FEBRUARY 2015
Email: [email protected] www.bectu.org.uk
February already! And with it comes a sense of impending spring: lighter evenings, Easter bunnies in the shops and… snow! If you’re looking for a few bright ideas to warm the wintry cockles before the sun sets in then there should be plenty to illuminate the last few dark nights of the season this month; with schedules pushing well into March, April and May, tales of summers past, espionage and Anglo Saxon poetry (the original Scandi Noir!) will provide for any adventure you may wish for…
Spencer MacDonald
FEATURE FILMS:
Title: BANKING ON MR TOAD Type: feature Prod company: Haas Silver Levene Film Studios Prod team: Luis Mandoki (director), Adrien Brody, Timothy Hass, Richard Hewitt (producers), Robert Green, Miles Ketley, Tony Silver (executive producers) Scheduled shoot: Shepperton Studios Berkshire locations site specific locations Start date: spring 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: general enquiries:
Shepperton Studios
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Studios Road Shepperton MIDDLESEX TW17 0QD
tel: 01932 562 611
Comments: Producer Timothy Haas has scripted this combined live action and animated feature which tells the life story of author Kenneth Grahame, possibly best known for his perennially favourite tale The Wind In The Willows and possibly least known for the position he held at The Bank of England for a considerable part of his working life; Adrien Brody steps into the shoes of Ratty, Mole, Badger and, of course, the gregarious Toad’s creator while Brian Blessed joins the cast to play – surprisingly not Toad of Toad Hall! – but Grahame’s cohort, philologist and co-creator of the Oxford English Dictionary – as well as being a keen oarsman - Frederick James Furnivall; preproduction
Title: CASSY AND JUDE Type: feature Prod company: Film & Music Entertainment Ltd Prod team: Marc Evans (director), Sam Taylor, Mike Downey (producers), Stephen Daldry (executive producer), Meinir J Stoutt (line producer) Scheduled shoot: Wales Start date: spring 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected]
Comments: Sibling rivalry rears its head again (this time on dry land) in Bruno Heller’s adaptation of Dorothy Baker’s comic romantic tale of love and sisterly sabotage Cassandra At The Wedding; preproduction
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Title: THE CORRESPONDENCE Type: feature Prod company: Paco Cinematografica, Warner Bros (Italy) Prod team: Giuseppe Tornatore (director), Isabella Cocuzza, Guido De Laurentiis, Arturo Pagla (producers), Paul Sarony (executive producer) Scheduled shoot: Italy Yorkshire Scotland Start date: April 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: *Paco Cinematografica note that the majority of the crew employed will be Italian
www.pacocinematografica.it
Comments: This drama from Warner Bros’ Italy about a young woman who becomes romantically involved with a professor will house a predominately Italian crew; preproduction
Title: GOLD Type: feature Prod company: AL Films in association with BBC Films Prod team: Vicky Licorish, Joanna Anderson, Kevin Loader
(producers), Christine Langan (executive producer) Scheduled shoot: UK
Russia Start date: 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected]
www.alfilms.com
Comments: More competitive sportsman take to the screen… this time on the running track in this feature from
AL Films which charts the bubbling, athletic, tension and tough competition between Steve Ovett 3
and Sebastian Coe in the early 1980s; William Davies has adapted his screenplay from the novel “The Perfect Distance” by Pat Butcher (not the EastEnd one with the earrings!); Daniel Radcliffe will lead the cast; in development
Title: THE HAPPY PRINCE Type: feature Prod company: BBC Films in association with Robert Fox Ltd,
Raindog Films and Lionsgate (UK) Prod team: Rupert Everett (director), Robert Fox (producer) Scheduled shoot: UK France Belgium
Italy Munich – Bavaria Film Studios
Start date: March 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: *no production office up-and-running as yet, but details as they unfold…
Comments: Rupert Everett is screenwriter and director as he reprises the role of Oscar Wilde – having previously played the writer in The Judas Kiss – for this biographical feature focusing on Wilde’s demise following a two-year prison sentence for gross indecency, released in 1897 he spent the final three years of his life, his health deteriorating, in exile; preproduction
Title: THE HUNTSMAN Type: feature Prod company: Roth Films Prod team: Cedric Nicolas-Troyan (director), Joe Roth, Sam Mercer and Palak Patel (producers), Simone Goodridge (UPM) Scheduled shoot: Pinewood Studios Start date: 7 April 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: *no production office details available at the time of
