Working Title Films

This is a British Company based in London. Founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983.  Radclyffe left and Eric Fellner another independent film producer joined the company. PolyGram was the company’s corporate backer. PolyGram Films was merged and sold to Universal Studios in 1999.

WT 2 is a subsidiary company and an independent film production arm run by Natasha Wharton and has produced films like Billy Elliot, Shaun of the Dead and The Calcium Kid

Working Title Television is a joint venture with NBC Universal and will be based in London and Los Angles.

NBC announce a new fashion reality series, it will partner with media studio electus to search America for the next top brand in fashion.

Random House Children’s Books and Jane Turnbull announced that Working Title Films and PeaPie Films have acquired the film rights to Trash, a novel by British author Andy Mulligan. Richard Curtis, a successful screenwriter will adapt the novel.

Trash is a contemporary thriller set in the third world which follows three boys making a living picking through rubbish mounds, until a surprise discovery sets them on an adventure against corruption and authority.

Production Note for Atonement

Adaptation

A classic British romance from Ian McEwan’s book. Atonement. This film was developed at Working Title, produced by Robert Fox, directed by Richard Eyre. The director, Richard, was busy with other projects and ‘handed over the helm’ to Joe Wright his debut 2005’s Pride and Prejudice earnt him a BAFTA Award among others. Films co-chairman Tim Belvan said “We needed a plan on making this exceptional new director’s next movie.” They brought Atonement from page to screen. He comments “In making a book into a movie, the story reveals itself to you as you make it. You question the structure and points of view.” He realised that realising the narrative would be an exciting filmmaking challenge.

Academy Award winning screenwriter Christopher Hampton had been adapting the novel – Wright explains “When I first saw the script it had departed from the novel so Christopher and I started again. The script was rewritten we stuck to the book as faithfully as possible.” The screenwriter confirms that that was the approach that worked best “We returned to the structure of the book. The novel grows in power as the story progresses.” Paul Webster rejoined Working Title and thought the book was Ian’s best. Joe Wright brought a vast visual imagination to the film and Christopher wrote a beautiful script.

Bevan recalls discussing the difficulties of bringing Atonement to the screen with having to have three actresses to play the same role  and the intertwining fates and noted  “ The film was going to be all about the detail a sense of  ‘ if only I’d have done this instead of that ‘.”

Hampton had a difficult job as it is a very interior novel and had to show what the characters are thinking using adaptations.