Developing My Summer of Love
In July 2002, Pawlikowski was looking to make his next project. He'd read and been impressed by Helen Cross' novel My Summer Of Love and suggested to his producing partner Tanya Seghatchian (Harry Potter) that they develop it as his next film.
Seghatchian says: "It was clear that he wanted to make a film the following summer and that he had a strong instinct for the sort of film that he wanted to make. The film was going to be loosely inspired by the book and would include two characters from the novel, some of the plot and a newly invented character, sourced from Pawel's imagination and a documentary that he had made ten years previously."
Optioning and Development
Seghatchian and Pawlikowski were keen to make the film in a way that would enable them to keep creative control. They optioned the novel from literary agent Julia Kreitman at 'The Agency' through their production company Apocalypso Pictures. They then set about looking for the cast.
"That's a very untypical way of developing a film," points out Seghatchian. "Conventionally you would approach financiers to option the novel and commission the development of a screenplay. The producer, screenwriter/director and possibly a script editor would then develop the screenplay from the source material. That would go through various drafts. And then, when the financiers and the development group decided it was ready to go into pre-production, a casting director would come on board and the film would move onto a different level."
From the very beginning, however, Pawlikowski and Seghatchian knew they were going to develop the project differently. "For Pawel, making the film was contingent on his finding the right actors to embody the central roles. He was interested in finding actors - preferably unknowns - who he could then hang the film on. He had worked previously with Paddy Considine, and wanted him to play the character of a newly converted born again Christian in the film, but he was also adamant that he would like to uncover two originals to play the young female leads," explains Seghatchian.
Casting
A casting director was hired and given a set of character breakdowns for the two girls. The casting director then approached agents and began to arrange a series of open calls around the country in drama schools, youth groups and local theatres.
"It was a long process and took far longer than normal," says Seghatchian. "But Pawel wanted to get it right. Finding a pair that would work well together was key." In the end, it took about eight months to cast Press and Blunt in the lead roles.
The initial casting process was further staggered because limited funding was available early on. "We didn't have very much money - at that point we were paying for the development ourselves," says Seghatchian. "We paid for the option and for the initial casting director and searching fees. We were discussing the possibility of a development deal with the BBC, but had to keep the momentum going if we were to shoot the following year, so we were prepared to take the risk of financing the initial development ourselves whilst still in the early stages of negotiation."
Scripting and Scheduling
While the casting process was taking place, Pawlikowski reduced the book to a detailed outline of the scenes from the novel he liked and started scripting in new ideas, original elements and other themes that he wanted to incorporate into the story. Pawlikowski and Seghatchian worked on the outlining in collaboration with playwright Michael Wynne. They generated a more detailed treatment, which contained some dialogue and fully-fledged scenes and Pawel's reworking of the story, which by now also incorporated a sense of the landscape.
Once it was clear that there were enough elements in place to proceed to pre-production, producer Chris Collins, who had worked with Pawlikowski as the Associate Producer on Last Resort, came on board and broke down the shooting document in order to budget it and outline a potential production schedule.
Again, this is a very unusual way of developing a film. Film financiers normally insist on a fully developed screenplay to give them a complete understanding of the picture they are investing in. However, because Pawlikowski had made The Last Resort in a similar way, the BBC, who were now on board as the development financier, felt confident of moving forward with the flexible detailed outline.
Financing
Armed with the two girls, Paddy Considine, a detailed shooting document, a budget and a schedule, the team went out to raise the rest of the finance.
Says Seghatchian: "We went to all the usual suspects of UK financing sources and came out with interest from the Film Consortium, which had a deal with the UK Film Council and the tax partnership Baker Street. The Film Consortium also owned the sales agent, The Works, so we were able to get them to generate the sales estimates that would dictate the overall financing risk for the parties involved."
It took three months to sort out the legal documents to allow the financing to fall into place. "Deals take that long," points out Seghatchian. "Because so many parties were involved it required everyone to sign off on everything and to work out what their investment and recoupment schedules were. The legal documentation for these three party deals can be complicated and we enlisted the support of our solicitor Jeremy Gawade at legal firm Lee & Thompson to help us put the financing together."
Seghatchian says: "It was clear that he wanted to make a film the following summer and that he had a strong instinct for the sort of film that he wanted to make. The film was going to be loosely inspired by the book and would include two characters from the novel, some of the plot and a newly invented character, sourced from Pawel's imagination and a documentary that he had made ten years previously."
Optioning and Development
"That's a very untypical way of developing a film," points out Seghatchian. "Conventionally you would approach financiers to option the novel and commission the development of a screenplay. The producer, screenwriter/director and possibly a script editor would then develop the screenplay from the source material. That would go through various drafts. And then, when the financiers and the development group decided it was ready to go into pre-production, a casting director would come on board and the film would move onto a different level."
From the very beginning, however, Pawlikowski and Seghatchian knew they were going to develop the project differently. "For Pawel, making the film was contingent on his finding the right actors to embody the central roles. He was interested in finding actors - preferably unknowns - who he could then hang the film on. He had worked previously with Paddy Considine, and wanted him to play the character of a newly converted born again Christian in the film, but he was also adamant that he would like to uncover two originals to play the young female leads," explains Seghatchian.
Casting
"It was a long process and took far longer than normal," says Seghatchian. "But Pawel wanted to get it right. Finding a pair that would work well together was key." In the end, it took about eight months to cast Press and Blunt in the lead roles.
The initial casting process was further staggered because limited funding was available early on. "We didn't have very much money - at that point we were paying for the development ourselves," says Seghatchian. "We paid for the option and for the initial casting director and searching fees. We were discussing the possibility of a development deal with the BBC, but had to keep the momentum going if we were to shoot the following year, so we were prepared to take the risk of financing the initial development ourselves whilst still in the early stages of negotiation."
Scripting and Scheduling
While the casting process was taking place, Pawlikowski reduced the book to a detailed outline of the scenes from the novel he liked and started scripting in new ideas, original elements and other themes that he wanted to incorporate into the story. Pawlikowski and Seghatchian worked on the outlining in collaboration with playwright Michael Wynne. They generated a more detailed treatment, which contained some dialogue and fully-fledged scenes and Pawel's reworking of the story, which by now also incorporated a sense of the landscape.
Once it was clear that there were enough elements in place to proceed to pre-production, producer Chris Collins, who had worked with Pawlikowski as the Associate Producer on Last Resort, came on board and broke down the shooting document in order to budget it and outline a potential production schedule.
Again, this is a very unusual way of developing a film. Film financiers normally insist on a fully developed screenplay to give them a complete understanding of the picture they are investing in. However, because Pawlikowski had made The Last Resort in a similar way, the BBC, who were now on board as the development financier, felt confident of moving forward with the flexible detailed outline.
Financing
Says Seghatchian: "We went to all the usual suspects of UK financing sources and came out with interest from the Film Consortium, which had a deal with the UK Film Council and the tax partnership Baker Street. The Film Consortium also owned the sales agent, The Works, so we were able to get them to generate the sales estimates that would dictate the overall financing risk for the parties involved."
It took three months to sort out the legal documents to allow the financing to fall into place. "Deals take that long," points out Seghatchian. "Because so many parties were involved it required everyone to sign off on everything and to work out what their investment and recoupment schedules were. The legal documentation for these three party deals can be complicated and we enlisted the support of our solicitor Jeremy Gawade at legal firm Lee & Thompson to help us put the financing together."
