The King’s Speech Case StudyProduction, Distribution and Exhibition

Based in London and Sydney, See-Saw was founded by producers Emile Sherman and Iain Canning and is an Independent Company. See-Saw Films has a first-look deal with Momentum Pictures in the UK and a film finance/equity deal with Paramount Pictures . See-Saw also works closely with sister company Transmission Films, an Australian/NZ distributor. Emile Sherman is one of Australia’s leading producer’s and has produced films which have been nominated and even picked up Golden Globes, Emile was the recipient of the "Independent Producer of the Year Award" at the 2009 Screen Producers Association Australia Conference.

There is another producer in See-Saw as well, Gareth Unwin ,who has spent most of the last decade as an assistant director on small

movies and British television shows.

See-Saw has produced Tom Hooper's “The King's Speech”, starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham Carter which

received 4 Oscar’s, including Best Picture .

The actors will receive a percentage of the gross profit, after the investments have been ‘recouped’

An interview by The New York Time’s said… Mr Sherman and Mr Canning are as close as anyone gets to being a sure bet in this town.

By early this month, 14 out of 15 Oscar observers monitored by the Web site Movie City News pegged “The King’s Speech” as this year’s winner. The holdout saw an upset by “The Social Network,” an early favourite that faded as those who vote on the film industry’s myriad awards, one after another, instead came down in favour of “The King’s Speech.”

The Three Producer’s of See-Saw Films picking up their award for Best Picture.

SEESAW Films

Previous Work

The Kings of MykonosThe Kings of Mykonos is a film produced by SEESAW films. The main cast in the film is; Nick Giannopoulos, Vince Colosimo and Alex Dimitriades. The film is about how one of the characters inherits a beach on a resort island. The film itself received a 4.6/10 on the Internet Movie Database, with reviews commenting on the poor storyline. Oranges and SunshineOranges and Sunshine is another film produced by SEESAW films. This film is a story about how a woman uncovers a massive social scandal – the forced migration of children from the UK.Reviewers of this film gave it a 7.8/10 on the IMDb, with more positive reviews from critics on websites such as Best for Film - http://bestforfilm.com/film-reviews/thriller/oranges-and-sunshine/ 

Fulcrum Media FinanceSee-Saw films are in a partnership with Sharon Menzies (another producer) with the company Fulcrum Media Finance Pty Limited. Created in 2008, there aim was the arrange cash flow for the Producer Offset and New Zealand SPIF. Some of the films Fulcrum has helped with are;TriangleSleeping BeautyGriff the InvisibleWho Do You Think You Are (Series 3) The King’s SpeechThe King’s Speech has been “crowned” best film at the Producers Guild of America Awards.The producers of The King’s Speech (Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin) received the Darryl F. Zanuck Award Producer of the Year for Theatrical Motion Pictures, beating films such as;127 HoursBlack SwanInceptionThe Social NetworkToy Story 3http://vimeo.com/19266271

Budgets and Funding• $15m Production budget• £1m from UK film Council – funding stops on 1/04/2011• Prescience films also invested in the film (UK company)

Prescience has backed 25 films to date with a total production value of $400 million

• Prescience is the largest investor for the film – they will get 20 – 25% back from gross profits

• Not bad for a picture that was passed over by both Film4 and the BBC and was eventually seeded as the result of a £1,022,000 investment from the UK Film Council.

• £50m revenue in UK• $177m Global – estimated to reach $300m • Another $300m estimated

• Momentum Pictures thought that the film would make around the same as The Queen (£97m)

• Sales doubled after the film’s success at The Oscars

• Slumdog Millionaire (£1.83m), Calendar Girls (£1.88m), Atonement (£1.63m) and Pride and Prejudice (£2.53m)

£3.52m opening weekend

• Were it not for The King's Speech, there might have been plenty of excited chatter about another British hit: Danny Boyle's 127 Hours.

