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Press Releases
Great Ormond St entrusts film & tv rights to
Peter Pan In Scarlet to 91Èȱ¬ Films, UK Film Council & Headline Pictures
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This is a joint press release on behalf of Great Ormond Street
Hospital Children's Charity, Headline Pictures, UK Film Council and 91Èȱ¬ Films
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Amidst strong competition, the film and television rights to Geraldine
McCaughrean's Peter Pan In Scarlet, the official sequel to JM Barrie's Peter
Pan, have been entrusted to a British consortium comprising Headline
Pictures, the UK Film Council and 91Èȱ¬ Films, it was announced today by the
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children's Special Trustees.
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The deal was
brokered on behalf of Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) by Charlotte Mann of The Rod Hall Agency Ltd.
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"We could not be happier than to be partnering with Headline Pictures, UK
Film Council and 91Èȱ¬ Films in this exciting new development with Peter Pan In Scarlet," said Charles Denton, Executive Director of Great Ormond Street
Hospital Children's Charity (GOSHCC).
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"We have no doubt that they will help
to build on the ongoing success of Geraldine McCaughrean's brilliant sequel
which will continue to raise vital funds for GOSH in the way JM Barrie had
intended when he gifted the copyright to Peter Pan to the hospital."
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Stewart Mackinnon of Headline Pictures said: "We are absolutely thrilled that we and our friends at the UK Film Council
and 91Èȱ¬ Films have been entrusted with the rights to Peter Pan In Scarlet.
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"We firmly believe that our
three companies can really combine effectively to do justice to a project of
such scale and ambition. This will be a most exciting ride!"
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Jenny Borgars, Head of the UK Film Council's Development Fund, said: "We are
delighted to be supporting Stewart and Mark at Headline Pictures, a British
production company, in securing the rights to this great project in a market
which is highly competitive for projects which have global brand value, and
also to be partnering 91Èȱ¬ Films."
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Jane Wright, 91Èȱ¬
Films' Head of Rights and Commercial Affairs, said: "It's exciting for 91Èȱ¬ Films to be working again with Headline Pictures and
the UK Film Council and to have GOSH as a partner.
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"The 91Èȱ¬ has a real connection
with family audiences and 91Èȱ¬ Films is thrilled to have been given the
opportunity to co-develop this project for the big screen by GOSH."
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In August 2004, the Special Trustees of Great Ormond Street Children's
Hospital launched the worldwide search for a sequel to Barrie's timeless
masterpiece.
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The trustees own the copyright and other intellectual
property rights to Peter Pan and, to mark the centenary of the original, they
authorised the creation of a new work that would share the same enchanting
characters and bring as much pleasure to children and adults around the
world.
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In March 2005, Geraldine McCaughrean was announced as the winner and
her book Peter Pan In Scarlet was published in October of this year.
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Geraldine is an award-winning writer who has written more than 130 books and plays
for both adults and for children.
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She recently won the Whitbread Children's
Book Award for the third time with her latest book, Not The End Of The World.
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In Peter Pan In Scarlet grown-ups become children again, as Wendy, John and
the Lost Boys join Peter Pan for more adventures.
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Neverland is sadly changed
but the spirit of Captain Hook lives on. Wendy and the Lost Boys are dreaming
of Neverland. Strange. because they have all grown up.
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Tootles is a portly
judge; Curly is a doctor; Slightly is a baronet. Wendy, now a wife and
mother, decides that Neverland is in trouble. They must find a way to go
back.
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And so these respectable mothers and fathers put on their children's
clothes to become children again. Alas, Tootles has only daughters, so he
becomes a little girl.
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Armed with fairy dust and Tinker Bell's replacement,
Fireflyer, they take flight.
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Notes to Editors
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 Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children (GOSH) opened its doors on 14
February 1852 with just 20 beds. It was the first children's hospital in
Britain and quickly acquired the Patronage of Queen Victoria and wide public
interest.
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Today GOSH is a centre of excellence in the treatment of sick
children, the training of doctors and nurses, and research into childhood
illness which benefits many more children than the 100,000 who are treated
here each year.
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Sir James Barrie bequeathed the copyright to Peter Pan to GOSH in 1929, later
confirmed in his will on his death in 1937. Income from Peter Pan remains a
tightly-guarded secret, in keeping with Barrie's wishes.
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But thanks to the
enduring popularity of Peter, Wendy and Tinker Bell, not forgetting Captain
Hook and the ticking crocodile, and now the success of Peter Pan in Scarlet,
the hospital can look forward to many more years of public support.
