In 1995, producer Andrew Eaton rang writer Hossein Amini to say that Polygram might finance "Jude", their adaptation of "Jude the Obscure". " 'I examined every nuance in his voice... but couldn't get anything more definite.' 'What percentage chance?' I finally asked him. 'About 99%' he replied. That was good enough for me. And then the one % started to haunt me.' "
"Jude" is a typical movie in that it required backing from several sources. Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Films has recently taken out advertising in "The Guardian" saying how proud they are of "Billy Elliot" but every ad also had "copyright Working Title" on it. "Elliot" was made by at least three major backers and "Jude" got off lightly, needing only two.
The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ was one investor but had limits on how much it could finance anything. The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's "Mark Shivas liked the script... he was prepared to put Β£800,000 towards the film, the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ maximum," reports Amini. That left him, producer Eaton, and director Michael Winterbottom to find backers and was why Polygram so excited them.
"I pestered Andrew Eaton incessantly... Have you exchanged contracts with Polygram? Is the money in the bank? Pre-production began in July. All I could think was that Polygram still had August, September and October to change their minds," worried Amini.
"My first visit to the "Jude" production office was the moment I really thought the film might get made. For a start there were a dozen people working in the building... All of them must have been getting paid something".
Go to Factory Line - Part 4: We Were Going to Start Shooting Today.
Go to Factory Line - Part 5: We're paying you, aren't we? Where's the movie? Get shooting!
Sources:
"Jude" The Shooting Script, Hossein Amini, Nick Hern Books, 1996, ISBN 1-85459-302-1
