In Their Own Words:
Working Title Films, co-chaired by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner since 1992, is one of the world’s leading film production companies.
Formed in 1984, Working Title has more than 100 films that have grossed over $6 billion worldwide, including over $1 billion at the UK box office. Its films have won 12 Academy Awards® (for James Marsh’s The Theory of Everything, Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables, Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina, Tim Robbins’ Dead Man Walking; Joel and Ethan Coen’s Fargo; Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age; and Joe Wright’s Atonement); 39 BAFTA Awards; and prizes at the Cannes and Berlin International Film Festivals.
Mr. Bevan and Mr. Fellner have been honored with the Producers Guild of America’s David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures, the PGA’s highest honor for motion picture producers. They have also been accorded two of the highest film awards given to British filmmakers; the Michael Balcon Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema, at the BAFTA Awards, and the Alexander Walker Film Award at the Evening Standard British Film Awards. They have also both been honored with CBEs (Commanders of the Order of the British Empire).
Working Title’s upcoming slate includes The Snowman directed by Tomas Alfredson, starring Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson and Val Kilmer; Baby Driver, directed by Edgar Wright, starring Lily James, Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey and Jamie Foxx; Darkest Hour, directed by Joe Wright, starring Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill; and Victoria and Abdul, directed by Stephen Frears, starring Judi Dench as Queen Victoria.
The UK office is currently developing projects across all UK broadcasters and has excellent co-production relationships with US broadcasters including NBC, HBO, PBS, ABC and BBC America.
Recent productions include LONDON SPY starring Ben Whishaw, Jim Broadbent and Charlotte Rampling for BBC Two, 10-part series YOU, ME AND THE APOCALYPSE starring Rob Lowe, Jenna Fischer, Mat Baynton and Megan Mullally for Sky 1, and YONDERLAND for Sky 1.
Among our past productions are MARY & MARTHA, written by Richard Curtis, directed by Phillip Noyce and starring Hilary Swank and Brenda Blethyn, the critically acclaimed and BAFTA-winning BIRDSONG starring Eddie Redmayne and adapted by Abi Morgan, and BBC One’s hit Christmas film THE BORROWERS.
The US office has a first look deal with Universal Television and is currently developing projects for both broadcast and cable networks.
Recent Television Productions:
Andrew Stearn Named President of Working Title Television U.S. I Variety I September 8, 2015
Working Title Television has recruited Andrew Stearn, formerly president of television at John Wells Productions, to run its U.S. operation.
Stearn is set to join the company this week as president of Working Title Television U.S. He’ll work closely with Working Title Films founders Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner as well as Liza Chasin, Working Title’s president of U.S. production. His mandate is to work with creative talent and broadcasters on both sides of the Atlantic to develop a range of projects and co-productions.
Based in London and Los Angeles, Working Title Television is a joint venture between NBCUniversal International Studios and Bevan and Fellner. Stearn will work closely in that capacity with Michael Edelstein, president of NBCU International Studios, and JoAnn Alfano, exec VP of scripted programming.
Working Title has taken a few stabs at the U.S. TV market. It has a limited series, “You, Me and the End of the World,” set to air on NBC later this season. For the previous two seasons Working Title produced the adaptation of “About a Boy” for NBC.
“With his wealth of experience, (Stearn) is perfectly placed to advance our label’s potential in television production,” Bevan and Fellner said in a statement.
Stearn’s hiring follows the departure of Gina Girolamo, who joined Working Title in Los Angeles last October as exec VP of television. But she exited the company in July to return to Alloy Media, where she’d worked before signing on with Working Title.
“I am thrilled to be joining such a well-established and recognized production company,” Stearn said. “And I hope my collaboration with Working Title is as long and prosperous as my time with John Wells.”
Michael Edelstein, NBCUniversal International Studios president, called Stearn “a skilled executive who commands an encyclopedic knowledge of the TV business, with strong and established relationships with writers.”
Stearn spent more than 15 years with John Wells Productions, steering the company’s TV series and pilot development activity. He served as a producer on NBC’s “The West Wing” and “Third Watch” and as a exec producer of NBC/TNT’s “Southland” and Showtime’s “Shameless.”
“It’s been a pleasure working with Andrew Stearn through these many years and successes,” Wells said. “He’s a terrific executive who I’m sure will have much more success in the years to come.”