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These
funds are never more needed as Great Ormond Street Children's Charity
(GOSGCC) faces a major challenge as it raises funds to bring the hospital's
facilities up to 21st century standards.
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For more information, visit
www.gosh.org.
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Headline Pictures Limited is a producer of high quality television drama
and feature films with headquarters in Newcastle Upon Tyne and a
London office.
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Originally incorporated in 1995 as Common Features Limited,
the name of the company was changed to Headline Pictures Limited in January
2005 following the restructuring of shareholdings, changes in key personnel
and a re-launch.
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The restructured company was launched by the three principal
founders, Kevin Hood, Stewart Mackinnon and Mark Shivas, all highly
experienced and award-winning filmmakers.
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The three principal founders' experience and contacts at the very highest levels in both the UK and the US, combined with a strong commercial ethos and regional base, have
contributed to the significant progress the company has made in its first
year of operation.
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A deal is in place with the Weinstein Company to make
Alec And May - a feature film written by Kevin Hood scheduled for production
in 2007 - and Headline is developing a major event drama about the ending of
the Cold War with 91Èȱ¬ Television and HBO.
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91Èȱ¬ Films, the feature films arm of the 91Èȱ¬, has a number of co-productions currently on release including Nick Hytner's The History Boys,
Andrea Arnold's Red Road and Tom Vaughan's Starter For Ten.
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Soon to be
released are Richard Eyre's Notes On A Scandal and Richard Linklater's Fast
Food Nation.
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Among 91Èȱ¬ Films' high-profile production slate are Justin
Chadwick's The Other Boleyn Girl, starring Scarlett Johannson, Natalie
Portman and Eric Bana; David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises, starring Naomi
Watts and Viggo Mortensen; Gillian Armstrong's Death Defying Acts, starring
Catherine Zeta-Jones and Guy Pearce; and Richard Laxton's The Allotment,
starring Benedict Wong, Eddie Marsan and Omid Djalili.
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The UK Film Council's Development Fund aims to broaden the quality, range
and ambition of UK film projects and talent being developed, bringing
together screenwriters, script editors, directors, producers and a mixture of
other creative talents to increase the number of quality scripts moving to
production.
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With £12m to invest over three years the fund is building
creatively focused relationships with a breadth of talent from first-timers
to experienced practitioners and is enabling British film companies to grow
their businesses.
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Projects supported by the fund include: The Other Boleyn Girl (director Justin
Chadwick, writer Peter Morgan); When Did You Last See Your Father (director Anand
Tucker, writer David Nicholls); Becoming Jane (director Julian Jarrold, writers Kevin Hood & Sarah Williams); Red Road (director Andrea Arnold, writers Andrea Arnold & Anders
Thomas Jensen); The Proposition (director John Hillcoat, writer Nick Cave);
Kidulthood (director Menhaj Huda, writer Noel Clarke); Anita And Me (dir. Metin
Hüseyin, writer Meera Syal); The Magdalene Sisters (writer/director Peter Mullan);
Severance (director Christopher Smith, writer James Moran & Christopher Smith); A
Woman in Winter (writer/director Richard Jobson); The Dark (director John Fawcett, writer
Simon Maginn & Stephen Massicotte); Straightheads (writer/director Dan Reed);
Life And Lyrics (director Richard Laxton, writer Ken Williams); and Sparkle (writer/directors
Tom Hunsinger & Neil Hunter).
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About the Author
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Geraldine McCaughrean was born and educated in Enfield,
North London, the third and youngest child of a fireman and a teacher.
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She
trained as a teacher, worked for ten years in publishing, and in 1988 became
a full-time writer.
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Since then, Geraldine has written 139 children's books
and has won the Carnegie Medal, Guardian Children's Fiction Award, Whitbread
Children's Book of the Year (three times), Smarties Bronze (four times) and the UK
Readers' Association Award.
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She wrote the Blue Peter Book of the Year 2000.
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In 2002, The Kite Rider and Stop the Train were both shortlisted for the
Carnegie Medal, with the latter being Highly Commended.
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Her most recent
novel, The White Darkness, was shortlisted for the 2005 Whitbread Children's
Book Award and the Carnegie Medal.
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Geraldine lives in Berkshire with her
husband John and their daughter.
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Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean is published in the UK by
Oxford University Press and the US by Simon & Schuster, as well as over 30
different editions worldwide. For more information, visit
www.peterpaninscarlet.com.
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Publicist's initials here
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