Author:   Tim Bevan, Co-Chairman, Working Title Films

Background to Working Title Films

Working Title began in the early eighties when money for film production was exceedingly tight. They were able to produce My Beautiful Launderette with the full financial backing of Channel Four, but usually had to put funding packages together from a variety of sources, including British Screen Finance, the television companies and US independent distributors. Altogether, they were able to put together about 15 - 20 films in this way, but did not make any money from them and never had the cashflow to develop the best possible films from the scripts that they had. They realised in the early nineties that they had to be linked more closely to sales and distribution and needed readier access to development and production funds.

They found all of these elements in their partnership with Polygram Filmed Entertainment (PFE) which began in 1992. As one of PFE's labels, they were able to spend more money - and time - developing projects and to increase the ratio of projects in development which went into production to about 1 in 10. As a result of this relationship, they were able to give the appropriate time and money to the development of Four Weddings and a Funeral within a well-financed quasi-studio atmosphere but without the additional interference that might have come from being directly tied to one of the Hollywood studios. The success of Four Weddings helped set them up for further successes both within PFE and subsequent to the sale of PFE to Universal.

How Working Title Works

Working Title is split into four main operating departments:

• Business Affairs/Legal
• Development
• Production
• Finance

The most important part of the business is developing decent scripts. Working Title has developed a strong development team and invested heavily in making sure that they get it right. They usually have around 40 - 50 projects in development at any time and their average spend on development is around $250,000 to $500,000 per script. No film has ever suffered for taking too long in development.

They now aim to make around 4 - 5 films a year (including their WT2 slate), spread across different budget sizes (with an average of $30 - $40 million) and genres. Any more than this would over-stretch their resources and could put at risk the essential quality control that runs throughout every stage of development, production and post-production.

There are broadly three ways for a project to make its way into development:

• through an existing (formal or informal) creative relationship
• through picking up the rights to a script or book or article that has been brought to their attention
• through developing their own internal ideas

They do not look at unsolicited material.

Once they have a "go" idea, they start putting together the package. Usually they will develop two or three drafts of the script, and have a clear idea of the audience they envisage for the film before they bring a director on board, matching the director to the nature of the project and the target audience.

Once the project has received the greenlight, all aspects of the physical production will be delegated to the line producer. The Co-Chairs of the company retain creative control and, with the line producer and director, are responsible for appointing the Heads of Department.

Usually they test completed projects with UK audiences first and then with American audiences. They also prefer to release films in the UK first so that they retain more control over the distribution and marketing process. In general, only 15% of the business for their films is achieved in North America - they regard their principal market as Western Europe.

Working With the Studios

Cinema is a worldwide business but it is essentially run from Hollywood. All distribution, finance and talent are, essentially, controlled in LA. To be successful, British producers have to develop good relationships with the key people in Hollywood, ideally by identifying talented executives when they are still fairly junior in the studios and growing with them. The key talent relationships to develop are with writers and directors, rather than actors, and the relationships with their agents are also very important.

Working Title is now owned by Universal Vivendi. This gives them access to the finance they need for development and production and, perhaps even more importantly, gives them access to their worldwide distribution network, allowing Working Title some input into how their films are marketed around the world.

Top Tips

• The most important part of the business is developing decent scripts. No film has ever suffered for taking too long in development.
• Effective quality control at every stage of development, production and post-production is essential. Question everything at every stage.
• Cinema is a worldwide business but it is essentially run from Hollywood. To be successful, British producers must develop good relationships with the key people in Hollywood.
• The key talent relationships to develop are with writers and directors, and their agents.
• British producers need to make bigger movies as soon as possible - the money is out there if the idea is right.