writing but news as it unfolds… 4
Comments: Writer and director Frank Darabont, together with David Keopp and Evan Spiliotopoulos, provides the screenplay for US-based Roth Films’ sequel to 2012’s Snow White And The Huntsman while Bill Darby sources the locations for this contemporary twist on The Brothers Grimm’s magical classic; preproduction
Title: THE LOCH Type: feature Prod company: Altitude Film Entertainment Prod team: Simon Duric (director), Will Clarke (producer) Scheduled shoot: UK Start date: 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected]
www.altitudefilment.com
Comments: Peter Mullan heads the cast in Simon Duric and James Watkins’ contemporary reworking of the Loch Ness monster mystery as it plumbs the cold, dark, depths of the horror genre; in development
Title: MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN Type: feature Prod company: Chernin Entertainment (US-based) Prod team: Tim Burton (director), Peter Chernin (producer),
Siobhan Lyons (UPM) Scheduled shoot: Wales Start date: Spring 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: *production office details as they emerge Comments: Acclaimed screenwriter Jane Goldman’s adaptation of Ransom Riggs’ eerie novel set among the shadows and whispers of an abandoned orphanage on a remote island… Who were its former
occupants? Who are the children in the photographs? Why were they isolated and hidden from society? And… where are they now…? (…billed as a “comedy” !?); preproduction 5
Title: PATTERN RECOGNITION Type: feature Prod company: New Regency Pictures with Shine Pictures Prod team: Morten Tyldum (director), Ollie Madden (producer),
Chad Hamilton (executive producer) Scheduled shoot: UK and non-UK locations (tbc)
International locations (tbc) Start date: autumn 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: New Regency Pictures:
www.newregency.com
Shine Pictures:
www.shinepictures.co.uk
Comments: Very early days on writer Anthony Peckham’s adaptation of William Gibson’s conspiracy thriller for US-based production company New Regency Pictures (Gone Girl, 12 Years A Slave, Love & Other
Drugs) and British company Shine Pictures (Salmon Fishing In The Yemen, Brighton Rock, Miss Pettigrew Lives For A day); in development
Title: ST TRINIAN’S 3 (untitled) Type: feature Prod company: Ealing Studios Prod team: Ben Gregor (director), Barnaby Thompson, Oliver
Parker (producers), Mark Hubbard (line producer) Scheduled shoot: Ealing Studios Start date: June 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected]
Comments: Piers Ashworth and Nick Moorcroft (Burke & Hare, No
Hopers, Jokers & Rogues) seem to be continuing a 6
theme with their writing topics as they turn their attention to the third school outing for this established but questionable institution’s notorious pupils and their roguish associates! In development, currently awaiting confirmation
Title: SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS Type: feature Prod company: Harbour Pictures Productions with BBC Films Prod team: Philippa Lowthorpe (director), Nick Barton (producer),
Nick O’Hagan (line producer) Scheduled shoot: North West England Start date: May 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected]
www.harbourpictures.com
Comments: Arthur Ransome’s tale of buckle and swash on the high seas… well, almost, maybe a pond… , has been given the big screen treatment by writer Andrea Gibb
bringing his much-loved tale of childhood set in the summer of 1929 to life; in development
Title: THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES Type: feature Prod company: Bright Pictures Prod team: Roger Goldby (director), Sarah Sulick (producer), Tim
Rice (executive producer) Scheduled shoot: UK
France Start date: spring 2015 - 5-week shoot Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected]
www.brightpictures.co.uk
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Comments: Intent on attending the funeral of her ex-husband and undeterred by the lack of an invitation and the English Channel, a Hollywood actress breaks free from the retirement home where she now lives to fulfil her plan; Joan Collins, Pauline Collins and Franco Nero star; preproduction
Title: WELCOME TO PURGATORY Type: feature Prod company: Cupsogue Pictures Prod team: Gene Fallaize (director; producer), Tony Cook (producer), Victoria Fallaize (co-producer), Marcus
Ako (co-associate producer), Scott Spiegel (executive producer) Scheduled shoot: London
Romania Start date: Q1 2015 / Q2 2015: preproduction / production Finish date: Q4 2015 Contact: Tony Cook (producer):
