Working Title Films is a British film production company
Founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983
It produces feature films and television productions
Its headquarters is in London with other offices in locations such as LA and Ireland
Radclyffe left Working Title Films and Eric Fellner (an independent film producer) joined the company
In 1991 PolyGram became the parent studio to Working Title
In 2000 (after PolyGram was sold and merged into Universal Music Group), Universal Studios took over and became Working Title's parent studio
Contractually, Working Title are able to produce films with a budget of up to $35 million
In 1999, Bevan and Fellner launched a subsidary company named Working Title 2 Productions- an independant film production arm ran by Natascha Wharton
Working Title Films, the UK film production company behind box office hits including Four Weddings and a Funeral and Shaun of the Dead, is to launch a TV division.Working Title Television is a joint venture with NBCUniversal (Working Titles parent studio) and will be based in London and Los Angeles.The London office will be overseen by Juliette Howell, who has worked as an executive producer in the BBC drama commissioning group and as drama commissioner and head of development for Film4, where her credits included Slumdog Millionaire and Shameless
Films include:
Notting HillThe life of a simple bookshop owner changes when he meets the most famous film star in the world.Budget: £26 million Opening Weekend: £152,532 Gross: £153,330,437 (excluding USA)
Billy Elliot-A talented young boy becomes torn between his unexpected love of dance and the disintegration of his family. Budget: $5 million Opening Weekend: $2,484,268 Gross: $109,280,236
Wild Child-A rebellious Malibu princess is shipped off to a strict English boarding school by her father. Budget: $20 million, Opening Weekend: $1,898,085 Gross: $21,972,336
Channel 4 is a production house company, whos funding comes from adverys/commercial funding
FILM 4 -"committed to enhance the British film making industry by nurturing and funding new talent"
Film 4 has a niche (very specific small audience)
It was then followed by many other channel 4 further programmes who time shared the air of blockbuster films
In 2006 film four modified its name to Film 4 and also became a free digital viewing channel and started producing many adverts woth celebrities in weird situations to stress and intrigue the audience that this is the only channel to watch free movies continuously
Tessa Ross became controller of Film4 in 2004 and the head of TV drama for Channel 4
Film 4 is very heavily linked with Channel 4. Channel 4 financed in the helping of production in such films as "The Crying Game" and "Madness of King George". Channel 4 also decided that there side film channel would be made free on digital networks, therefore becoming the only free film program to boost ratings
Film 4 are currently on some large projects including Tyrannosaur, which Film 4 backed in production and distribution closely working with Warp X and Inflammable films. This movie is an example of how Film 4 help broadcast and produce English films and not just Hollywood blockbusters as this was the first film ever to be directed by Paddy Considine. Also fil 4 are in the final stages of distributing their own creation of Random- originally a theatre play by director Debbie Tucker Green. It is being regularly advertised on Channel 4 and competitions have started to try and attract people to see the film in cinemas
Film 4 produces about 6 films a year and works along their subsidary Warp X
Less of the budget is spent on distribution, because the films can be advertised on their own and parent companies TV channels
They have won 5 Oscars in 4 years and 3 BAFTA's in 2007. 8.3 million AB C1's a month, with an upmarket (42%) and male (55%) profile
Successful films include: Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, Four Lions, This is England, Trainspotting
Film 4 work closely with specific actors and directors such as Danny Boyle, Martin McDonagh, Steve McQueen, Peter Mullan, Chris Morris
Film 4 recently launched Film 4.0- digital/online area
Film 4.0's aim will be to find new talent and discover new ways of making, marketing and distributing films engaging new audiences online in a multi platform environment
Films
Jonny English- It was written in 2009, wrote by the same people as James Bond which grossed $160 million. Rowan Atkinson starred in it and the sequel was released in September 2010
Wild Child- Budget of $20 million. Filmed at Cobham Hall. Was marketed on radio stations, social networking sites and TV adverts- was a financial flop woth $2.2 million opening weekend
The Soloish- based on a true story. Budget $60 million. Based on books and srticles/directed by Joe Wright. Produced by Gary Foster and Russ Krasnof. Grossed $31,720,158. Paramount helped distribute through Dreamworks animation and Universal Pictures. Releaed a year later than planned, therefore lost Oscar potential.
Successful media products depend as much upon marketing and distribution to a specific audience as they do upon good production practices. How far do you agree?
Marketing and distribution of a film is what ultimately makes a film a success because it creates a buzz for the film. The marketing adds to the audiences’ suspense and the build up or excitement for the film and the films release date. However, it can be argued that the final product is what fans and critics enjoy the most and will remember most, not how the film actually got there due to its marketing campaign and the films distributors.
