Films for entertainment, finance for profit and value for money

Film production finance

Piccadilly Pictures provides funding and short-term liquidity to producers and distributors of the films by way of loans secured against tax credits, contracted pre-sales, and unsold rights. In certain cases it may also provide bridging loans.

Piccadilly Pictures and its associated businesses have raised and arranged approximately £100 million in the last 6 years through production and/or sale and leaseback finance, film partnerships under current UK legislation and loans to film productions during the production and exploitation periods, secured against receivables, including the UK Producer’s Tax Credit.

The principals of Piccadilly Pictures are experienced producer Christopher Figg and lawyer and producer Robert Whitehouse.

MediCinema

A charity dedicated to bringing the power of cinema and film to patients across the UK.

MediCinema is a registered charity that has formed a unique partnership with the Medi Cinema Health Sector and Film Industry.

Find out more img

Our Films

Stardust

Read Synopsis

Director: Gabriel Range

Cast: Johnny Flynn, Marc Maron, Jena Malone

Stardust

Stardust chronicles the young David Bowie’s first visit to the US in 1971 – a trip that inspired the invention of his iconic alter ego Ziggy Stardust.

Close

Black Water Abyss

Read Synopsis

Director: Andrew Traucki

Cast: Luke Mitchell, Jessica McNamee, Amali Golden

Black Water Abyss

Friends exploring a remote cave system in Northern Australia find themselves threatened by a pack of crocodiles.

Close

Shoplifters of the World

Read Synopsis

Director: Stephen Kijak

Cast: Joe Manganiello, Helena Howard, Elena Kampouris, James Bloor

Shoplifters of the World

1987. Denver, Co. One crazy night in the life of four friends reeling from the sudden demise of iconic British band The Smiths, while the local airwaves are hijacked at gunpoint by an impassioned Smiths fan.

Close

The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee

Read Synopsis

The Very Excellent Mr. Dundee

Aussie icon Paul Hogan just wants the quiet life.  He lives in Malibu and is content doing the daily crossword and watching Ellen.  So when his agent drops by to tell him he’s going to be receiving a knighthood for services to comedy, Paul is less than impressed.  His agent won’t take no for an answer and cautions Paul not to mess this up!  With Paul’s simple life, what risk of trouble could there possibly be?

Director: Dean Murphy

Cast: Paul Hogan and friends

Close

Storm Boy

Read Synopsis

Storm Boy

Based on the beloved book, Storm Boy is a highly emotional tale of a young boy growing up on the beautiful but uninhabited coastline of Southern Australia who unexpectedly rescues and then raises three orphaned pelicans. When he forms a close bond with them, he finds himself at odds with his fisherman father and his life takes a new and unexpected turn.

Director: Shawn Seet

Cast: Geoffrey Rush, Jai Courtney

Close

Vita and Virginia

Read Synopsis

Vita and Virginia

A look at the relationship between Virgina Woolf (Debicki) and Vita Sackville West (Arterton), a timeless love story, told in a contemporary style, about two women who broke through social barriers to find solace in their forbidden connection.

Director: Chanya Button

Cast: Gemma Arterton, Elizabeth Debicki

Close

Stano

Read Synopsis

Director: Raymond De Felitta

Cast: Joe Manganiello, Sofía Vergara

Stano

An underdog story about a rising baseball star who finds himself in prison after a terrible accident.   After serving 17 years in prison for a violent mistake he made in his youth, Stano (Joe Manganiello) a once-aspiring baseball player returns to his Bronx neighborhood.
Close

Close

Read Synopsis

Director: Vicky Jewson

Cast: Noomi Rapace, Indira Varma

Close

Based on the experiences of Jacqui Davis, one of the world’s leading female bodyguards, the film focuses on Sam (Rapace) a close protection officer who is hired to protect Zoe (Nélisse), a rebellious heiress to a billion-dollar company. When a violent kidnapping attempt forces them to go on the run, the women form an unlikely bond work together to clear their names and uncover their enemies.

Close

Mandy

Read Synopsis

Mandy

Mandy is set in the primal wilderness of 1983 where Red Miller (Nicholas Cage), a broken and haunted man hunts an unhinged religious sect who slaughtered the love of his life.

Director: Panos Cosmatos

Cast: Nicholas Cage, Andrea Riseborough

Close
film-img-11

Better Start Running

Read Synopsis
film-img-11

Director: Brett Simon

Cast: Jeremy Irons, Jane Seymour, Alex Sharp, Annaleigh Tipton, Mario Bello

Better Start Running

Before the tyres have even started burning up the road, Harley and Steph have accidentally killed their tyrant boss and kidnapped Harley’s wise-cracking Grandpa. And then the chase begins as they speed across the country in search of freedom and Grandpa’s long lost love. The FBI is hot on their trail and closing fast, while Harley desperately tries to win Steph’s heart. With the unexpected help from strangers whose hearts they touch along the way, they narrowly escape the relentless attempts to capture them at every turn in the road. Their epic journey culminates in a fiery showdown. Amidst the chaos and explosions, the two find love and create their own happily-ever-after in this high octane romance for the ages.