alternatively, Cupsogue Pictures can be contacted
at:
www.cupsoguepictures.com
Comments: Marcus Ako’s otherworldly fantasy story scripted by Tony Cook and Gene Fallaize, with exec producer Scott Spiegel taking further writing credits, promises action and adventure in the afterlife; Geoff Boyle is cinematographer while Damian Knight edits; preproduction
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TELEVISION:
Title: BEOWULF Type: tv Prod company: ITV Studios for ITV1 Prod team: Stephen Smallwood (producer), Will Nicholson (line producer), Katie Newman, Tim Haines (executive producers) Scheduled shoot: North East England including: County Durham Weardale Northumberland Start date: March 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: *no production office details as yet, but you may have your own connections with the company or its
production personnel from previous engagements
Comments: James Dormer’s adaptation of the epic Anglo-Saxon poem which in its 3812 lines(!) conjures monsters and dragons, and tells of treasure and revenge, as
the eponymous hero embarks upon his quest… ; 13 x 60 mins episodes; preproduction
Title: CAPITAL Type: tv Prod company: Kudos Film & Television Ltd for BBC One Prod team: Pat Lees (producer), Lucy Richer, Derek Wax
(executive producers) Scheduled shoot: London Start date: 6 April 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected]
www.kudosfilmandtv.com
Comments: 3 x 60 mins series from the pen of screenwriter Peter Bowker (Marvellous, Eric And Ernie) based on John Lanchester’s novel centring on – and the events leading up to – the 2008 financial crisis, observing its effect on London as both the nation’s capital and that 9
of the financial world, and seen through the eyes of the residents of a south London suburban street, Pepys Road; preproduction
Title: CLOSE TO THE ENEMY Type: tv Prod company: Endor Productions Ltd with Little Island Productions for BBC Two
Prod team: Stephen Poliakoff (director), Helen Flint, Hilary Bevan Jones (executive producers), Jean Holdsworth (line producer) Scheduled shoot: UK locations tbc Start date: preproduction: currently
production: April – July 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected]
www.littleislandproductions.co.uk
Comments: Endor and Little Island’s musically-based period drama from writer/director Stephen Poliakoff is
currently in preproduction
Title: CUFFS Type: tv Prod company: Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC One Prod team: Trevor Hopkins (producer), Julie Gearey, Polly Hill, Will Gould (executive producers), Nicky Poulton (production manager) Scheduled shoot: UK Start date: March 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected]
www.tigeraspect.co.uk
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Comments: High-octane police series highlighting the lives and relationships – both personal and professional – of those at the epicentre of law enforcement; preproduction
Title: DEATH IN PARADISE - series 5 Type: tv Prod company: Red Planet Pictures Ltd for BBC One Prod team: Tony Jordan, Tim Key (executive producers) Scheduled shoot: Guadeloupe Start date: 11 May 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected]
www.redplanetpictures.co.uk
Comments: Red Planet’s fifth flight to the idyllic isle of Sainte Marie for further sleuthing in the sunshine with Caribbean-based cop DI Humphrey Goodman; in development
Title: DICKENSIAN Type: tv Prod company: Red Planet Pictures Ltd for BBC One Prod team: David Boulter (producer), Brian Kaczynski (line
producer) Scheduled shoot: London Start date: end May 2015 Finish date: anticipated: October 2015 Contact: [email protected]
www.redplanetpictures.co.uk
Comments: Crossed paths in Victorian London is the essence of this 20 x 30 mins series from Red Planet as Dickens’ characters leave the confines of their own novels and connect with each other, intertwining and changing both the course of their fictional lives and the 11
outcome of the story from which they have emerged; preproduction
Title: DOC MARTIN - series 7 Type: tv Prod company: Buffalo Pictures for ITV1 Prod team: Nigel Cole (director), Philippa Braithwaite (producer), Sandy Poustie (line producer), Kate Neal (production co-ordinator) Scheduled shoot: Port Isaac
Cornwall /South West locations Start date: end March 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected]
Comments: Surgery opens for a seventh round of visits with the curmudgeonly-but-lovable Cornish-based medic as Buffalo move into preproduction on their next 8 x 60 mins series
Title: DOCTOR FOSTER Type: tv Prod company: Drama Republic for BBC One Prod team: Grainne Marmion (producer), Rosanna Benn, Greg Brenman, Jude Liknaitzky (executive producers), Christine Healy (line producer) Scheduled shoot: UK
