Film4 Productions

Film4 Productions
Parent	Channel Four Television Corporation
Website	www.film4productions.com

Film4 Productions is a British film production company owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The company has been responsible for backing many films made in the United Kingdom. The company's first production was Walter, directed by Stephen Frears, which was released in 1982. It is especially known for its gritty, kitchen sink-style films and period dramas.

History

In 1981, producer

Merchant Ivory.^[3] By 1984, Channel Four Films were investing in a third of the feature films made in the UK.^[4]

Channel Four's Business Development Department was formed in 1983 for TV and film sales

Jan Svankmajer's Alice (1988).^[3] In 1985 FilmFour International was created as a separate international film sales arm and to invest in foreign film, including Andrei Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice (1986).^[5]^[2]^[3]

Channel Four Film's first big hit was Frears' third feature film for the cinema,

16mm for Channel 4 it was met with such critical acclaim at the Edinburgh Film Festival that it was acquired by Orion Classics and distributed to cinemas and became an international success.^[7]^[8]^[2]

In 1987, FilmFour International agreed a licensing deal with Orion Classics to handle US distribution of two more FilmFour features, Rita, Sue and Bob Too and A Month in the Country.^[9] By 1987, Channel 4 had an interest in half the films being made in the United Kingdom.^[10]
Rose and Channel Four Films are credited by many as being a significant figure in the regeneration of British cinema and particularly remembered for films such as
Mona Lisa, and Letter to Brezhnev. Channel Four Films also invested in early Working Title Films as well as most of the films of Frears, Ken Loach and Mike Leigh.^[2] Leigh told writer Hannah Rothschild around 2008 that Film on Four had saved the British film industry: "This is a non-negotiable, historical fact of life and anybody who suggests that this isn't the case is simply either suffering from some kind of ignorance or has got some terrible chip."^[1]

Rose remained in his post as Commissioning Editor until March 1990.[6] During his tenure at Channel 4, Rose approved the making of 136 films, half of which received cinema screenings.^[11] Of the films Rose backed, 20 were from overseas sources, including work by directors Theo Angelopoulos, Andrei Tarkovsky and Wim Wenders.^[12] The company also helped British minority filmmakers including Po-Chih Leong (Ping Pong (1986)); Horace Ové (Playing Away (1986)) and Hanif Kureishi (My Beautiful Laundrette; Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1987)). This continued after Rose's departure with films directed by Gurinder Chadha (Bhaji on the Beach (1993)) and Steve McQueen (Hunger (2008)).^[13]
David Aukin joined as head of drama in October 1990 and took over responsibility for Film on Four.^[6] He changed his title to head of film in 1997 which he remained until 1998.^[2]
The company had another big international success with Jordan's The Crying Game in 1992.^[2] In addition it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture as was Howards End the same year. Damage also received an Academy Award nomination that year.^[6] Later in 1993, Leigh's Naked and Loach's Raining Stones were entered into competition at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival.^[6]
The following year, Mike Newell's Four Weddings and a Funeral became the highest-grossing UK film of all time and Danny Boyle's Trainspotting (1996) was also very successful.^[2]
In the 1990s, Channel Four partnered with The Samuel Goldwyn Company to create a distribution company to release Channel Four films and Goldwyn films in the UK but Goldwyn pulled out late on and in August 1995, Film Four Distributors was formed.^[14] Its first release was Blue Juice (1995) and its first major successes were Secrets & Lies and Brassed Off in 1996.^[15]^[16]^[2]
In 1998, the company was re-branded as FilmFour with an annual budget of £32 million for 8 to 10 films.^[6] East Is East (1999) becomes their biggest self-funded film.^[6] In 2000, the company signed a three-year deal with Warner Bros. to make seven films with budgets of more than £13 million but their first, Charlotte Gray (2001) was not the success they hoped for.^[6]
The company cut its budget and staff significantly in 2002, due to mounting losses, and was reintegrated into the drama department of Channel 4. The name "Film4 Productions" was introduced in 2006 to tie in with the relaunch of the FilmFour broadcast channel as Film4.^{[citation needed]}
Tessa Ross was head of both Film4 and Channel 4 drama from 2002 to 2014.^[17]^[18]

Selected list of productions

This is a list of the most notable productions by Film4.