Close
film-img-12

Zoo

Read Synopsis
film-img-12

Director: Colin McIvor

Cast: Toby Jones, Penelope Wilton

Zoo

Based on a true story, 12 year old Tom (Art Parkinson) and his misfit friends fight to save Buster the baby elephant during the German air raids on Belfast in 1941.

Close
film-img-13

Modern Life is Rubbish

Read Synopsis
film-img-13

Director: Daniel Gill

Cast: Ian Hart, Freya Mavor, Tom Riley, Josh Whitehouse

Modern Life is Rubbish

Modern Life is Rubbish is a funny and heart-felt contemporary love story. It tells the tale of the turbulent relationship between the aspiring musician Liam and the talented artist Natalie, as they separate their shared music collection at the end of a decade-long relationship. In the process we explore the highs and lows of their touching romantic union.

Liam, a vinyl junkie and hardcore techno-phobe, is trapped in the past, clinging on to fading dreams of rock stardom with his ramshackle band “Head Cleaner”. Whereas Liam has steadfastly resisted the creeping grasp of modernity, Natalie has nimbly adapted to the trials and tribulations of 21st century London life.

As their shared possessions are separated, we come to learn the emotional significance of these items, in a home filled with memories and love.

The heartbroken Liam is privately desperate to stop Natalie from leaving him, but his pride and his own demons are paralyzing him. When he eventually tries a last-gasp reconciliation, it is tragically too little too late for the wounded but pragmatic Natalie.

Close
film-img-14

Swinging Safari

Read Synopsis
film-img-14

Director: Stephan Elliot

Cast: Guy Pearce, Kylie Minogue, Julian McMahon, Jeremy Sims, Asher Keddie, Radha Mitchell

Swinging Safari

Australia 1978. The beach suburb of Dee Why is a place that revolves around surf mats, baby oil, boxed wine and the new miracle of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

14 year old Jeff tries to find his feet in a world changing faster than his hormones and deal with his crush on shy and sensitive girl-next–door Melly.

When the beach town hits the headlines because a 200 ton whale is washed ashore, Jeff and Melly think it’s the biggest thing that’s ever happened in their lives. Meanwhile their eccentric parents are catching up with the sexual revolution that has washed up on Australia’s beaches. And just like the whale, it’s all about to go wrong.

Close
img

The Numbers Station

Read Synopsis
img

Director: Kaspar Barfoed

Cast: John Cusack, Malin Ackerman, Liam Cunningham

The Numbers Station

Emerson is a disgraced ‘black ops’ agent and his punishment is to take on the dead end job of protecting Katherine, who is the code operator for a small CIA broadcast station in the wildest part of Scotland. Emerson’s mission is simple – to protect Katherine, keep her safe and secure.

However, when Emerson and Katherine arrive at the Numbers Station to replace the night shift, they find them dead. When they return to their car it blows up. It signals an ambush and they are forced to take refuge in the station itself, using Emerson’s deadly combat skills as their only weapon. But Emerson’s call for back-up prompts orders which make his blood run cold and throw his loyalties into question: ‘Secure location. Retire asset’. The asset is Katherine and she doesn’t deserve to die.

Under attack from a group of unknown but lethal aggressors with only recorded messages from the previous broadcaster’s bodyguard to go on, Emerson and Katherine find themselves in a life-or-death struggle.

With the station compromised, an unclear target and no escape, the truth becomes their priority if they want to make it out alive.

Close
hunky-dory

Hunky Dory

Read Synopsis
img

Hunky Dory

A delightful coming of age film set in 1976 Swansea – during the hottest summer in living memory – and follows the trials and tribulations of a charismatic drama teacher Viv (Minnie Driver) as she fights sweltering heat and general teenage apathy to put on a school musical.

In order to get the kids engaged in her version of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” (a rock-opera version set on Mars) Vivienne weaves the play around the kids’ favourite pop songs, using the hits of the day by artists as diverse as David Bowie, Lou Reed, The Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, Dusty Springfield and Electric Light Orchestra.

What emerges is a highly potent “slice of life” drama in which the kids’ voices add a particular poignancy and beauty to some familiar classic tunes, making the film a nostalgia trip for the older audience members and a fresh introduction to some classic British pop to the younger cinema goers.  The music, which is all played and sung by the young cast, literally provides the soundtrack to our characters’ lives and to a film that is in turn touching, life affirming, funny and nostalgic.

Director: Marc Evans

Cast: Minnie Driver, Anuerin Barnard, Danielle Branch

Close
img

Age of Heroes

Read Synopsis
img

Age of Heroes

The true story of the formation of Ian Fleming’s 30 Commando unit, a precursor for the elite forces in the U.K. The unit is dispatched to Norway to eliminate German radar stations.

