Sarah Radclyffe (later working independently), Tim Bevan (born
in New Zealand) and Eric Fellner were highly successful in creating popular,
British-based films of international appeal with this company. Its first film,
Stephen Frears' My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), led to an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay for Hanif Kureishi and an acting one for Daniel Day-Lewis. More recently it has successfully produced Four Weddings and a Funeral (d. Mike Newell, 1994), Bean (d. Mel Smith, 1997), Elizabeth (d. Shekhar Kapur, 1998), Notting Hill (UK/US, d. Mike Newell, 1999), Bridget Jones's Diary (UK/France/US, d. Sharon Maguire, 2001), About A Boy (Germany/US/France/UK, d. Paul Weitz, 2002). Actor
Hugh Grant and writer Richard Curtis have been party to several of these films.
A key element in the company's working methods has been its attention to marketing, striking deals with American and European companies, thus ensuring world-wide distribution for its products. A frequent observation of the company's methods is the inordinate amount of time spent on developing scripts and extensively working on re-writes. Despite its access to high finance, Working Title is also committed to low-budget films with new writers. Such was the case with Billy Elliott (d. Stephen Daldry, 2000).
Stephen Brown, Encyclopedia of British Film
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