12 Years a Slave (co-production with Regency Enterprises, River Road Entertainment and Plan B)

Fox Searchlight Pictures, Everest Entertainment, Cloud Eight Films, Darlow Smithson Productions and Warner Bros. Pictures
)

20,000 Days on Earth (co-production with British Film Institute)

24 Hour Party People (co-production with United Artists, UK Film Council, Revolution Films and Baby Cow Productions)

45 Years (co-production with British Film Institute)

Screen Yorkshire, Creative Scotland and Warp Films
)

Screen Yorkshire, EM Media, Madman Entertainment and UK Film Council
)

A Field in England

20th Century Fox
)

A Most Wanted Man (co-production with FilmNation Entertainment)

A Month in the Country (co-production with Euston Films)

A Room with a View (co-production with Merchant Ivory Productions and Goldcrest Films)

Artificial Eye
)

Universal Music
, Playmaker Films & Krishwerkz Entertainment)

American Animals

American Buffalo (co-production with Capitol Films)

American Honey (co-production with Parts & Labor, Pulse Films, ManDown Pictures, British Film Institute, and Maven Pictures)

An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn (co-production with British Film Institute)

Bórd Scannán na hÉireann/Irish Film Board and European Development Fund
)

Angel

Angels & Insects (co-production with The Samuel Goldwyn Company
)

Another Year (co-production with Thin Man Films)

Big Talk Productions, StudioCanal and UK Film Council
)

Backbeat (co-production with PolyGram Filmed Entertainment)

Bad Behaviour

Bandit Queen (co-production with Kaleidoscope Entertainment)

Beast (co-production with British Film Institute)

Beautiful Thing

Been So Long (co-production with Netflix and British Film Institute)

Arts Council of England
)

Screen Yorkshire and UK Film Council
)

Bhaji on the Beach

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (co-production with TriStar Pictures)

Miramax Films, Mirage Enterprises and HAL Films
)

Black Sea (co-production with Focus Features)

Blue (co-production with BBC Radio 3 and Arts Council of Great Britain)

Blue Juice

Blonde Fist

Miramax Films
and Prominent Features)

Bread and Roses

Brian and Charles (co-production with British Film Institute and Mr Box Productions)

Brothers of the Head (co-production with Screen East and EM Media)

Buena Vista Social Club (co-production with Road Movies Filmproduktion and Arte)

Miramax Films
)

Screen Yorkshire and UK Film Council
)

Career Girls

Carla's Song (co-production with Glasgow Film Office and Televisión Española)

Carol (co-production with Number 9 Films and Killer Films)

Screen Yorkshire
)

Charlotte Gray (co-production with Ecosse Films and Warner Bros.)

Christmas Carol: The Movie (co-production with UK Film Council)

Cold War (co-production with British Film Institute and MK2)

Comrades (co-production with now-defunct National Film Finance Corporation)

Croupier (co-production with Arte and Westdeutscher Rundfunk)

Cuban Fury (co-production with British Film Institute)

Le Studio Canal+ and Canal+
)

Dance with a Stranger

France 3 Cinéma, Zentropa and Fine Line Features
)

Raidió Teilifís Éireann and Capitol Films
)

Dead Man's Shoes

Death and the Maiden (co-production with Capitol Films, Canal+, TF1 and Fine Line Features)

Death to Smoochy (co-production with Senator Film and Warner Bros.)

Deep Water

ScreenWest
)

Disobedience (co-production with FilmNation Entertainment and Element Pictures)

Dog Eat Dog (co-production with Tiger Aspect Productions)

View Askew
)

Screen Yorkshire, UK Film Council and Warp X Productions
)

Dream Horse (co-production with Cornerstone Films, Ingenious Media, Raw, Topic Studios, FFilm Cymru Wales, Bleecker Street, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions and Warner Bros. Pictures
)

Drowning by Numbers

Miramax Films
)

East Is East

Eat the Rich (co-production with Michael White)

Elizabeth (co-production with PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, Meridian and Working Title Films)

Enduring Love (co-production with Pathé, UK Film Council and Ingenious Film Partners)

Ex Machina (co-production with Universal Pictures and DNA Films)

Experience Preferred... But Not Essential

20th Century Fox and Warp Films
)

Fever Pitch

Fighting with My Family (co-production with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, WWE Studios and Seven Bucks Productions)

For Those in Peril (co-production with Warp X Productions)

Optimum Releasing
)

Four Weddings and a Funeral (co-production with PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Working Title Films)

Frank

Franklyn (co-production with Recorded Picture Company, HanWay Films and UK Film Council
)

Free Fire (co-production with British Film Institute)

Tartan Films
)

Gabriel and Me (co-production with Pathé, Isle of Man Film and UK Film Council
)

BSkyB
)
Giro City

God on the Rocks

Gregory's Two Girls

Greed (co-production with Columbia Pictures and Revolution Films)

