In the past I’ve shown how only one in five British filmmakers who have made a feature film manage to make a second film. This figure came up in conversation last week and it naturally led to the question “So who is making all the UK films?” I took a look at who has the most credits in the British film industry over the last 10 years across all UK films budgeted over £500k. In summary…
- Michael Winterbottom has directed the most UK films over £500k from 2003-13
- Over the course of his career, ex-head of BBC Films David M Thompson has 157 producer credits
- 20 people account for 40% of all cinematography credits on UK films over £500k from 2003-13
- Pete Pedrero is the most-credited stunt performer/co-ordinator on UK films from 2003-13
Directors in the British film industry
There are 218 people who have a directing credit on a UK film over £500k made from 2003-13, with an average of 2.1 credits each.
| Rank | Name | Director Credits |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Winterbottom | 12 |
| 2 | Robbie Moffat | 9 |
| 3 | Ken Loach | 7 |
| 4 | Tim Burton | 6 |
| 4 | Oliver Parker | 6 |
| 4 | Stephen Frears | 6 |
| 7 | Ridley Scott | 5 |
| 7 | Nick Love | 5 |
| 7 | Mary McGuckian | 5 |
| 7 | Danny Boyle | 5 |
| 7 | Jag Mundhra | 5 |
| 7 | Simon Fellows | 5 |
| 7 | Mat Whitecross | 5 |
Producers in the British film industry
David M. Thompson leads the field, largely due to his Executive Producer credits from being Head of BBC Films (1997 to 2007).
| Rank | Name | Producer Credits |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | David M. Thompson | 40 |
| 2 | Tessa Ross | 37 |
| 2 | Steve Christian | 37 |
| 4 | Tim Bevan | 33 |
| 4 | Eric Fellner | 33 |
| 6 | Paul Trijbits | 28 |
| 7 | Nigel Thomas | 26 |
| 7 | François Ivernel | 26 |
| 9 | Norman Merry | 25 |
| 9 | Cameron McCracken | 25 |
Screenwriters in the British film industry
Sharing the top spot in the screenwriters table are Tony Grisoni (Tideland, Red Riding trilogy) and Robbie Moffat (who also appears in the Top Ten for directors).
| Rank | Name | Screenwriting Credits |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tony Grisoni | 9 |
| 1 | Robbie Moffat | 9 |
| 3 | Peter Morgan | 8 |
| 3 | Paul Laverty | 8 |
| 5 | Noel Clarke | 6 |
| 5 | Jeremy Brock | 6 |
| 5 | J.K. Rowling | 6 |
| 5 | Neal Purvis | 6 |
| 5 | Robert Wade | 6 |
| 5 | Anders Thomas Jensen | 6 |
Directors of Photography in the British film industry
Just 20 people account for 40% of all the 505 cinematography credits on UK films from 2003-13.
| Rank | Name | DoP Credits |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ben Davis | 15 |
| 2 | Robbie Ryan | 13 |
| 3 | John Mathieson | 13 |
| 4 | Marcel Zyskind | 12 |
| 5 | Danny Cohen | 12 |
| 6 | Sam McCurdy | 11 |
| 7 | Anthony Dod Mantle | 11 |
| 8 | Simon Dennis | 10 |
| 9 | Christopher Ross | 10 |
| 10 | Ashley Rowe | 10 |
| 11 | Barry Ackroyd | 10 |
Editors in the British film industry
Not only is Chris Gill rather hard-working but he’s also worked on a very wide range of projects including 28 Days Later, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and The Invention of Lying.
| Rank | Name | Editing Credits |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chris Gill | 23 |
| 2 | Stuart Gazzard | 16 |
| 3 | Eddie Hamilton | 13 |
| 4 | Jon Harris | 11 |
| 5 | Peter Christelis | 11 |
| 6 | Nicolas Gaster | 10 |
| 7 | Sean Barton | 10 |
| 8 | James Herbert | 10 |
| 9 | Peter Davies | 10 |
| 10 | Chris Dickens | 9 |
Composers in the British film industry
Only 15 out of Hanz Zimmer’s 94 film credits are UK films made between 2003 and 2013, which is why he’s only number 6 in this chart.
