05/06/2002 - The new strategy of ailing production company set up to make original tv productions for Channel Four

Film Four´s new CEO, Mark Thompson is planning a major reorganisation after the publicly-owned production company lost more than £5million in 2001, a situation that put Channel 4 Television in danger. FilmFour has not had a success since 1999´s East is East and many insiders point the finger at a run of costly bad investments in major productions like Charlotte Grey, which had great difficulty in finding a U.S. distributor, and Lucky Break that was marketed as a comedy instead of the social satire it really is. They also said that one option open to Thompson was to merge FilmFour with Channel Four´s highly respected drama department. That would effectively close Drama down, something Thompson is understandably reluctant to do.
Channel 4 and its associates lost £28 million last year (the worst figures for a decade), one-fifth of which was lost by Film Four. That means that the future of Channel 4´s pay-per-view film channel is also in doubt. It is likely that Channel 4 will start airing more made-for-Tv films instead of attempting to battle it out in the theatrical distribution arena.
FilmFour was created from, and given a much bigger budget that Film on Four, who were behind niche hits like Wim Wenders´ Paris, Texas and My Beautiful Laundrette.