• shown for the first time, Sept. 4 at the Telluride Film Festival. It was subsequently shown also at the Toronto Film Festival, where it won the People’s Choice Award

• The King's Speech has already proved to be the best performing "independently financed" – that is non-Hollywood – film at the UK box office, having surpassed Slumdog Millionaire and taken £38m. However, Slumdog – which swept away with eight Oscars – generated $377m at the worldwide box office in its run in 2008-9.

• "You only get this kind of movie every few years," said Smith. "Slumdog was the last, but you'd have to go back to Billy Elliott and The Full Monty for something similar in the past. Certainly for us this is the most successful film ever."The soon to be disbanded UK Film Council provided £1m of lottery money for the film's production budget, while the Aegis Film Fund – whose cash comes from wealthy private individuals "not all of whom are footballers" according to Smith – provided a further £6m.

In the beginning…

• The script started life as a play script

• The screen writer overcame a stutter and wanted to tell King George’s story

• The scriptwriter posted the text through Rush’s letterbox

• Mr. Rush, a native of Australia, passed it on to contacts at See Saw Films, headquartered in Sydney and London, with the comment that the script would make a terrific movie; and, he further suggested, Tom Hooper (director of the Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning TV miniseries “John Adams“) would be an ideal director

The Queen Mother gave her permission for the film to be produced, but said, ‘Just not in my lifetime; these memories of my dear husband are still too fresh and painful,’

They had to wait for her to die before developing the script in 2003!

Many lines from the script came directly from Logue’s diary, given to the producers by the family

TV documentary The Real King’s Speech - BBC

Filmingof the King’s Speech

Actual filming was spread out over seven weeks, from mid-November 2009 to mid-January 2010

Filming LocationsThe Duke and Duchess lived in London at 145 Piccadilly, near Hyde Park Corner. The actual house was destroyed in WW11 after a bomb raid, but the house used for the film was 33 Portland Place, dating from 1775.

33 Portland Place

The consulting room of Lionel Logue’s (the speech therapist) was originally in London on the exclusive Harley Street, although since the 1920’s the street has become more modernised. This street can be found in the original Italian Job film (1969). Even though 33 Portland Place was used for the royal house it was also used for the consultants room, because of the distressed wallpaper and interior that worked incredibly well for the setting.The setting was also used for the famous Amy Winehouse video ‘Rehab’.

Lionel’s home supposedly in Kensington, but in the film it is 89-96, Campton street. It originally looked dull and grim, but for the film it was given a coat of paint and looked a lot more lively.

• Lancaster House alone cost £20,000 for a day and supplied only two scenes – the walk to make the broadcast and the official photograph afterwards. The speech itself was shot off-site, "pretty much in a cupboard".

ShootingFor most of the movie the filming was inside, where oblong sets, corridors and small spaces produced constriction and tightness in the shots, in contrast to the usual emphasis on sweep and majesty in historical dramas.

To create the feel of entrapment in the kings head a wider lenses was used when photographing the film. They also used wider shots to enhance the body language of the actors.

- The filming times were based on Helena Bomhom Carter’s schedule due to her filming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

-On 26 November, filming began at Ely Cathedral - the location used for Westminster Abbey. Even though Lincoln Cathedral is architecturally similar to the Abbey, the crew preferred Ely, a favoured filming location. The size was a lot more bigger and had more space for setting up extra scenes and preparing for filming.

-The filming was spread out for several weeks from November to 2009 to January 2011

Extra information.

http://www.movie-locations.com/movies/k/Kings_Speech.html

Distribution

• Momentum is the UK distributor - £10m from distribution arrangements in the UK.

• All film financing arrangements are structured so that the backers recoup their original investment before any profit share takes place. Distributors in each country have to be paid back for their marketing costs too, before any film is deemed to be in profit.

- An independent American film studio company- The company was founded by two brothers, Bob and Harvey weinstein in 2005, who were the owners of Miramax films which was then owned by Disney.- Private Company

Digital distribution

- The film was distributed digitally in the US - This meant it was cheaper because they didn’t have to pay for travel expenses as it was sent through technology

-The Weinstein Company has released such popular franchises as -SCREAM-SPY KIDS-SCARY MOVIE. - TWC and Dimension Films have also released such films as -FACTORY GIRL-PIRANHA 3D-The 2010 Oscar® winner INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS -2010 Oscar® nominees A SINGLE MAN and NINE-2011 Golden Globe® -Best Foreign Language Film nominee THE CONCERT- THE KING'S SPEECH, which has been nominated for twelve 2011 Academy Awards.

