Inside Story: The new British movie moguls

Recorded Picture Company

Avowedly anti-establishment, RPC has championed unconventional films to great critical acclaim. Founded by its chairman, Jeremy Thomas, above, in 1971, its first production, Jerzy Skolimoski's The Shout, went on to win the Grand Prix at Cannes. It has subsequently produced or executive-produced more than 30 films, all but one of which have obtained North American theatre releases.

But its market success, insists Thomas, has never been a central consideration. He founded the company at the age of 22, and right from the start, it was "taste" that motivated his production choices over commercial success. He has unwaveringly abided by this criteria ever since.

"It was not a preconceived idea or vision. It happened out of pragmatism and necessity that my production decisions were entwined with my taste. I'm only driven by taste rather than the market. I want to make successful films because I want to make money for my investors but I have never tried to make successful films. I've made films based on whether I would want to see it, whether I like the subject. I'm not thinking about whether it could release on 5,000 screens," he says.

It has nurtured close relationships with a number of highly regarded directors, including Bernardo Bertolucci, Stephen Frears and David Cronenberg and produced Oscar winners such as The Last Emperor, above. Other notable productions include Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty and The Little Buddha, Cronenberg's Naked Lunch, Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, directed by Nagisa Oshima. Its most recent films include Richard Linklater's Fast Food Nation.

Working Title

The company, founded in 1984, is undoubtedly the leader in the British industry. Backed by the US studio, Universal, it has grown to become the most successful British film company in recent history. It is co-chaired by Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner, right, and this dynamic duo have produced 80 feature films which have amassed more than $3.5bn worldwide.

Richard Curtis's signature brand of romantic comedies such as Notting Hill, Love Actually and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, right, have become synonymous with the company's creative talent, and it is also responsible for a host of Coen brothers films as well as productions by Stephen Daldry. While many of the company's commercial hits are quintessentially British dramas, such as Billy Elliot and Elizabeth, which have managed to conquer the American box office, its oeuvre embraces Hollywood with such recent big hitters as The Interpreter starring Nicole Kidman and the Cohen brothers O Brother, Where Art Thou? featuring George Clooney.

The company's forthcoming releases include the film adaptation of Ian McEwan's Atonement, starring Keira Knightly, later this year, and Frost/Nixon, based on the hugely successful West End stage play.

All its films are distributed by Universal Pictures, which owns a considerable stake in the company, and many of its recent films are co-productions with StudioCanal.

MARV Films

A new company run by Matthew Vaughn, right, who was one half of the production team behind the films, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, and the public relations executive, Kris Thykier.

It was established by Vaughn in 2003 as the follow up to Ska Films, his successful collaboration with Guy Ritchie and in spite of being the " new kid on the block", it gets its edge from its collaboration with Sony Pictures Entertainment, with which it has a "first look" deal for three years. Vaughn has a dual director-producer role in the company, having moved into the director's chair with his well-received debut, Layer Cake. The company is finalising the epic fairytale romance Stardust, above and right, also directed, produced, and co-written by Vaughn and starring Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer and Claire Danes. The movie is released in August. Sony has called Vaughn a refreshing presence on the film scene who has, "made a distinctive mark on the UK film industry".

Thykier says the focus is on making the next generation of Britain's most successful movies. "We will produce films predominantly in the UK, moderate budget films using British talent for worldwide distribution."

Ealing Studios

The oldest continually operating film studio in the world, Ealing is more than 100 years old and has produced films ranging from the first screen version of Hamlet in 1912 through to its golden era in the 1940s and 1950s, when it produced such classics as The Lavender Hill Mob and Kind Hearts and Coronets. Its most recent project is St Trinian's, right, a modernised version, starring Colin Firth and Rupert Everett and produced and directed by Oliver Parker and Barnaby Thompson, right.

In 2003 Ealing bought Fragile Films, the company that produced the Spice Girls' box office hit Spice World. Thompson, who helms Ealing, says he wanted to nurture the "Ealing studio ethos" that was culturally synonymous with British comedies. "Ealing has always been associated with comedy and we are continuing that tradition," he says. "The challenge is to live up to the reputation of the Ealing name and to bring it into the 21st century." The company produces between two and four films a year, including last year's Alien Autopsy and I Want Candy, starring Carmen Electra.

DNA

DNA's founder, Andrew MacDonald, above, has worked over two decades to mould an idiosyncratic slate, from iconic works such as Trainspotting, above, to The Last King Of Scotland (directed by his brother, Kevin).

MacDonald originally created DNA as an Arts Council-backed funding company with Duncan Kenworthy in the 1990s. In 2001, though, he turned it into DNA films when he entered a 50-50 joint venture with Fox Searchlight, a division of 20th Century Fox. Since then, DNA has produced seven films, with recent projects including Notes on a Scandal, starring Judi Dench.

MacDonald's long collaboration with the director Danny Boyle began in 1994 with Shallow Grave. They followed that success up two years later with Trainspotting, then The Beach in 2000 and 28 Days Later in 2002.

MacDonald, 41, began his career as a runner for a television documentary. He says the ethos of the company is to pick films that reflect high-quality storytelling and directing, and that have a chance of being commercially successful.

"There are lots of very good films that never find an audience and that can't cross over," he says. "Our aim is to find an audience. One of the hardest things for a British producer is that Brits don't always go for British films. Our audiences are very picky. So we want to make edgy, quirky, quality films that can travel."

Ruby Films

Alison Owen, above, who founded Ruby Films in 1999, has managed to develop a portfolio of around 30 projects, predominantly made up of British novels and plays, that have gained large commercial appeal in spite of their high sensibility subject matter. Her literary films lure quality actors such as Gwyneth Paltrow, who has starred in a number of productions including Sylvia and Proof.

The ability to transform a small British production into a box office success is illustrated in the company's making of The Other Boleyn Girl, above. Originally based on the novel by Philippa Gregory, it was first made into a low budget BBC film before being adapted by Peter Morgan for cinema, drawing in Hollywood talent including Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson. Owen says its central principle was to place the creative talent – the writers, directors and authors – at the heart of the company, with examples that range from adapting Monica Ali's book, Brick Lane, to working with Tom Stoppard on Deborah Moggach's novel, Tulip Fever, and adapting Jamila Gavin's novel, Coram Boy, which was adapted successfully for the stage by the NFT.

"This hugely enhances our ability to connect their talent not only with regular financiers and partners such as Film 4 and BBC Films but also with US studios and specialty divisions such as Sony, Miramax and Focus," says Owen.