Warp Films

• Warp Films was established by Warp Records founding partners Rob Mitchell and Steve Beckett. It was initially created with financial support from NESTA and had a remit to produce a number of short films.
• After the death of Rob Mitchell in 2001, Beckett decided to continue with Warp Films and enlisted the expertise of Sheffield friend Mark Herbert to run the company.
• The first film (Chris Morris' My Wrongs) was shot in 2002. It won the award for Best Short Film at the 2003 BAFTA Film Awards and became the first short film DVD in the UK market.
• Warp Films breakout success came with Shane Meadows' This Is England. Since its release in early 2007, it has gained many awards including the Best Film at the British Independent Film Awards, the Special Jury Prize at the Rome Film Festival and Best British Film at the BAFTAs.
• At the same ceremony, Warp Films recieved its third BAFTA as Paddy Considine's directional debut Dog Altogether won the best short film award.
• Three months after This Is England released in cinemas, Warp's third feature film, Grow Your Own, was released by Pathe. This film was Warp's first collaboration with BBC Films. The film was directed by Richard Laxton, written by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Carl Hunter, and produced by Barry Ryan for Warp Films, Like Alkin for BBC Films and Carl Hunter for Art in Action.
• In 2004, Warp Films made a significant expansion its capacity. Robin Gutch joined Mark Herbert and Barry Ryan to devise the Warp bid for the Low Budget Film Scheme tender put out by Film4 and UK Film Council. The Warp bid was backed by Optimum Releasing, Screen Yorkshire and EM Media. Warp won the tender against competition and Warp X was formally set up in 2005 as a low-budget digital 'studio' to develop and produce films with focus on new talent and commercial potential.
• Warp Films/Warp X productions, Tyrannosaur, Kill List and Submarine were nominated for a total of 18 awards at the 2011 British Independent Film Awards.
• Warp Films successfully ran a crowd-funding campaign to fund four short films shot at the All Tomorrow's Parties music festival by Vincent Moon, using the website Kickstarter.com. The project reached its funding goal on 15th October and the films are currently in post-production.
• Warp Films is currently developing several television products with Channel 4, the BBC and Sky. Warp Films' development slate currently includes projects with Shane Meadows, Chris Morris, Tony Grisoni, Paul Fraser, Gregory Burke, Paul Wright, Yann Demange, Tom Kingsley & Sharpe, The Sheeps, Peter Strickland, Olly Blackburn, Paddy Considine, Mikey Please, and Shynola amongst others. 

Films:

• Dead Man's Shoes - A short film directed by Shane Meadows and written by Paddy Considine, Shane Meadows, and Paul Fraser.
  The film took $1,825 on the opening weekend (USA) (14th May 2006) and was shown on one screen. The total gross of the film was $6,013 (USA) (28th May 2006). 
• Four Lions - A film directed by Christopher Morris and written by Simon Blackwell, Christopher Morris, Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong.
  The film took £608,608 on the opening weekend (UK) (9th May 2010) and was shown on 115 screens. The gross of the film was $30,527 (USA) (13th February 2011). 
• Submarine - A film directed by Richard Ayoade and written by Richard Ayoade and Joe Dunthorne, who was the writer of the novel.
  In the opening weekend, the film took £244,476 (UK) (both March 2011) and was shown on 60 screens. The total gross of the film came to $466,702 (USA) (14th August 2011). 
• Kill List - A film directed by Ben Wheatley and written by Ben Wheatley and Amy Jump. T
  he budget of the film was an estimated £500,000 and on the opening weekend, the film took $9,838 (USA) (5th February 2012) shown on two screens. The total gross came to $26,297 (USA) (4th March 2012).

Written by Sophie Nutt