Director: Adrian Vitoria

Cast: Sean Bean, Danny Dyer

Close
img

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Read Synopsis
img

Director: Lynne Ramsay

Cast: Tilda Swinton, John C Reilly, Ezra Miller

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Kevin’s mother struggles to love her strange child, despite the increasingly vicious things he says and does as he grows up. But Kevin is just getting started and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined.

Close
img

Coriolanus

Read Synopsis
img

Director: Ralph Fiennes

Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Gerard Butler, Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Cox, Jessica Chastain

Coriolanus

Based on the play by William Shakespeare in which the citizens of Rome are hungry. Coriolanus, the hero of Rome, a great soldier and a man of inflexible self-belief despises the people. His extreme views ignite a mass riot. Rome is bloody. Manipulated and out-maneuvered by politicians and even his own mother Volumnia, Coriolanus is banished from Rome. He offers his life or his services to his sworn enemy Tullus Aufidius.

Close
img

4.3.2.1.

Read Synopsis
img

Director: Noel Clarke

Cast: Emma Roberts, Tamsin Egerton, Ophelia Lovibond, Noel Clarke

4.3.2.1.

Four girls out on a three day trip to two cities, if they survive. While Jo is working in a supermarket, her three friends are all out on their adventures. A chance encounter with diamond thieves sends them on a collision course with fate itself.

Close

Meet the team

Christopher Figg

Director
Read bio

Christopher Figg

Christopher Figg graduated from Oxford in 1979 and after becoming an editor of television commercials, went on to become assistant director on the Oscar winning Passage to India, as well as The Dresser, Another Country and many other films.

Subsequently he was involved in UK distribution with films such as the re-release of McCabe and Mrs Miller, Woodstock, Apocalypse Now, Hearts of Darkness and Lilith.

He produced the Hellraiser films, co-produced Trainspotting, Dog Soldiers, Heidi and Greyfriars Bobby. Recent films include 4,3,2,1, Coriolanus, We Need to talk about Kevin, Age of Heroes and Hunky Dory with Minnie Driver.

Close Bio

Robert Whitehouse

Director
Read bio

Robert Whitehouse

Robert Whitehouse, an experienced international film producer, lawyer and financier, a member of the California and New Zealand Bars, has been involved in various aspects of the film industry since 1980. He has produced a number of feature films, from award-winning arthouse films to major studio productions, working in New Zealand, Los Angeles and the UK.

From 1994 he was Managing Director of the international finance activities of Alliance-Atlantis, a major North American production and distribution company, and since 1998 has raised over US$400 million in film and other entertainment finance.

He has been a shareholder in Piccadilly Pictures since 2009 and is responsible for fund raising, overseeing all film financing transactions, and all aspects of business affairs.

Close Bio

Ian Hutchinson

Read bio

Ian Hutchinson

Ian Hutchinson is a qualified chartered accountant with more than twenty years’ experience in media banking at DZ Bank and Bank of Ireland and subsequently ten years as a partner at Silver Reel, a prominent film fund.  He has been involved in 150 film and television financings and has served as an executive producer on many films including The Railway Man, Under the Skin, Breathe and Loving Vincent.

Close Bio

Saskia Thomas

Production Executive
Read bio

Saskia Thomas

Saskia Thomas trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She can bring her keen eye to scripts and story lines, and create commercially strong projects.

Saskia manages our Film Partnerships and she is the first port of call for private investors in our company.

Saskia works closely with the investors helping them manage the creative as well as their administrative side. Saskia has produced many EPK’s and documentaries for the films projects.

Close Bio

Dawn Bierschwal

VP North America
Read bio

Dawn Bierschwal

Dawn Bierschwal graduated from Cornell University and before becoming a filmmaker, was an executive at a Fortune 500 Company with responsibility for a $2.2 billion/year global budget.  She is a successful entrepreneur and eventually found her way into the film industry where she has written scripts, produced and directed music videos and produced feature films via her company, Whip Smart Productions.
Among various film and TV projects, she was involved in Don Cheadle’s acclaimed MILES AHEAD and the Sundance selected PLAYDATES tv pilot starring Paul Scheer and Carla Gallo,  and was lead Producer on BETTER START RUNNING starring Jeremy Irons, Alex Sharp, Analeigh Tipton and Maria Bello.
Dawn is responsible for sourcing and overseeing North American based projects.
Close Bio

Contact us

For more information please get in touch.

Tel: +44 203 709 5025
Email: info@piccadillypictures.com

Please note we do not accept unsolicited scripts. If you wish for us to have an initial review of material please send a synopsis with elements and finance plan.

Piccadilly Pictures | 33 St James’s Square | London SW1Y 4JS