Editor's Note: As BBC Films approach their 25th anniversary we asked them for a brief introduction to their work and how to get involved. Keep an eye on our websites (BBC Films, BBC Writersroom) and @BBCwritersroom and @BBCFilms for news of forthcoming events to mark the anniversary.
BBC Films is the feature film-making arm of the BBC, established in 1980 with the production of Anthony Minghella’s Truly Madly Deeply. We will be celebrating our 25th anniversary next year. We’re a small team based at New Broadcasting House, led by Christine Langan, the Head of BBC Films, and Joe Oppenheimer, the Commission Executive. Funded by the licence fee, our remit is to support and bolster the British film industry and, working in partnership with UK and international producers, we co-produce approximately eight feature films a year.
We aim to make strong British films with range and ambition, and with titles as diverse as box office smash Mrs Brown’s Boys D’Movie, BIFA award-winning Pride, and the forthcoming adaptation of the National Theatre’s experimental verbatim musical London Road, we strive to serve as wide an audience as possible. Our back catalogue includes films such as Philomena, Exhibition, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, Lilting, Saving Mr Banks, Eastern Promises, Fish Tank, An Education, We Need to Talk About Kevin, My Summer of Love, Bullet Boy, Billy Elliot, Africa United, Streetdance and many more.
We develop projects in a number of ways, either coming up with ideas in house before finding a writer, director and co-producer, or taking on projects that independent producers bring to us. These can be original ideas or adaptations of novels, plays, television programmes etc.
We provide a bespoke service, so every project is put together and developed in a slightly different way in line with its particular needs or circumstances, but without exception every film is co-produced in partnership with another producer or production company. We then work closely with the producers and creative team throughout the development of the script, finding a director, casting, putting together the finances, post-production and distribution. Once completed, every film we make will have a theatrical release before going on to air on a BBC channel.
As well as collaborating with some of the foremost writers and directors in the industry, we’re committed to finding and developing new talent, through our relationships with agents, film schools and short film festivals, as well as looking to find new creative voices working in other mediums and across other BBC departments. We’re also involved in a number of schemes to help foster new talent, including working with the NFTS, iFeatures, Cinematic, Microwave and a scheme for emerging playwrights run by Paines Plough and Origin Pictures.
So, how do you get involved with BBC Films? Due to the way we’re financed, it’s unusual for us to work with a screenwriter who hasn’t already proven themselves in some way. Because of this, and the high volume of submissions we receive, we are unfortunately unable to accept unsolicited screenplays – the BBC Writersroom is your best bet for that. We are, however, happy to consider all projects that come to us via a producer or agent. After submission the script is read by a member of our team and we discuss the merits of the project and whether there’s a place for it on our slate at one of our regular editorial meetings. This process from submission to response usually takes approximately 4-6 weeks.
Forthcoming BBC Films releases include Vera Brittain’s powerful WWI memoir Testament of Youth, directed by James Kent and adapted for the screen by Juliette Towhidi; Suite Française, directed by Saul Dibb and adapted from Irène Némirovsky’s bestseller by Matt Charman; David Nicholls’ adaptation of the Thomas Hardy classic Far From The Madding Crowd, directed by Thomas Vinterberg; and The Face of an Angel, adapted by Paul Viragh and directed by Michael Winterbottom. Original projects include X + Y, from first-time screenwriter James Graham and director Morgan Matthews; Woman In Gold from playwright-turned-screenwriter Alexi Kaye Campbell and director Simon Curtis; A Little Chaos directed by Alan Rickman and written by Alison Deegan; The Falling, written and directed by Carol Morley; and family comedy Bill, from the team behind Horrible Histories.
