Working title

The company

• Co chair persons are Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner
• Bevan founded Working title in 1984

"They have been listed as the most powerful figures in the British industry" BBC News story 2004

• There are only 42 members of staff
• These are split between the main Working Title production arm, and the low budget Working Title two.

The secret of their success
"The working title philosophy has always been to make films for an audience-by that I mean play in a multiplex. We totally believe in this because we know it is the only hope we have of sustaining the UK film industry"-Lucy Guard + Natasha Wharton

By this they mean they look for mass audiences not Niche audiences.

Key facts:

• Founded 1984
• More than 85 films have grossed over £4billion.
• Lots of awards e.g Six academy, 26 BAFTAs and 4 Oscars.
• Impressive catalogue of films, they have a wide range of genres.

Flop films include: Wimbledon, Thunderbirds and Captain Carellis Mandalin.

Working title are best known for blockbusters with Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson.

They produce:

• Literary adaptions
• urgent political dramas
• cult low budget projects

They have a formidable record for launching fresh talent such as directors:

• Joe Wright
• Shekkar Kapur

In addition to this, it has launched Working Title Two, a subsidary for low budget films with an "independant" appeal.

Why link with Universal?
"We were now part of a big structure, so we spent much less time finding money and much more on developing scripts" - Bevan (more freedom)

Universal pictures owns 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 companies founders, BBC films and private investors.

Universal involvement
Working Title take smaller projects such as Pride and Prejudice which had a budget of £20million, whereas Universal take hold of much bigger projects such as, The Interpreteur which had a budget of £80million. Universal get heavily involved in the larger budget and bigger production films.

They are tactical about film projects. For example in 2004 Bridget Jones was coming out and they knew that it would be fine whereas they were worried about Shaun of the dead. However it turned out to be a massive hit. Unlike Thunderbirds which was a massive flop.

Working title 2:

• Smaller lower budget
• Films it has produced include, Billy Elliot, Shaun of the Dead and Ali G inda House.
• Working title have to produce 4 films a year. If they do not have time left they give Working Title 2 the films they'd have liked to produce themselves.

Target audiences:

• "local" (British)
• "Global" (US, international)

Anglo-American link:

• American actors play elading roles in British Working Title films.

Important release info:

1. The trailer must match the market audience.
2. Is it's got a christmas theme, release at christmas.
3. E.G never release at the time of a American blockbuster unless you can be sure you have a target audience. Working Title released About a boy against Star Wars II

When Working Title import English DVDs to America they often find there are language barriers. So they include things like a glossary.

Famous directors Working Title use:

• Richard Curtis
• Coen Brothers
• Edgar Wright.