RENO ANTONIADES
Reno is a partner and head of the firm’s Film Group.
Reno trained at the City firm Herbert Smith and spent the
first two years of his career in their corporate department.
Reno then joined Olswang where he began his career in the
film and television industries acting principally for
independent production companies, sales companies and
distributors.
In 1994 Reno joined Lee & Thompson to work with Jeremy
Gawade in building up the firm’s Film and Television
practice and is now head of the firm’s Film Group.
Reno has for many years been acknowledged by the industry as
one of the leading film and television production lawyers in
the UK and represents an extensive list of film and
television production companies.
Reno is a regular speaker at industry events and seminars
both in the UK and Internationally.
The new UK edition of Chambers and Partners ranks Reno as a
Band 1 leader in his field.
ISABEL DAVIS, BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE
Isabel is a senior executive in the BFI’s Film Fund,
specialising in international. She manages the UK’s
co-production relationships from a practical and strategic
perspective, providing expert structural and financial
advice to producers working with the UK and internationally.
She represents the UK in the international production arena
and provides advice to government on co-production and
related matters.
CHRIS CURLING & PHIL ROBERTSON, ZEPHYR FILMS
Chris Curling is a respected independent producer based in
London with excellent connections throughout Europe and
North America. In 1990 he founded his own company, Zephyr
Films, which he runs alongside Phil Robertson and
specialises in the financing and production of feature films
for the international market. In the last ten years, the
Zephyr team has acted as producer, executive producer and
co-producer on over twenty films with combined budgets of
over $275,000,000.
Chris completed Michael Hoffman’s The Last Station, which
Zephyr produced with Jens Meurer’s Egoli Tossell, nominated
for 2 Oscars in 2010. The film stars Helen Mirren,
Christopher Plummer, Paul Giamatti and James McAvoy. He
worked as executive producer on Gurinder Chadha’s It’s A
Wonderful Afterlife, shot in London, and on Black Death from
director Chris Smith, shot in Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany.
2008 saw the release of Gillian Armstrong’s Houdini film
Death Defying Acts, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Guy
Pearce, and Penelope, with Christina Ricci, James McAvoy and
Reese Witherspoon.
Other recent releases include a trio of films that Chris and
Phil co-produced with The Dino De Laurentiis Company and
Tarak Ben Ammar’s Quinta Communications. Hannibal Rising,
The Last Legion and Virgin Territory had combined budgets in
excess of $150,000,000 and were shot in the Czech Republic,
Slovakia/Tunisia and Italy respectively.
Chris was also executive producer on David Mackenzie’s
Asylum for Paramount, and associate producer on Mike
Binder’s film The Upside of Anger for Media 8 and Fine Line.
In addition, Chris was a co-producer on Richard E. Grant’s
directorial debut Wah-Wah.
Chris is a member of the British and European Film
Academies, the European Producer’s Club and ACE. He also
serves on PACT’s film committee and BSAC’s Co-Production
working group.
Phil has raised finance for and successfully delivered a
host of British and European qualifying International
co-productions working with the likes of Film Four, BBC
Films, the UK Film Council, Miramax, the Weinstein Company,
Canal+, RAI, RTL, Filmax, Arte Cinema, and France 2 and 3
JIM WILSON, PRODUCER
James Wilson began his career as a production executive at
Fox Searchlight Pictures in Los Angeles, and subsequently at
FilmFour in London. Over eight years he worked on the
development, production and acquisition of a range of films
including Sexy Beast, Dancer in the Dark, The Filth and The
Fury, The Low Down, The Last King of Scotland, The Full
Monty, Nil By Mouth and The Ice Storm.
Since becoming a producer he has served as an Executive
Producer on Edgar Wright's Shaun of The Dead, and produced
James Marsh's The King with Milo Addica. Along with Nira
Park, he recently produced Joe Cornish's Attack The Block,
and with Nick Wechsler is currently producing Jonathan
Glazer's Under the Skin, starring Scarlett Johansson, and
Sophie Fiennes' The Pervert's Guide to Ideology. Jim is also
a director of Big Talk Pictures and is on the advisory
committee of the British Independent Film Awards.