| Rank | Name | Composer Credits |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ilan Eshkeri | 23 |
| 2 | Stephen Warbeck | 21 |
| 3 | Guy Farley | 19 |
| 4 | Christian Henson | 18 |
| 5 | Dario Marianelli | 16 |
| 6 | Hans Zimmer | 15 |
| 7 | George Fenton | 14 |
| 8 | Alexandre Desplat | 12 |
| 9 | Mark Thomas | 12 |
| 10 | Patrick Doyle | 11 |
Stuntmen & Stunt Women in the British film industry
This last category was added in honour of my friend Pete. He has always been the first to help me when I’ve needed it and is known across the industry as an extremely talented and committed stunt co-ordinator. And now I have the stats to prove it. Thanks, Pete.
| Rank | Name | Stunt Credits |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Peter Pedrero | 77 |
| 2 | Paul Kennington | 60 |
| 3 | Levan Doran | 60 |
| 4 | Rowley Irlam | 57 |
| 5 | Rick English | 57 |
| 6 | James O'Donnell | 54 |
| 7 | Andy Merchant | 52 |
| 8 | Roy Taylor | 51 |
| 9 | Bradley Farmer | 51 |
| 10 | Nick Chopping | 48 |
Epilogue
I used the BFI’s tracking data for films made between 2003 and 2013 to define what was and wasn’t a UK film. I have no doubt that some of these classifications will be disputed as (a) the BFI are not perfect and (b) film can be a subjective field. If any of the people listed above feel aggrieved that their number of credits is incorrect then please do drop me a line. This research looks at number of credits, not number of days worked. Consequently, someone who worked one day apiece on ten films will get ten credits whereas someone else who performed ten days work on a single film will be listed as having one credit. There is little I can do to account for this possible unfairness.
Comments
Sadly very few women on this list.
Considering I am Robbie Moffat’s Co-Producer with this imdb here http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0840137/ under my name Mairi Fraser Sutherland, that makes me the most employed female producer, but why was I not credited above? Because I’m female?
Hi Mairi.
You produced nine films within the criteria I was looking at (UK films budgeted over £500k between 2002-2013) which puts you 132th on the list of UK producers (along with 37 others).
You were joint 6th on this list stephenfollows.com/the-most-employed-women-in-the-british-film-industry
Stephen
Heck joint sixth on the list. Well done Mairi – there’s a thing. I agree that we need more films and more people employed in films in the UK because productions seems down at the moment. Good you are making these lists so people can see who are making the films. Thank you for your kind and prompt answers.
No problem – happy to help 🙂
Yes. I’d like to know why there are so few women? Do you have stats on that? My Daughter is an emerging Filmmaker who writes all her own material, so I am interested. Do these stats mean that there is a boys Club of some sort? It’s just not possible that men are more capable than women, so what is the answer.?
There are certainly more men than women in the film industry. For more info check out these articles…
But it doesn’t automatically mean that it’s a “boys club”. I’m working on research at the moment to try to pin down the causes of the gender gap in film.
Hello I have no gender gap I’m Robbie Moffat’s ( second on your list) Co-producers and have roughly similar credits to his films as seen here so please do list me next time. Thanks. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0840137/
Kind regards , Mairi Sutherland
I don’t understand – Robbie is only mentioned in the list of directors and in the list of writers, not within the producers.
As I said, you are mentioned on the list of female producers but in order to be in the producer table in this article you would need to have produced 13 films in the criteria range.
You’ve missed production design and costume design off your stats, could you add them? Thanks
I didn’t miss them – I haven’t had time!
How about Sound Recordists?