An example of a film which had a hugely successful marketing and distribution campaign was the sci-fi thriller ‘Prometheus’. The film was directed by Ridley Scott (the director of ‘Alien’) and distributed by 20th Century Fox- one of the Hollywood ‘big six’ production companies- which has a lot of experience working with big budget films. They teamed up with Brandywine productions in order to produce and distribute the ‘Alien’ franchise and so are used to working with this type of film genre and therefore had a lot of pressure on them to make the film great. In order to get publicity for the film they spent around $50 million on advertising, $30 million of which was raised by marketing support companies such as Amazon. The marketing campaign began in July 2011 with the film not being released until June 2012. It began with images and footage of the film being shown at a film conference presented by the main cast and crew; Ridley Scott, Naoomi Rapace and Charlize Theron. Also, a teaser poster was released with the caption ‘the search for our beginning could lead to our end’ however was taken down a few weeks later creating confusion and suspense for the films release. The official trailer was released in December 2011 (soon after an incomplete trailer was leaked online- a publicity stunt?) which created a huge buzz for the film. On top of all of this, a viral advertising campaign was started which included a variety of short videos used to cause huge excitement in the build up to the film. One of the viral ads was a speech by one of the main characters, Peter Weyland (Guy Pearce) in a futuristic TED talk which was designed by the director Ridley Scott and produced by his son Luke Scott. As well as this, at the science fiction convention WonderCon, people who attended the film panel were all given ‘Weyland Corporations’- the business owned by Peter Weyland in the film- business cards which directed them to a website which eventually led them to a video presented as an advertisement for the ‘David 8’ robot which features in the film (played by Michael Fassbender.) Later in the year (and closer to the films release date) an extended version of the video was released listing all of the qualities and functions of ‘David’. From this, a twitter account was created for David which allowed twitter users to ask the character/robot questions. Also, two more videos; one of Rapace starring as scientist Shaw and the other of the ships captain Jack preparing for a mission were all released consecutively in order to create excitement about the film. They needed to have a large advertising campaign because the actors used in the film were fairly unknown and wouldn’t have fan bases large enough to ensure the film would make a huge impact in the cinema. Because of this, a marketing campaign was needed to raise awareness which is why so much money was put into the advertising.
I think that marketing and distribution played a huge part in the success of ‘Prometheus.’ Without the huge amount of money backing the marketing campaign, the film would not have had anywhere near the same amount of success and publicity that it did. Especially not having a huge actor playing a lead role in the film, it was vital that the film was marketed well in order for people to know about the film. The only real fan base which would have been likely to have heard about the film without the marketing campaign would have been fans of the ‘Alien’ franchise and, although this audience would have been big, it wouldn’t have been big enough to have made it the success which it needed to be; managing to gross over $400,000,000 worldwide.
On the other hand, a very low budget film such as ‘Kill List’ which was written and directed by fairly unknown director Ben Wheatley, didn’t have the finance for a huge marketing campaign. Having a budget of only £500,000, there was hardly any money for advertising and marketing so they relied heavily on word of mouth and adverts in small, art house cinemas to create publicity. They spent a tiny amount of money on a trailer and a poster which would have been used as the only method of publicity. The film trailer was only shown on a few screens and was put on YouTube to appeal to a large audience, however other that there was no real push for marketing.
Like ‘Prometheus,’ ‘Kill List’ had a cast of unknown actors which would have a very small (if existent) fan base. The cast included Neil Maskell, Michael Smiley and MyAnna Buring who are all very unknown. The premier of the film was shown at the Film 4 Fright Fest in 2011 to an audience of people who are interested in crime/thriller/horror films (which is why it was shown at this film ‘festival’). Film 4 funded and produced the film which is why they wanted it to be successful and therefore why they decided to show it at their festival. Being a low budget film with an extremely low budget for advertising would have been a big reason for the lack of money the film managed to gross which was little over £16,000.
However the lack of marketing may not have been the only reason for the lack of success of ‘Kill List’. Although it received some positive reviews, a lot of critics thought that the story and plot of the film was poor. Some said ‘it feels like a better film than it was’ whereas some said it was ‘hideous’ (which can be taken in either a good or bad context). I don’t think that any more money being spent on advertising, marketing and promotion of the film would have made anyone think that the plot was any better. Therefore, it can be argued that the promotion isn’t the most important part of a film, it could be the actual storyline which leaves the biggest impact on the viewer and is the most important thing in the film industry.
A fairly low budget film which was a success even though it had a fairly low budget was ‘Kick Ass’ directed by Matthew Vaughan and written by Jane Goldman who are both British. The film cost £30 million and grossed over £38 million. They had an advertising campaign which included posters and a film trailer which was shown in the UK and the USA. Because the film was based on a comic book series, fans of the comic books will have been interested in going to see the film, however a lot of people wouldn’t have known about the comic books and so, for them, marketing would have played a huge part in them hearing about the film. A film with a relatively unknown cast; Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz and (the only fairly well known actor in the film) Nicholas Cage requires marketing for the film to become a hit and, although the end result of the film received great reviews and a sequel on the way, is the main reason for the films success. Without the trailers and the posters and the interviews, ‘Kick Ass’ wouldn’t have been as big a hit as it was.
Overall, I think it is more important for big budget films to market and promote on a large scale than it is for low budget films as the need for success is much greater. This is because the amount that they need to make back on the film is severely larger than the low budget films. Therefore they need to appeal to a wider market and they need more people to hear about the film so that they will go and see it and the only way for them to market the film on such a scale would be to spend a large chunk of the budget on promotion. This way they can promote the film worldwide and appeal to a huge audience. This is only achieved by good marketing and distribution.
