Working Title.

• Co-chairpersons of Working Title (WT), Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, founded the company in 1984 with Sarah Radclyffe.
• 'They have been listed as the most powerful figures in the British industry' - BBC News.
• Only 42 full time staff
• Split between the main Working Title production and the low budget Working Title 2.
• 'The Working Title philosophy has been to make films for an audience and played in a multiplex... only hope we have of sustaining the UK film industry.' - Lucy Guard and Natasha Wharton.
• Mass audiences - for everyone, not a niche/selective audience.
• More than 85 films that have grossed over 54 million worldwide.
• Won lots of awards: 6 Academy Awards, 26 BAFTA awards and 4 Oscars.
• They have an impressive catalogue of films from a wide range of genres.
• Working Title flops: Thunderbirds and Wimbledon.
• 'Blockbuster comedies of Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson... punchy period films... political dramas... literary adaptations... family... cultish low-budgeters... Coen brothers' - Variety magazines.
• '...fresh talent, such as directors Joe Wrightm Stephen Daldry, Shekhar Kapur.'
• In addition to which it has launched Working Title 2, a subsidiary for low budget films with an 'independent' appeal.
• Working Title was taken by Universal in 1999, Tim Bevan said 'We were now part of a big structure, so we spent much less time on finding the money and much more on developing decent scripts.'
• All the films are currently distributed by Universal Pictures who own a 67% stake in the company and many of its recent films are co-productions with Studio Canal.
• The remaining shares are owned by the company's founders, BBC film and private investors.
• Universal's involvement will vary widely from project to project.
• Pride and Prejudice - $20 million budget.
• Interpreter - $80 million budget (director - Sidney Pollock, starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn.)
• Universal only get involved in films with big names, such as the film Interpreter.
• Clever and tactical about film projects.
• Films from 2004 - Bridget Jones 2 and Shaun of the Dead.
• Working Title have to make one big blockbuster movie a year for Universal.
• Working Title 2 - Shaun of the Dead, Billy Elliot, Ali G In Da House.
• Films exploit English cultural 'heritage' as well as pop culture with a more modern touch.
• There is a long history between American actors playing leading roles in Working Title films as English people.
• Trailers are made to match the target audience.
• Timing - Christmas films are released at Christmas time, to fit in with the audience's mood.
• Notting Hill was released before Star Wars so that it wouldn't be up against a big blockbuster but it also gave people who weren't interested in Sci-Fi (mainly women) to see something they would like to watch.
• Glossary's are used to translate words for different countries, for example, 'barristar' changes to 'attorney'.
• London comes across as an elegant, clean, sanitized city in Working Title films, eg Notting Hill.