Start date: 2 March 2015 - 12-week shoot Finish date: beginning June 2015 Contact: [email protected]
www.dramarepublic.com
Comments: Acclaimed playwright Mike Bartlett has penned this 5 x 60 minutes series which centres on village GP
Jenny Foster whose personal and professional life is rocked to its core when she begins a journey of dark
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discovery after suspecting her husband of infidelity, as secret after secret is revealed to her the control she feels she has always had begins to steadily crumble… ; promising to be psychologically and emotionally compelling this intriguing drama is currently in preproduction
Title: ENDEAVOUR – series 3 Type: tv Prod company: Mammoth Screen for ITV1 Prod team: Tom Mullens (producer), Michele Buck, Russell Lewis, Damien Timmer (executive producers), Helga
Dowie (line producer), Helen Bater (production co- ordinator) Scheduled shoot: production base: Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire
shoot locations tbc
Start date: preproduction: currently (2 February 2015) – 29 March 2015
production: 30 March 2015
Finish date: anticipated: 14 August 2015 Contact: Helen Bater (production co-ordinator) Endeavour Production Office DSL Wilton Park Beaconsfield BUCKINGHAMSHIRE HP9 2RP
Helga Dowie (line producer
Mammoth’s website:
www.mammothscreen.com
Comments: The formative Oxford years of Endeavour Morse move
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on to 1967 in this third outing of popular prequels; preproduction
Title: THE FORGOTTEN Type: tv Prod company: Mainstreet Pictures for ITV1 Prod team: Andy Wilson (director), Tim Bradley (producer), Sally Haynes, Laura Mackie (executive producers), Guy de
Glanville (line producer), Ani Kevork (production co- ordinator) Scheduled shoot: London East Anglia Essex Start date: 16 March 2015 Finish date: 12 June 2015 Contact: [email protected]
Comments: A forty-year-old mystery is reopened when the skeleton of a young man is unearthed in this story of
intrigue from Mainstreet; preproduction
Title: FROM DARKNESS Type: tv Prod company: BBC Drama North Prod team: Helen Ziegler (producer), Hilary Martin (executive
producer), Sue Dunn (line producer) Scheduled shoot: North West England Start date: March 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: *no production office details available at the time of writing but news as it unfolds…
Comments: Relocation, relocation, relocation… but you can never escape your past… as an ex-policewoman discovers when, having taking flight from Manchester to the isolation of a distant island, her former life revisits her in the chilling guise of four corpses; 4 x 60 mins; preproduction
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Title: IN THE LINE OF DUTY - series 3 Type: tv Prod company: World Productions Ltd inassociation with BBC Drama
for BBC Two Prod team: Michael Keillor (director), Peter Norris (producer), Simon Heath, Jed Mercurio, Stephen Wright (executive producers), Cait Collins (line producer) Scheduled shoot: Belfast and local locations Start date: 1 April 2015 - 16-week shoot Finish date: end July 2015 Contact: [email protected]
www.world-productions.com
Comments: Third series, scripted by Jed Mercurio, of the hard- hitting drama focusing on corruption within the ranks of the police, series four is also currently in development; preproduction
Title: MIDWINTER OF THE SPIRIT Type: tv Prod company: ITV Studios for ITV Encore Prod team: Richard Clark (director), Phil Collinson (producer),
Kieran Roberts (executive producer) Scheduled shoot: Hereford Start date: April 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: *no production office details at the time of writing, but information as it unfolds; alternatively, you may have contacts from previous engagements with personnel involved on this project
Comments: A triptych of murderous adventures with novelist Phil Rickman’s rural vicar, Merrily Watkins, whose recently acquired knowledge of the dark side of the spirit world aids and abets her crime-solving prowess as she joins forces with the local constabulary in the fight for good over evil! Preproduction
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Title: THE NIGHT MANAGER Type: tv Prod company: AMC Pictures in association with Ink Factory Films
and BBC Drama Prod team: Susanne Bier (director), Rob Bullock (producer), Polly Hill, Stephen Cornwell, David Farr, Stephen Garrett
(executive producers), Matthew Patnick (line producer), Clare Finnegan (production manager) Scheduled shoot: UK
Europe Start date: end March 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: AMC Pictures:
[email protected] www.amcpictures.co.uk
