Working Title was founded in 1984 by Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe and in 1992 went looking for a corporate backer. Polygram was the chosen lucky one, and this is when Fellner came on board, Radclyffe having left. Working Title was joined with Polygram from 1991-1999 and in 2000 Working Title was bought by Universal Studios (2000-present). During research I had taken on Working Title I found a quote from Bevan himself explaining the struggle they had finding a corporate backer:
''Before that we had been independent producers, but it was very hand to mouth. We develop a script, that would take about 5% of our time; we'd find a director, that'd take 5% of the time and then we'd spend 90% of the time trying to juggle together deals from different sources to finance those films. The films were suffering because there was no real structure, and speaking for myself, my company was always virtually bankrupt.''
Working Title is a British film production company, based in London (although also having locations in Ireland and L.A.). It produces feature films and several television productions. Having started off as a small company, Working Title's choice to be bought by Universal gave them a huge advantage in marketing opportunities for different audiences, seeing as Universal has its own distribution and therefore can offer more. During this transaction a number of changes were made to the way the company reacted. As the film industry hit a polarization, the industry went two ways. The first: high budget, action packed, thrillers, mainly used for a global audience and the second: low budget, quite simple filming however complex script/story line, aimed at more of a European market than global. The path that Working Title chose to take was the low budget.
With the income of $75 million being made in the past with films that have what we call 'niche' markets, a big budget can be allowed due to the fact that box office is guaranteed a good feedback. Examples of movies that show this would be: Harry Potter, Twilight, James Bond etc. and these are usually for a global market. However, nowadays $30 million is being made instead, explaining why such low budgets are being used so that more can be made in the box office and ultimately a profit made. Working Title (as established in the paragraph above) is a low budget marketing/production (with the odd exception such as Atonement) and is funded by Studio Canal heading towards a European market.
Although some may see a lower budget as a hinder to the movie, Working Title played it to their advantage. They achieved this by focusing more on the script and the way in which the movie is directed than the special effects, and over americanised characteristics which most films seem to be displaying nowadays. This creates a more focused target audience, however with the expertise of marketing, and with enough publicity before and after the movie has been released, a lot of money can be made.
Examples of low budget movies that have stirred enough attention for any feathers to be ruffled, we have: Billy Elliot, About a Boy, Bridget Jones' Diary and Notting Hill. These are all quite famous movies, that required a low budget. These movies are all quite stereotypically British, using British: actors, landscapes, costume, stereotypical British attitudes, etc. This is not only appealing to the British market, it is also very popular for the American market. Americans are fascinated by the British and therefore being publicised there brings in a lot of income for Working Title. A very famous movie that is low budget however worked for a global market is Mr Bean. This was distributed around the world and was very successful because of the well known main character, stupidly British and bluntly humorous so that different countries can easily understand the comedy of the scene without having to know the language of the film.
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