Screen Yorkshire adds royals and robbery to TV and film slate

Screen Yorkshire announces £2m production slate of Great Train Robbery; Girls’ Night Out; Catch me Daddy; A Miracle and ‘71

Screen Yorkshirehas added five major film and TV investments to its production slate with a total value of £2m investment from the Yorkshire Content Fund. The productions are Ecosse Films’ VE-day feature Girls’ Night Out; World Productions’ two feature length dramas for BBC1 entitled The Great Train Robbery; Warp Films’ hotly anticipated feature 71;  gritty West Yorkshire chase movie Catch Me Daddy from Emu Films; and A Miracle a UK-French-German-Turkish co-production.

This is one of the most significant production slates Screen Yorkshire has announced. It will attract millions of pounds of inward investment, create jobs and generate significant additional business for local companies, as well as putting the region on screens across the globe. The Yorkshire Content Fund recently invested in six-part BBC2 epic gangster drama Peaky Blinders which filmed in autumn 2012 and will invest £7.5m of European Regional Development Funding into growing TV, film, games and digital business across Yorkshire and Humber.

Sally Joynson, Chief Executive of Screen Yorkshire, said: “These investments are the culmination of a fantastic first year for the Yorkshire Content Fund, which is attracting the very best in UK production and talent to the region. They will help create much needed jobs as well securing millions of pounds of production spend within the region, helping to grow Yorkshire’s very important creative and digital sectors. ‘71 is one of the most anticipated features yet from Sheffield’s prolific Warp Films, Ecosse’s Girls’ Night Out will have significant international appeal and World Productions continue to be one of the UK’s leading drama producers. Along with our investment in BBC2’s Peaky Blinders we are now building a very strong production slate across TV and film and we will also be announcing soon a number of new investment schemes to support Yorkshire’s new creative talent. ”

‘71 is a feature film and co-production between Sheffield-based Warp Films and Crab Apple Films with backing from Film4, BFI, Creative Scotland and Aver Media LP. Director is Yann Demange (Top Boy; Criminal Justice; Dead Set) and Producers are Angus Lamont (Stella does Tricks; Late Night Shopping; Donkey Punch) and Robin Gutch (Touching the Void; Hunger; Berberian Sound Studio). Protagonist Pictures are selling the film internationally and Studio Canal is distributing in the UK. ‘71 is written by playwright Gregory Burke (Black Watch) and casting is currently taking place. Development funding for the project was provided by Northern Ireland Screen. Set in Northern Ireland, ‘71 is an action chase thriller about a young soldier who has to survive the night on the dangerous streets of Belfast in the chaotic early years of the Troubles.

Girls’ Night Out is a feature film produced by Ecosse Films and directed by Michael Hoffman (The Last Station; A Midsummer’s Night Dream; One Fine Day). Producers are Robert Bernstein and Douglas Rae and cast so far includes Juno Temple (Atonement; St Trinian’s; Killer Joe; Dark Night Rises) and Alexandra Roach (The Iron Lady; Anna Karenina; Cuban Fury). HanWay Films is selling the film internationally and Lionsgate (UK) is distributing in theUK. When Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret join the crowds to celebrate VE day they have no idea of the adventures that await them, or how they will be changed by this most memorable of nights.
The Great Train Robbery comprises two feature-length dramas for BBC1 to coincide with the 50th anniversary in August 2013. Produced by World Productions, the Directors are Julian Jarrold (The Girl, Appropriate Adult) and James Strong (United, The Best Possible Taste, Broadchurch) and the Writer is Chris Chibnall (United, Broadchurch). Reuniting the team behind World’s acclaimed United is Producer Julia Stannard (The Awakening, Falcon) with Executive Producer Simon Heath (Line of Duty, The Fear). Content Media is selling the series internationally. ‘The Robbers’ Tale’ tells the story of the gang whose audacious crime secured huge wealth and the wrath of the Establishment. ‘The Coppers’ Tale’ recounts the story of Tommy Butler and the crack team of detectives he assembled in his relentless quest to bring the robbers to justice.
A Miracle is produced by Har Films as a UK-French-German-Turkish co-production with Starfield Productions, Rhamsa Productions and Flying Moon. It is written and directed by Ben Hopkins (The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz; Simon Magus; Epic) and is produced by Paul Raphael (The Rachel Papers; Under the Bombs; Anita and Me; Rogue Trader) and Maya Hariri (Sous Les Bombes; Bachelor Days Are Over; When Pigs Have Wings). Wild Bunch will sell the film internationally. A Miracle is a comedy road-movie following the adventure of an unlikely pair that come together to collect a coffin containing a Georgian millionaire’s dead aunt, leading them through unexpected adventures.

 

Catch Me Daddy is produced by Emu Films with Daniel Wolfe directing his own screenplay. Producer is Mike Elliott and Director of Photography is Robbie Ryan (Wuthering Heights; Fish Tank; The Angels’ Share). Catch Me Daddy is backed by the BFI and Film4, with Altitude selling the film internationally and Studio Canal distributing in theUK.  Laila, a young asian girl on the run from her family, is hiding out in the badlands ofWest Yorkshire with her drifter boyfriend Aaron. When her brother arrives in town with a bunch of bounty hunters in tow she is forced to flee for her life and face her darkest night.

For further information contact:

Andrew Craske

Head of Communications

ScreenYorkshire

Tel: 0113 236 8236

Mob: 07718 785905

andrew@screenyorkshire.co.uk