The Ink Factory:
[email protected] www.inkfactoryfilms.com
Comments: Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie are attached to this tale from the pen of the master of all things “spy”… John Le Carre, as the night manager of a hotel finds his duties take a shady turn as he becomes entangled in the duplicitous world of espionage; preproduction
Title: SHETLAND - series 3 Type: tv Prod company: BBC Scotland with ITV Studios for BBC One Prod team: Eric Coulter (producer), Elaine Collins (executive
producer), Mark Murdoch (line producer) Scheduled shoot: Scotland Start date: 30 March 2015 - 15-week shoot Finish date: mid-July 2015 Contact: *no production office details at the time of writing, 16
but information as it unfolds; alternatively, you may have contacts from previous engagements with personnel involved on this project
Comments: Anne Cleeves’ murder-mystery novels adapted for the small screen bring more dark deeds to the remote, north-easterly, islands as Douglas Henshall returns as DI Jimmy Perez; preproduction
Title: SIBLINGS - series 2 Type: tv Prod company: Bwark Productions for BBCThree Prod team: Phil Gilbert (producer), Simon Wilson (executive
producer), Bianca Gavin (line producer) Scheduled shoot: UK Start date: 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected]
www.bwark.com
Comments: Tom Stourton and Charlotte Ritchie return as scriptwriter Keith Akushie’s fictional, dysfunctional, siblings for a further 6x60mins episodes; in development
Title: A TALE OF TWO CITIES Type: tv Prod company: Mammoth Screen Ltd for Channel 4 Prod team: Hilary Norrish (producer), Michele Buck (executive
producer) Scheduled shoot: UK Start date: end May 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected]
www.mammothscreen.com
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Comments: Acclaimed writer Alan Bleasdale’s twist (geddit?! oh, well… ) on Dickens’ (now you see what I did there!) epic tale of oppression, revolution, sacrifice and
resurrection in this 10 x 60 mins mammoth (okay, I’ll stop now… ) adaptation; in development
ready to roll:
Title: THE HABIT OF BEAUTY Type: feature Prod company: Pinch Media Prod team: Mirko Pincelli (director), Enrico Tessarin (producer), Cristiano Bortone, Tom Knight, Simon Phillips (co- producers) Scheduled shoot: Italy
London Start date: February 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected]
www.pinch-media.com
Comments: An entangled tale of submerged secrets which slowly surface to surround gallery owner Noel Clarke as he attempts to discover the whereabouts of a missing
photographer following the August riots of 2011; preproduction
Title: THE INFILTRATOR Type: feature Prod company: Good Films Prod team: Brad Furman (director), Miriam Segal (producer), Mark Cooper (co-producer), Robert How (line producer), Tim Wellspring (UPM) Scheduled shoot: London Paris Florida 18
Start date: 23 February 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: [email protected]
Comments: Adapted from Robert Mazur’s autobiography which documents his five years as an undercover infiltrator of Colombia’s drug cartels, posing as “Bob Musella” - a wealthy big-shot with Mafia connections – he socialised and became acquainted with some of the heaviest heavy-weights and most influential “dirty
bankers and businessman” in the world allowing him to be instrumental in their ultimate downfall; Bryan Cranston will take the lead in this tense and more- than-gritty thriller from screenwriter Ellis Brown Furman; preproduction
Title: ITS WALLS WERE BLOOD Type: feature Prod company: Ten Cent Adventures Prod team: Paul Davis (director; executive producer), Sean Hogan, Paul Hyett, Tom Shankland (directors), Paul Fischer (producer), Liane Escorza (line producer) Scheduled shoot: UK shoot - Southern England Start date: end February 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: *no production office details from US-based Ten Cent Adventures, but you may have your own connections with the company or its production personnel from previous engagements
Comments: Screenwriters Stef Hutchinson, Sean Hogan, Paul Hyett and Tom Shankland have each scripted a story in the life of a house whose past occupants refuse to abandon their “home”… , tracing its history from the 1800s to the twenty-first century this original horror is currently in preproduction
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Title: KNIGHTS OF THE ROUNDTABLE: KING ARTHUR Type: feature Prod company: Weed Road Pictures in association with Warner Bros
and Safehouse Pictures Prod team: Guy Ritchie (director; producer), Steve Clark-Hall, Akiva Goldsman, Joby Harold, Tory Tunnell, Lionel
Wigram (producers), Max Keene (co-producer), Bruce Berman (executive producer) Scheduled shoot: Leavesden Studios
