‘FILM CAN HELP US CROSS BORDERS, CULTURE AND LANGUAGE TO UNDERSTAND OUR OWN HUMANITY’ THE BRIT 50: INTERNATIONAL TIES, p42


» Ridley Scott SCOTT FREE


Need to know Ridley and Tony Scott fi rst opened Scott Free’s London offi ce in 1995, but when ex-head of Channel 4 drama Liza Marshall was appointed to head the opera- tion in January 2010 the company really began to make its mark on the UK production scene. Gener- ating buzz with Kevin Macdon- ald’s Sundance-bound YouTube documentary Life In A Day, Scott Free is also developing Rowan


THE NEW BRIT PACK Screen spotlights some of the UK producers building exciting new slates and companies Alexandra Stone


Alexandra Stone, a long-time associate of both Jeremy Thomas and Paula Weinstein, is at the helm of CMP Film, the movie arm of Creative Management And Productions run by former Donmar Warehouse producers Nick Frankfort


and Tobias Round. The well-connected Stone has built an exciting slate of projects attaching fi lm- makers as diverse as Lone Scherfi g, Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland, Peter Capaldi, Lucy Walker and Noel Clarke.


Gareth Unwin


Gareth Unwin’s Bedlam Productions made the low-budget thriller Exam before stepping up with The King’s Speech (it was the original production company which optioned the story and developed it with writer David Seidler). Now Unwin has another


ambitious Seidler project in the pipeline, an $18m period drama about Lady Hester Stanhope.


Eran Creevy — came joint-third on this year’s Brit List of hot scripts. The outfi t is developing a slate of projects from young talent including Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll director Mat Whitecross.


Nicole Carmen-Davis and Rebekah Gilbertson


Rainy Day Films is the partnership of The Edge Of Love and Patagonia producer Rebekah Gilbertson and Fifty Dead Men Walking executive producer Nicole Carmen-Davis who got to know each other when they both participated on the Inside Pictures programme in 2008. Since then, they have raised an EIS fund for development which is fi nancing packaging and development on projects including Brit List screenplay The Ice Palace by Juliette Towhidi, Catherine MacPhail’s novel Another Me which Isabel Coixet is attached to write and direct and a Marc Evans project about the early years of Shirley Bassey.


Producers Ben Pugh and Rory Aitken of London- based Between The Eyes made their feature debut with Bafta-nominated drama Shifty in 2008. The duo’s next feature Welcome To The Punch — also written and to be directed by Shifty writer-director


Newcastle and London-based Ipso Facto had a strong showing with a local hit this summer, the Martin Compston-starring Soul Boy. Company-founder Christine Alderson’s development slate includes the 3D post-apocalyptic adventure Second Origin from director Bigas Luna and Matthew Thompson’s supernatural thriller Dead Gone Buried.


Met Film Production has strong ties to new talent through sister company Met Film School. The outfi t, run by Jonny Persey and Al Morrow, has produced fi lms including Little Ashes (the cast included a then-unknown Robert Pattinson), French Film, The Infi del and recent award winner Men Who Swim. Forthcoming projects include documentary Donor 150 and South African co-production Maakbet.


Rachel Robey and Alastair Clark’s Wellington Films produced the award-winning London To Brighton and Duane Hopkins’ feature debut Better Things. Their feature documentary about designer Ozwald Boateng, A Man’s Story, recently premiered at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival.


» December 15, 2010 Screen International 41 ■


Joffe’s next feature after Brighton Rock, Before I Go To Sleep. Mar- shall plans to expand Scott Free’s TV arm as well as make two to three features a year. Key personnel Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, head of fi lm and television Liza Marshall, head of develop- ment — fi lm Jack Arbuthnott. Incoming Joffe’s Before I Go To Sleep, as well as an adaptation of Glen Duncan’s novel The Last Werewolf, which is at script stage. Liza Marshall says “We’re look- ing for fi lms which are a decent budget and both commercial and good; fi lms which can work internationally and in different markets. And the kind of fi lms Ridley has made — not the giant $150m movies but the really in- telligent genre fi lms.” www.rsafi lms.com/page/


scott-free (44) 20 7437 3163 Rebecca O’Brien SIXTEEN FILMS


Need to know Launched by Ken Loach and Rebecca O’Brien in 2002 to produce Loach’s work, Sixteen Films has built close yet informal relationships with distribution partners around Europe, include Diaphana in France and BIM in Italy. More recently Sixteen has also part- nered with Wild Bunch and Why Not Productions in France on Looking For Eric, Route Irish and


Loach’s next fi lm. Sixteen also produced Oranges And Sunshine by Loach’s son, Jim. Meanwhile, looking after Loach Sr’s signifi - cant archive is a key function. Key personnel Ken Loach, Rebecca O’Brien, Paul Laverty, Camilla Bray. Incoming The next Loach/Laverty/ O’Brien fi lm, gearing up to shoot in and around Glasgow this spring. A second fi lm from Jim Loach is in development with writer Rona Munro. O’Brien is developing a television series. Rebecca O’Brien says “One of the nice things about working with people you’ve worked with for a long time is that there are so many conversations you don’t actually have to have. It also means you can concentrate on the story in hand, which is a real advantage.” rebecca@sixteenfi lms.co.uk


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