Scottish Screen and Sigma Films
)

Happy-Go-Lucky (co-production with Ingenious Film Partners and Summit Entertainment)

Hear My Song

Hero

Hidden City

High Hopes

High-Rise (co-production with Recorded Picture Company, HanWay Films and the British Film Institute)

Hilary and Jackie

Miramax Films
)

How I Live Now (co-production with British Film Institute, Magnolia Pictures and Passion Pictures)

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (co-production with UK Film Council)

How to Talk to Girls at Parties (co-production with HanWay Films, See-Saw Films and Little Punk)

How to Build a Girl (co-production with Tango Entertainment, British Film Institute, Monumental Pictures, Protagonist Pictures)

Howards End

Hunger

Optimum Releasing
)

Hyde Park on Hudson (co-production with Daybreak Pictures and Focus Features)

In Bruges (co-production with Focus Features)

In the Shadow of the Moon (co-production with Discovery Films and Passion Pictures)

Institute Benjamenta (co-production with Pandora Film)

Invincible (co-production with Fine Line Features
)

Jimmy's Hall

Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten

Journeyman

Intermedia Films
)

Screen Yorkshire
and Rook Films)

Ladybird, Ladybird

Last Night in Soho (co-production with Focus Features and Working Title Films)

Scottish Screen and Glasgow Film Office
)

Le Week-End

Lean on Pete (co-production with British Film Institute)

Life (co-production with See-Saw Films, Telefilm Canada and Screen Australia
)

Life Is Sweet

London Kills Me (co-production with PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Working Title Films)

Wild Bunch
)

Miramax Films
)

Anton Capital Entertainment, Creative Scotland and See-Saw Films
)

Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence

Mary Magdalene (co-production with Universal Pictures, Porchlight Films, Affirm Films, Columbia Pictures and See-Saw Films^[19])

Me and You and Everyone We Know

Mister Lonely (co-production with Recorded Picture Company)

Moonlighting

Mr. Turner (co-production with British Film Institute, Focus Features International and Thin Man Films)

My Beautiful Laundrette (co-production with SAF Productions and Working Title Films)

My Name Is Joe

Wild Bunch
)

Fox Searchlight Pictures
)

Le Studio Canal + and Pandora Film
)

Bórd Scannán na hÉireann/Irish Film Board
)
Nowhere Boy (co-production with UK Film Council, Ecosse Films and The Weinstein Company)

On the Road (co-production with American Zoetrope, MK2, France Télévisions, Canal+, Ciné+, France 2 Cinéma and Vanguard Films)

Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (co-production with UK Film Council)

Color Force
)

Orphans (co-production with Scottish Arts Council and Glasgow Film Office)

P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang

Paris, Texas (co-production with Westdeutscher Rundfunk)

Peter's Friends (co-production with The Samuel Goldwyn Company)

Amazon Studios and Thin Man Films
)

Poor Things (co-production with Searchlight Pictures, Element Pictures and TSG Entertainment)

Palace Pictures
)

Purely Belter

TVS Television and Cinecom
)

Raining Stones

Enigma Productions
)

Remembrance

Riff-Raff

Rita, Sue and Bob Too

Room (co-production with Element Pictures and No Trace Camping)

Saint Maud (co-production with British Film Institute, Escape Plan Productions and StudioCanal)

Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (co-production with Working Title Films)

Secrets & Lies (co-production with Ciby 2000)

USA Films
)

Seven Psychopaths (co-production with British Film Institute, HanWay Films and CBS Films)

Fox Searchlight Pictures and Recorded Picture Company
)

Shallow Grave

Fox Searchlight Pictures, UK Film Council, See-Saw Films, HanWay Films and Momentum Pictures/Alliance Films
)

Big Talk Productions, Working Title Films, StudioCanal, Universal Pictures and Rogue Pictures
)

She'll Be Wearing Pink Pyjamas

Shopping (co-production with Kuzui Enterprises and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment)

Big Talk Pictures
)

Sister My Sister

Slow West (co-production with the New Zealand Film Commission and See-Saw Films)

Fox Searchlight Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Pathé and Celador Films
)

Starred Up (co-production with Creative Scotland, Northern Ireland Screen and Sigma Films)

Stormy Monday (co-production with Atlantic Entertainment Group)

Straightheads (co-production with Ingenious Film Partners and UK Film Council)

Red Hour Films and Warp Films
)

BFI, Ingenious Media, Canal+, Cine+
and Ruby Films)

Paramount Classics
)
The Acid House

Bórd Scannán na hÉireann/Irish Film Board
)