South/South East England Start date: February 2015 Finish date: tbc Contact: general enquiries:
Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden Warner Drive LEAVESDEN Hertfordshire
WD25 7LP
tel: 020 3427 7777
email: [email protected]
Comments: The mythical Arthurian legend revisited as Charlie Hunnam (Cold Mountain, Children Of Men, Queer As Folk), Astrid Berges-Frisbey (Pirates Of The Carribean: On Stranger Tides) and Idris Elba (surely no credits necessary?!) take on the mantles of King
Arthur, his lady Guinevere and Bedivere – the king’s marshal who returns Excalibur to the Lady Of The Lake, respectively in Joby Harold’s screenplay; preproduction
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(just) outside the box:
Title: TOP COPPERS Type: tv Prod company: Roughcut TV for BBCThree Prod team: Cein McGillicuddy (director), Bertie Peek (producer),
Ash Atalla, Dan Hine (executive producers) Scheduled shoot: Wales Start date: 16 February 2015 - 6-week shoot Finish date: end March 2015 Contact: [email protected]
www.roughcut-tv.com
Comments: Andy Kinnear and Cein McGillicuddy’s wry “action comedy” following the crimebusting antics of ‘tecs Mahogany and Rust as together they thwart the
dastardly criminals of Justice City; 6 x 30 minutes; in development
Title: AN INSPECTOR CALLS Type: tv Prod company: Drama Republic for BBC One Prod team: Aisling Walsh (director), Roanna Benn , Greg Brenman (executive producers), Howard Ella (line producer) Scheduled shoot: Yorkshire Start date: 23 February 2015 - 4-week shoot Finish date: end March 2015 Contact: [email protected]
www.dramarepublic.com
Comments: Feature-length adaptation of J B Priestly’s classic three-act drama set in 1912 and first performed on the British stage in 1946 which places a well-
established middle class family at the centre of the mysterious suicide of a young woman when an even more mysterious Inspector Calls… ; preproduction 21
“coming soon”
AGINCOURT
Following critical acclaim for the recently released dark, prison-based drama Starred Up, which explores the significance of, and human need for, allegiances when the going gets tough, Luc Roeg’s Independent Film Company are set to turn their attention to allegiances of a much more historical kind as screenwriter Stuart Hazeldine brings Bernard Cornwell’s 2008 book Azincourt to the big screen; to be directed by Michael Mann, it focuses on the story of archer and forester Nicholas Hook as events unfold leading to Saint Crispin’s Day 1415 in northern France when he stands shoulder to shoulder with his King, Henry V, in one of Europe’s most notoriously bloody battles; still in early development with dates and schedules yet to be planned www.independentfilmcompany.com [email protected]
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Originally published in 1756 and having experienced various incarnations, Walt Disney studios together with Cogsworth Production Services will bring a reimagining of Jeanne-Marie de Beaumont’s French story, Belle at la Bete, to Pinewood for a May shoot; with its traditional, fairytale, sibling rivalry and cautionary twist in the tale this feature from the pens of Stephen Chobsky and Evan Spiliotopoulos is to be directed by Bill Condon and produced by David Hoberman and Todd Liebermann, Mary Richards will be production consultant while Jeffrey Silver exec’s; preproduction
THE DIG
Clerkenwell Films’ will co-produce this atmospheric drama from acclaimed playwright Moira Buffini which focuses on the day-to-day life of the early ‘30s as it moves inevitably towards the outbreak of World War II with BBC Films and Magnolia Mae Films; Gabrielle Tana produces with Ellie Wood and Murray Ferguson, Christine Langan will executive produce; in development, slated to shoot in this year www.clerkenwellfilms.com
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FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM
Harry Potter’s Newt Scamander, writer of Hogwarts’ set-text, is to take centre stage in the first of JK Rowling’s magical trilogy; Warner Bros produce the Leavesden Studios shoot scheduled for early 2015; in development
HACK ATTACK
The newly-wed Mr Clooney directs and shares producing duties with Grant Heslov for Sony Pictures co-production with US-based Smokehouse Pictures’ feature based on journalist Nick Davies’ documentation of the ignominious phone hacking enquiry which exposed “foul play” within Rupert Murdoch’s journalistic domain; shooting in the UK in 2015; in development
ME BEFORE YOU
Established theatre director Thea Sharrock helms New Line Cinema’s feature based on Jojo Moyes’ story of a recently-paralysed employer who is befriended by a young girl who accepts a job with him; Kevin De Nory produces Scott Neustadter and Michael H Weber’s screenplay which will shoot in the UK next year