Nearly a year after a botched job, a hitman takes a new assignment with the promise of a big payoff for three killings. What starts off as an easy task soon unravels, sending the killer into the heart of darkness.
Movie Info
From director Ben Wheatley, Kill List is a mind-blowing genre concoction being called the "#1 Horror Film of the Year" (Bloody-Disgusting). A brilliant blend of family drama, hitman action-thriller and terrifying psychological horror film, Kill List tells the story of an ex-soldier turned contract killer who is plunged into the heart of human darkness. Eight months after a disastrous hit job in Kiev left him physically and mentally scarred, Jay (Neil Maskell) is pressured by his partner Gal (Michael Smiley), into taking a new assignment. As they descend into the bizarre, disturbing world of the contract, Jay's world begins to unravel until fear and paranoia sending him reeling towards a horrifying point of no return
Director: Ben Wheatley
Writers: Ben Wheatley, Amy Jump
Stars: Neil Maskell, MyAnna Buring and Harry Simpson
Genres: Crime | Horror | Thriller
Details
Official Sites: Official site
Country: UK
Language: English | Swedish (a few lines)
Release Date: 2 September 2011
(UK)
Also Known As: Lista za odstrel
Filming Locations: Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, UK
Budget:
£500,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend:
$9,838 (USA) (5 February 2012) (2 Screens)
Gross:
$26,297 (USA) (4 March 2012)
Technical Specs
Runtime: 95 min
Color: Color
Awards:
British Independent Film Awards
Year
Result
Award
Category/Recipient(s)
2011
Won
British Independent Film Award
Best Supporting ActorMichael Smiley
Nominated
British Independent Film Award
Best Achievement in Production
Best ActorNeil Maskell
Best ActressMyAnna Buring
Best DirectorBen Wheatley
Best Screenplay Ben Wheatley Amy Jump
Empire Awards, UK
Year
Result
Award
Category/Recipient(s)
2012
Won
Empire Award
Best Horror
Evening Standard British Film Awards
Year
Result
Award
Category/Recipient(s)
2012
Nominated
Evening Standard British Film Award
Best Screenplay Amy Jump Ben Wheatley
London Critics Circle Film Awards
Year
Result
Award
Category/Recipient(s)
2012
Nominated
ALFS Award
British Film of the Year
Supporting Actor of the Year Michael Smiley
Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival
Year
Result
Award
Category/Recipient(s)
2011
Won
Best Actress
MyAnna Buring
Nominated
Best of Puchon
Ben Wheatley
Directed by
Ben Wheatley
Produced by
Claire Jones Andy Starke
Written by
Ben WheatleyAmy Jump
Starring
Neil Maskell Michael Smiley MyAnna Buring Emma Fryer
Music by
Jim Williams
Cinematography
Laurie Rose
Editing by
Ben Wheatley Robin Hill Amy Jump
Studio
Rook FilmsWarp X Film4 Productions Screen Yorkshire UK Film Council
Distributed by
Optimum Releasing(UK)IFC Midnight(US)
Release date(s)
28 August 2011 (2011-08-28)(FrightFest (UK Premiere))
2 September 2011 (2011-09-02)(UK)
Running time
92 minutes
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
Budget
£500,000
Release Information
Sep 2, 2011 Wide
Dec 26, 2011
Interveiw:
Reviews:
"Kill List" didn't have very positive reviews with only just over half of 'Roten Tomatoes' users liking the film. Considering that Ben Weatley's film debut 'Down Terrance' was praised by critics, they didn't seem to think that this was very good. Maybe it is the outrageously ridiculous story line? Perhaps the blood and gore seems to be too much to handle? Either way, it wasn't the best film that they have ever reviewed. Not by a long shot.
Rotten Tomatoes
All Critics
Average Rating: 7.1/10
Reviews Counted: 81
Fresh: 61 | Rotten: 20
Audience:
56% liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 6,427
"Kill List" begins with verbal violence at a dinner table, continues with actual violence in a hit-man scenario and concludes with metaphysical violence that threatens to decapitate the movie itself. It's baffling and goofy, blood-soaked and not boring. That it's well-made adds to the confusion; it feels like a better film than it turns out to be.
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic
Following up his impressive 2010 debut, “Down Terrace,” with something altogether more implacable and strange, the British director Ben Wheatley has gained confidence in his handling of male violence and domestic distress. That assured style is the spackle that holds “Kill List” together: when the plot doglegs into insanity, and the characters follow suit, this brutal fever dream refuses to fall apart.
Andrew O'Hehir
Salon.com
Top Critic
Writer-director Ben Wheatley served up one of last year’s punchiest British debuts with Down Terrace, the story of a common-or-garden Brighton crime family. With his second film, the joltingly scary Kill List, he plunges further into genre territory – but identifying exactly which genre we’re going to wind up in is half the challenge. The less you know in advance, the more potent the feeling of being shoved head-first down a rabbit hole. What’s waiting at the end isn’t a bunny – it’s hideous.