-Weinstein is contemplating editing The King's Speech to get its rating reduced to PG-13 so it targets a bigger market. In comparison in Britain, the film has a 12-and-over rating, which allows it to be a family movie. "The British numbers are huge because the rating lets families see the movie together.”

The Distributor

Background Information• Momentum Pictures is a subsidiary company of

Alliance Films, a major Canadian film distributor and producer, and is known for being one of the larger independent film distributors within the UK.

• It was founded in London in 2000• I have no idea who founded it, but I’ll assume it

was the guys who founded Alliance Films – another set of names I can’t seem to find

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

MP distributed the rental and retail versions of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, an American independent film produced by Anthony Bregman and Steve Golin, and directed by Michel Gondry (who, more recently, directed Be Kind Rewind and The Green Hornet).

Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain

MP distributed the rental and retail versions of Amélie, a French romantic comedy directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, probably better known for directing Alien Resurrection. It also stars Audrey Tautou, known for her role as Sophie Neveu in 2006’s The Da Vinci Code.

Distribution of‘The King’s Speech’

• Momentum Pictures handles the UK distribution of The King’s Speech.

• The film received investment from Momentum Pictures as well as Molinaire, a bold move considering on the low expectations that the film had and the fact that Momentum only helps fund / distributes around 20 films per year.

Marketing

The Kings Speech

Advertising on the Website• The official Kings speech website

has Twitter and Facebook to advertise it to the younger community.

• They have “BUY TICKETS” on the website and links to where to buy them below them to make it easier for the customer.

• You can also but the sound track on iTunes and amazon

• There are pictures on the website of the film flicking through it, to give you sneak previews

Posters

All of the posters are very formal looking, which I think is trying to say it’s a very mature film.

Three dominant figures, that could reflect them in the film

The King’s speech

•Awards

Best picture Best Original ScreenplayBest Actor - Colin Best Director - Tom Hooper

Nominated for 12 - The highest number of nominations in 2011

Best Film Outstanding British FilmBest Actor - Colin FirthBest Supporting Actor - Geoffrey Rush Best Supporting Actress - Helena Boham Carter Best Original ScrenplayBest Film MusicBest Cinematography

Best Actor - Colin FirthNominated for 5 others including Best Motion Picture Drama

Best Actor - Colin FirthBest Ensemble Cast

Best British Independant film Best Actor - Colin FirthBest ScreenplayBest supporting actor - Geoffrey RushBest supporting actress - Helena Bonham Carter

Academy Award for Best ActorAlliance of Women Film Journalists Eda Award for Best ActorAustin Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorBAFTA

Award for Best Actor in a Leading RoleBritish Independent Film Award for Best ActorBroadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorChicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorChlotrudis Award for Best ActorDenver Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorDetroit

Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorFlorida Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorGolden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Dra

maIowa Film Critics Award for Best ActorKansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorLondon Film Critics Circle Award for Actor of the YearLos Angeles Film Criti

cs Association Award for Best ActorNew York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorNorth Texas Film Critics Award for Best ActorOnline Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorPhoenix

Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorSan Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorSatellite Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture DramaScreen Actors Guild Award for

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion PictureScreen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading RoleSoutheastern Film Critics A

ssociation Award for Best ActorSt. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorVancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best

ActorWashington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor

Colin Firth

Colin Firth’s royal role could see him honored by Her Majesty herself. The Queen is believed to have been touched by Colin Firth's portrayal of her late father and may now be set to honor him with a knighthood.

Directors Guild of America Award Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures London Film Critics' Circle Award British Director of the Year British Academy Film AwardOutstanding British Film Independent Spirit Award Best Foreign Film Acade my Award Best Director

Tom Hooper