MEET ME IN TEN YEARS
Salon Pictures’ Nick Taussig and Paul Van Carter are developing Fran Poletti’s award-winning sci-fi comedy script for a UK shoot which has the talented Sharon Horgan attached as director www.salonpictures.co.uk
MISS SHIRLEY BASSEY
Rebekah Gilbertson and Nicole Carmen-Davis will produce this biopic for Rainy Day Films about a rising star from Tiger Bay… ; Brian Fillis has adapted John L Williams’ biography which focuses on the teenage Miss Bassey as she begins her journey to the top while Williams shares the role of executive producer with Sarah Golding, Marc Evans is attached to direct; in development to shoot in 2015 www.rainydayfilms.co.uk [email protected]
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TEEN REAPER
Rainy day Films’ romantic comedy for the teenage audience which follows the adolescent Grim Reaper on a mission to Earth in a bid to understand the quality of “empathy” from his human counterparts; Sam Fell directs, Rainy Day’s Rebekah Gilbertson produces with Nicole Carmen-Davis and Mark Hubbard line produces Lucy Moore’s screenplay; in development, with a shoot scheduled for 2015 www.rainydayfilms.co.uk
*email contact via Rainy Day’s website
THE TROUBLE WITH YOU
Set to shoot in Scotland and Venice before the end of the year, Stonetown Pictures bring small-screen reality to wide-screen fiction in this romantic comedy starring Jack Davenport as an actor whose popularity with the paparazzi and notoriety of being partial to the odd tipple are now the mainstays of his career… until he receives the call from the most watched reality show on television… ; Nick Moore will direct this (possibly cautionary!) tale while Simon Price produces; in development [email protected] www.stonetownpictures.com
WOMEN IN TEMPTATION
Bedlam Productions and Pari-Passu Films move into production later in the year on this comic tale which tells of the rollercoaster love lives of three related women; Jessica Mailk, Jessica Parker and Gareth Ellis-Unwin produce www.bedlamproductions.co.uk [email protected]
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TV ANTENNAE
OUTLANDER 2
Left Bank Pictures and US-based company Tall Ship Productions are preparing for an April shoot in Cumbernauld as the second book of Diana Galbadon’s fantasy series is adapted from the page to the small screen; David Brown will produce the 13 part adventure while exec duties are taken by Michael Wilson and Roald D Moore; preproduction [email protected] www.leftbankpictures.co.uk
STOP! IN THE NAME OF LOVE
With a musical backdrop of Motown and scripts from the pen of Tony Jordan (who is also co-executive producer), this drama from Red Planet Pictures which focuses on life’s entanglements – romantic and otherwise – for thirty-somethings in the twenty-first century is currently in development for executive Duncan Kenworthy who is producing the 10 episode series with Peter Smith and John Kennedy www.redplanetpictures.co.uk [email protected]
WALLANDER - series 4
Scheduled to shoot in 2015, three final 90 minute episodes of Scandanavian crime- busting with Kenneth Branagh as the flawed eponymous hero of Henning Mankell’s books are currently in development from Left Bank Pictures www.leftbankpictures.co.uk [email protected]
* Left Bank can also be contacted directly via their website
WILL
Endor Productions’ ten-part drama from writer Craig Pearce exploring the early years of a young lad from Stratford-Upon-Avon who has a penchant for the quill; originally detailed to be in preproduction, this is feature now has “unconfirmed” status
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Earlybird 2015
*the next edition of Earlybird will be published on:
Monday 9 March
subsequent editions will be published on:
Tuesday 7 April Monday 4 May Monday 8 June
*further dates to follow*
*please note that this is the date after which the edition will be accessible via BECTU’s website, those members receiving the newsletter by post should allow delivery time for their copy to arrive
Please remember that:
BECTU advises members to check the terms and conditions when making enquiries about the job opportunities in Early Bird. Also because of the fast moving nature of the industry details do change and therefore please check these when making enquiries.
NOTE: Where TBC is specified, it is unfortunately because we do not have this information.
All material published in EarlyBird is copyright protected and therefore the property of BECTU. As a result you are forbidden to reproduce or circulate this information without the union’s consent.
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