The Baby of Mâcon (co-production with UGC and Canal+)

The Belly of an Architect (co-production with Hemdale Film Corporation)

The Crying Game (co-production with British Screen, Eurotrustees, Nippon Film Development and Finance and Palace Pictures)

The Debt Collector

Artificial Eye
)

The Double (co-production with Alcove Entertainment and British Film Institute)

The Draughtsman's Contract (co-production with British Film Institute)

The Eagle (co-production with Focus Features)

The Emperor's New Clothes

Fox Searchlight Pictures and Element Pictures
)

The Festival (co-production with Entertainment Film Distributors)

Jersey Films
)

The Future (co-production with Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg)

The Great Bear

The Scottish Arts Council
)

Bwark Productions, Young Films and Entertainment Film Distributors
)

Bwark Productions
)
The Iron Lady (co-production with Pathé, UK Film Council and The Weinstein Company)

The King

The Killing of a Sacred Deer (co-production with Element Pictures, Newsparta Films & A24)

Intermedia Films and Canal+
)

Fox Searchlight Pictures
)

Tiger Aspect
)
The Little Stranger (co-production with Pathé, Canal+ and Element Pictures)

CNC, Institut Français
, Greek Film Centre, Element Pictures, Scarlet Films, Faliro House, Haut et Court and Lemming Films)

The Look of Love (co-production with StudioCanal UK, Revolution Films and Baby Cow Productions)

The Lovely Bones (co-production with DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures)

The Low Down (co-production with British Screen, Oil Factory and Sleeper Films)

The Madness of King George (co-production with The Samuel Goldwyn Company)

The Miracle

The Motorcycle Diaries

The Navigators (co-production with Road Movies Filmproduktion, Westdeutscher Rundfunk and Arte)

Artificial Eye
)

The Personal History of David Copperfield (co-production with FilmNation Entertainment)

The Pillow Book (co-production with Canal+)

A Pin for the Butterfly

The Ploughman's Lunch (co-production with Goldcrest Films and Michael White)

Miramax Films, Palace Pictures and Michael White
)

CITY-TV
)
The Riot Club (co-production with Universal Pictures, British Film Institute, HanWay Films and Pinewood Pictures)

The Selfish Giant (co-production with British Film Institute)

The Scouting Book for Boys (co-production with Celador Films, Screen East and Pathé)

The Spirit of '45

The Stone Roses: Made of Stone (co-production with Warp Films)

The Straight Story (co-production with StudioCanal and Walt Disney Pictures)

The Supergrass (co-production with The Comic Strip and Michael White)

Artificial Eye
)

Arts Council of England
)

Screen Yorkshire and Warp Films
)

Fox Searchlight Pictures and Blueprint Pictures
)

To Kill a King (co-production with Natural Nylon and HanWay Films)

Touching the Void (co-production with Channel 4, UK Film Council, Darlow Smithson Productions and PBS)

Trainspotting

T2 Trainspotting (co-production with TriStar Pictures, Cloud Eight Films and DNA Films)

Fox Searchlight Pictures and Cloud Eight Films and Indian Paintbrush
)

Trespass Against Us (co-production with Potboiler Productions)

Bórd Scannán na hÉireann/Irish Film Board
)

True Blue

Film Victoria and Screen Australia
)

Optimum Releasing
(as StudioCanal UK))

A24 Films
)
Una (co-production with Bron Studios, Jean Doumanian Productions, and WestEnd Films)

Zenith Entertainment
)

Miramax Films
)

Very Annie Mary (co-production with Canal+)

Miramax Films, Zenith Productions, Pandora Film, Mikado Films (France), Electric, TEAM Communications Group, PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Good Machine
)

Walter

Waterland

Miramax Films
)

When the Wind Blows (co-production with Kings Road Entertainment)

20th Century Fox, Regency Enterprises and See-Saw Films
)

Wild West

Wish You Were Here

Miramax Films and Revolution Films
)

Wittgenstein (co-production with the British Film Institute)

Screen Yorkshire
)

You Were Never Really Here (co-production with Why Not Productions, British Film Institute and Page 114)

Zastrozzi, A Romance

References

^ ^a ^b Rothschild, Hannah (2008). Labour of Love, C4 at 25. Archived from the original on 3 July 2009.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Tutt, Louise (26 September 1997). "Hope & Glory". Screen International. pp. 30–36.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Brooke, Michael. "Channel 4 and Film". BFI screenonline.

