 Although her CV includes films by Stephen Frears, Laura Mulvey, Peter Wollen
and even Richard Curtis, Rebecca O'Brien's biggest contribution to British film
culture has been as producer of the majority of Ken Loach's recent films, in the
process helping him to become one of Europe's most prolific filmmakers.
After cutting her teeth in theatre and children's television (she quipped
that working with children was ideal training for a film-industry career), she
worked as production and location manager on various independent productions,
notably My Beautiful Laundrette (d. Stephen Frears, 1985). She met Loach when
both were hired for a subsequently cancelled project, after which she
co-produced his Hidden Agenda (1990).
The Spanish Civil War drama Land and Freedom (1995) was the first Loach film
that O'Brien produced outright, an experience that led to a significant change
in the way his films were funded. Before 1995, they had generally been
all-British affairs, but their comparative popularity in mainland Europe was
hard to ignore - especially Land and Freedom itself, which was an authentic
blockbuster in Spain.
Accordingly, Loach and producer Sally Hibbin continued to work with partners
Tornasol Films (Spain) and Road Movies Filmproduktion (Germany) on Carla's Song
(1996), after which O'Brien (who had co-produced the 1997 blockbuster Bean in
the interim) became his regular producer. She built on this framework by making
each subsequent Loach film a co-production involving as many as seven separate
countries. Each contribution was comparatively small, minimising individual
risk, with creative freedom (essential, given Loach's predilection for
politically contentious subjects) assured by his status as a widely-recognised
auteur.
In 2002, O'Brien, Loach and their regular screenwriter Paul Laverty formed
Sixteen Films, named after their then-current project Sweet Sixteen. Primarily
intended to produce Loach's films, it has also backed work by Kenny Glenaan, Ian
Knox and Brazilian filmmaker Henrique Goldman.
Michael Brooke
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FILM & TV CREDITS
