Screen Yorkshire has announced it will support two new feature films and two TV dramas from its £7.5m Yorkshire Content Fund aimed at stimulating film production in Yorkshire.
One of the films, with the working title ‘Pulp and Sheffield’, features a day in the life of Sheffield from dawn to dusk as Pulp returns to play one last concert in its home town city in front of 13,500 fans at the Sheffield Arena. The film is being produced by Alex Boden of Pistachio Pictures and directed by Florian Habicht and Pulp.
The other film is Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, a seven part series, is a UK-Canada co-production for BBC One based on the novel by Susanna Clarke exploring life in York during the Napoleonic Wars. The series is produced by Cuba Pictures and is co-produced by BBC America,in association with Feel Film, Bell Media’s Space, Far Moor and Screen Yorkshire.
Origin Pictures is receiving support for two TV dramas: Death Comes to Pemberley and X+Y.
Death Comes to Pemberley has been commissioned by BBC One and is a three parter adaptation of P.D. James’ homage to Jane Austen due for transmission next Christmas to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the publication of Pride and Prejudice. Set six years after Pride and Prejudice ends, the drama centres on Austen’s best-known characters, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, played by Matthew Rhys, as they are plunged into a murder investigation. The Director is Daniel Percival, the producers are Eliza Mellor and David Thompson and the executive producers are Ed Rubin for Origin Pictures, Polly Hill for the BBC and Hugo Heppell for Screen Yorkshire.
Origin is also producing X+Y, a feature about a teenage prodigy’s journey to the Mathematics Olympiad. Origin’s production partners are BBC Films and the BFI Film Fund. Morgan Matthews is the director and James Graham has written the script. The producers are David Thompson, Ed Rubin and Laura Hastings-Smith with Matthews’ Minnow Films on board as co-producer.
Sally Joynson, chief executive of Screen Yorkshire, said: “I am delighted to be announcing another four diverse and distinctive productions to our existing slate of investments. Alongside our other productions like Peaky Blinders, The Great Train Robbery and ‘71, this is film and TV drama at its best, all produced in Yorkshire and many with strong Yorkshire roots.
“It’s keeping production levels high, creating jobs, fuelling economic growth and establishing Yorkshire’s credentials as one of the top filming destinations outside London.”