^ Susan Emanuel "Channel Four - British Programming Service" Archived 4 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Museum of Broadcast Communications website; Susan Emmanuel "Channel Four — British Programming Service", in Horace Newcomb (ed) Encyclopedia of Television: Volume 1, A-C, New York: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004, p487

^ ^a ^b Tutt, Louise (26 September 1997). "The Four Element". Screen International. p. 30.

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Deans, Jason (8 July 2002). "Timeline: FilmFour - where did it all go wrong?". The Guardian.

^ "Laundry Days". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 1 February 2019.

^ "BFI Screenonline: My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)". www.screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2019.

^ "Film Four Pic Pair To Orion Classics". Variety. 18 February 1987. pp. 4, 46.

^ David Rose quoted by Dorothy Hobson in Channel 4: The Early Years and the Jeremy Isaacs Legacy, London: I.B Tauris, 2008, p.64

^ Isaacs, Jeremy (8 November 2004). "Happy Birthday to the leader with the golden touch". The Independent.

^ Purser, Philip; Isaacs, Jeremy (15 February 2017). "David Rose obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 March 2021.

^ White, George (May 2022). "Ping Pong". Sight and Sound. p. 99.

^ Dawtrey, Adam (10 July 1995). "Ch. 4 heads into distrib'n alone". Variety. Retrieved 8 September 2022.

^ Duncan, Celia (8 November 1996). "Blowing Your Own Trumpet". Screen International. p. 22.

^ Tutt, Louise (26 September 1997). "The Four Man". Screen International. p. 31.

^ Gibson, Owen (6 February 2006). "Interview: Tessa Ross". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2016.

^ Plunkett, John (26 March 2014). "Channel 4 boss Tessa Ross appointed chief executive of the National Theatre". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2016.

^ Kay, Jeremey (21 August 2017). "Rooney Mara drama 'Mary Magdalene' held back for next year's awards season". Screen International. Retrieved 21 August 2017.

External links

Film4 Productions

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t
e
Channel Four Television Corporation
Television channels

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4Music

The Box

Kerrang! TV

Kiss TV

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Online services

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Channel4.com

Other

The Box Plus Network

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Timeline of Channel 4

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Category

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Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Film4_Productions&oldid=1219210745"

[Rothschild2008-1] Rothschild, Hannah (2008). Labour of Love, C4 at 25. Archived from the original on 3 July 2009.

[4at15-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Tutt, Louise (26 September 1997). "Hope & Glory". Screen International. pp. 30–36.

[BFI-3] Brooke, Michael. "Channel 4 and Film". BFI screenonline.

[Emmanuel-4] Susan Emanuel "Channel Four - British Programming Service" Archived 4 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Museum of Broadcast Communications website; Susan Emmanuel "Channel Four — British Programming Service", in Horace Newcomb (ed) Encyclopedia of Television: Volume 1, A-C, New York: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2004, p487

[element-5] Tutt, Louise (26 September 1997). "The Four Element". Screen International. p. 30.

[timeline-6] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Deans, Jason (8 July 2002). "Timeline: FilmFour - where did it all go wrong?". The Guardian.

[7] "Laundry Days". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 1 February 2019.

[8] "BFI Screenonline: My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)". www.screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2019.

[9] "Film Four Pic Pair To Orion Classics". Variety. 18 February 1987. pp. 4, 46.

[10] David Rose quoted by Dorothy Hobson in Channel 4: The Early Years and the Jeremy Isaacs Legacy, London: I.B Tauris, 2008, p.64

[11] Isaacs, Jeremy (8 November 2004). "Happy Birthday to the leader with the golden touch". The Independent.

[Gdn20170215-12] Purser, Philip; Isaacs, Jeremy (15 February 2017). "David Rose obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 March 2021.

[13] White, George (May 2022). "Ping Pong". Sight and Sound. p. 99.

[14] Dawtrey, Adam (10 July 1995). "Ch. 4 heads into distrib'n alone". Variety. Retrieved 8 September 2022.

[15] Duncan, Celia (8 November 1996). "Blowing Your Own Trumpet". Screen International. p. 22.

[FFD-16] Tutt, Louise (26 September 1997). "The Four Man". Screen International. p. 31.

[17] Gibson, Owen (6 February 2006). "Interview: Tessa Ross". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2016.

[18] Plunkett, John (26 March 2014). "Channel 4 boss Tessa Ross appointed chief executive of the National Theatre". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 February 2016.

[19] Kay, Jeremey (21 August 2017). "Rooney Mara drama 'Mary Magdalene' held back for next year's awards season". Screen International. Retrieved 21 August 2017.

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