Commissioner Factfile of Film Four Productions

Film 4 was founded in 1982 by Channel 4  as Channel 4 films and their goal was to make diverse and challenging films for Channel 4, Film Four produce, distribute and exhibit films. Channel 4 Television Corporation is their parent company Channel 4 is a British broadcasting channel. The parent company also owns; 4Seven, E4, More4, 4Music, Heat, Kerrang, Kiss, Magic, Smash Hits, The Box. The fact that heir parent company owns the success of their films can be a disadvantage for that company as it is thought they could use the success of their films to fund their next film, since they are owned by a parent company they can only be given a set budget decided by that company. If Film Four Productions were to have an idea and needed a certain budget for this film they would have to present this idea to The Channel Four Television Corporation and if they were unsure about the idea the film may not get the budget it needs. Their tie-in with the BFI future film fund is to help fund is to work with the BFI to help fund independent movies.

 Film 4 play a big part in the independent film industry and funds around 20 films a yea on average contributing £500,000.They are usually co-founded films for instance 12 years a slave which was co produced with regency enterprises, Plan B and River Road Entertainment. 12 years a slave was their most recent success winning 3 Oscars including Best Feature Film was nominated for another 6 Oscars won both BAFTAS and Golden Globe awards. It generated $56,667,870 for the company and only had a $20,000,000 budget. Another recent success was This Is England which was so popular a TV series was created following the events of the film.  Film 4 productions is a major player in the development of British Social realism and have co-produced films like; This is England, Dead Man's Shoes, East is East, Trainspotting and My Beautiful Launderette. As well as British Social Realism they produce films of all kinds of genre. They produce comedy films like Shaun of the Dead and The Inbetweeners 2.

They fund films primarily in the U.K and work with the BFI on a regular basis to make films. They rarely fund a film independently and more often fund films with other companies they have on may occasions partnered with the BFI to make films such as '71, a zed and two noughts. Another company they have worked with often is the UK Film Council to make films such as and when did you last see your father and attack the block. With the UK Film Council they had a big success in the making of Attack the Block and helped launch the career of Joe Cornish who has since worked with Steven Spielberg and wrote the screenplay for the adventures of Tintin.

Their ethos is to develop British talent and be a leader of innovation in The British Film Industry and to support international film makers as well as British talent and to offer a platform for British and Independent cinema


They have helped launch the career of Steve McQueen by funding his film hunger and broadcasting it and 12 years a slave. He now has a global recognition and received a nomination last year as best director for a feature film. They also helped launch the career of Edgar Wright who also worked with Joe Cornish on the Adventures of Tintin as a Film Director who with the help of Film 4 was able to move on from his hit TV show Spaced which was produce and broadcasted by Channel 4 and create his first feature film Shaun of the dead with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost also from spaced helped write and star in the films. From the success of Shaun of The Dead they created the Cornetto trilogy which included Hot Fuzz and The World's End.