
- Sigma Films – Glasgow-based company created the Advance Party initiative with partners Zentropa to enable emerging talent, including Andrea Arnold and her Cannes winner Red Road and Morag McKinnon's forthcoming debut Donkeys. Sigma credits also include David MacKenzie's Hallam Foe, Lars Von Trier's Dogville, Lone Scherfig's Wilbur and Shona Auerback's Dear Frankie.
- Vertigo Films – run by Allan Niblo and James Richardson, has produced and distributed a number of commercial and award-winning projects such as The Football Factory, London to Brighton, It's All Gone Pete Tong, Dirty Sanchez and In Search of a Midnight Kiss and upcoming new projects such as Bronson and The Sweeney.
- Warp Films - the Sheffield based company run by Mark Herbert and Robin Gutch has produced Shane Meadows' Dead Man Shoes and This Is England, and is producing new projects to widen the range of the company's brand including Richard Ayodade's Submarine, and new projects from Shane Meadows, Chris Morris and Paddy Considine.
- 104 Films – based in Birmingham and run by director Justin Edgar and producer Alex Usborne, has a background in making films on social issues and themes including the recently released Special People, an award-winning first feature made by and starring disabled young people.
In applying for the Vision Awards, the production companies had to set out their records of success in feature film production and provide a vision statement demonstrating a sense of identity, ambition and original thinking in developing films which could reach audiences in the UK and internationally. More than 90 companies applied for funding.
This is a complementary initiative that will run alongside the two existing development funding streams which support first-timers and established filmmakers, and is designed to help producers develop their own vision for the future of UK film.
For press enquiries please contact:
Tina McFarling/Tara Milne
UK Film Council press office:
T: +44 (0)20 7861 7900/7901
E: press@ukfilmcouncil.org.uk
Notes to Editors:
1. Applicants for the Production Company Vision Awards had to have produced at least one feature film that has been distributed theatrically in the United Kingdom and screened internationally in at least one major territory within the last five years; and the production company's principals must have received producer credits on at least two other feature films that have been distributed theatrically.
2. The UK Film Council Development Fund's goal is to broaden the quality, range and ambition of projects and talent being developed in the UK. With £12 million to invest over three years, the fund aims to act as a dynamic talent driven home for writers, directors and producers.
3. The UK Film Council is the Government-backed strategic agency for film in the UK. We aim to stimulate a successful, vibrant film industry and to promote the widest possible enjoyment and understanding of cinema throughout the UK.
4. We invest Government grant-in-aid and Lottery money in developing new filmmakers, in funding exciting new British films and in getting a wider choice of films to audiences throughout the UK. We also invest in training, promoting Britain as an international filmmaking location and in raising the profile of British films abroad.
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