Studio and Distribution Research

The kind of film I plan to make is medium budget, sophisticated and not inherently British in the way that thrillers such as films such as 'Ill Manors', a film using the London riots as a setting, are. As a result, production companies such as BBC Films or FilmLondon are not the kinds of production companies that would produce and distribute my film - they tend to focus on more low-budget films that have a more realistic, gritty British edge. A production company that has produced some fairly prominent films that are not quite at the level of high budget blockbusters but are not totally independent and low budget is Endgame Entertainment: this year, they were attached to the successful sci-fi film 'Looper', which was made on a budget of $30 million - as it is a science fiction film with two major stars, it naturally has a higher budget than what mine would have though I still believe that ours are in a similar category of films. Endgame Entertainment also produced 'An Education' (2009), a British film, 'I'm Not There' (2007), a biography of Bob Dylan with an arthouse edge.

Another production company that I can picture being attached to my film is FilmDistrict, the ident of which is something that has also inspired me. FilmDistrict also distributed 'Looper' as well as the film 'Drive' which, of all the recent films, has been one of the most influential for me. FilmDistrict generally produces fairly commercial films, however, and is based in Los Angeles, and so it is unlikely that it would actually produce my film - only distribute it.

For the production end, I picture Focus Features as making my film. They are a division of NBCUniversal, though are responsible for making arthouse films. In the past, they have made 'Eastern Promises' (2007) and 'In Bruges' (2008), two British films that I think mine could be comparable to.

However, as my film will be reasonably low-budget and will be a British production, I feel it is necessary to address British production companies that specialise in smaller scale films. The main British production companies that produce low budget, London based films are: BBC Films, Film4 and FilmLondon.

Though my film is fairly ambitious and I can picture it having some international production and distribution behind it, I also think that with the actual production of the film - particularly with regard to acquiring locations and supporting actors - it would be necessary to work with a production company such as FilmLondon.