Year 12 Audience & Institutions Case Study: Working Title Films

1. Year 12 Audience & InstitutionsCase Study:Working Title Films

2. Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan have achieved the near impossible • They’ve created a wildly successful production company in a country where the film business is subject to repeated predictions of imminent doom. Eric Fellner Tim Bevan

3. 1984 • Working Title founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe • Now the most successful British film production company

4. Film maths • Films + American stars = Appeal to international market (& success for the British film industry) • This approach has provoked criticism about the ‘mid-Atlantic’ nature of the films.

5. The British film industry dilemma: • Do you: A) Make culturally specific films which appeal to a limited audience? OR B) Make broader, generic films with a wider appeal?

6. The British film industry dilemma: • Working Title want to make European films for a worldwide audience. • They want to imbue them with European ideas and influences and they couldn’t do these things without the backing of a major Hollywood studio.

7. History of WT: • 1984 • Working Title founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe • 1985 • First Working Title film My Beautiful Laundrette (The first of a series of collaborations with Channel Four Films) • 15 • Number of WT films produced in the 1980s

8. History of WT: • 1988 • Production deal with PolyGram Filmed Entertainment • 1991 • WT sets up Hollywood office

9. History of WT: • 1992 • PolyGram (a European music and media company) buys Working Title. • Sarah Radclyffe leaves to set up her own production company • She’s replaced by Eric Fellner

10. History of WT: • 1994 • Four Weddings and a Funeral • A big box office success due to the access to the US market provided by Polygram

11. History of WT: • 1998 • Polygram bought by Universal, a Seagram company • 2000 • Seagram is bought by Vivendi, the French multimedia conglomerate • WorkingTitle is now owned by Universal, which is in turn owned by Vivendi

13. $35m • The amount of money WT can spend on a film before consulting with Universal • WT2 • Set up to encourage new British filmmakers. • Billy Elliot (Dir. Stephen Daldry, 1999) • WT2 did not need the approval of Universal • WT2 no longer exists

14. Unique: • There is no other British Film Company like Working Title • It is allowed freedom to make creative decisions but it is owned by a conglomerate

15. Safety Net: • £13m • Budget for Captain Corelli’s Mandolin • £9.8m • UK Box Office takings • The protection of Universal means that Working Title was able to survive this disappointing performance

16. Some key Working Title films:

17. Some numbers: • 4 or 5 • The number of films Working Title produce each year • 1 • Number of ‘risk free films’ Working Title will invest in each year • 2 • Number of mainstream films WT will invest in each year • 2 • Will invest in projects they feel passionate about (which have risk factors involved)

18. Some numbers: • 95 • Number of films made (to date) by Working Title • $4.5 billion • Amount of money made by these films • 6 • Number of Academy Awards won • 26 • Number of BAFTA Awards won

19. Successful Relationships • Working Title make films with 3rd parties e.g. the Coen Brothers and people they know well and have built up a good working relationship with e.g. Richard Curtis

20. Notable films • TheSoloist • State of Play • The Boat That Rocked • Wild Child • Burn After Reading, • The Interpreter • About a Boy • Notting Hill

21. Elizabeth • Fargo • Dead Man Walking • Bean • High Fidelity • Johnny English • Billy Elliot • Four Weddings and a Funeral

22. Bridget Jones's Diary • Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason • O Brother, Where Art Thou? • Love Actually • Shaun of the Dead • Pride & Prejudice • Nanny McPhee • United 93

23. What does Eric Fellner have to say? • Working Title focus on character and narrative (as opposed to action/ special effects etc.) • They often create films of cross-genres • Fellner feels the simple essence of a successful film is a really good screenplay and sense of humanity; that the most important thing is for the audience to identify and empathise with characters

24. What does Eric Fellner have to say? • Working Title have aimed to create an industry that is exportable and global • There is an active aggressive industry in Hollywood that we can never compete with • What we should focus on is making films we believe in and exporting them

25. What does Eric Fellner have to say? • We should dissipate the notion of the British Film Industry just being British • Instead we should work with home grown material and work with others to distribute, market etc • Characters should be fun and engaging; you should want to spend time with them (regardless of whether they’re simplistic or stereotypical) • This is the focus for Working Title, rather than trying to package films/ characters for American audiences • Fellner says that the British film industry is “thriving” and can ride out recessions

26. Homework: • Next lesson you will pitch your own film idea. You need to produce a synopsis of a film you think would fit into the Working Title production style.

27. You must explain why it is suitable for a Working Title production. • Your synopsis should include comments on: • Genre • Plot • Setting • Stars • Intended audience.