9 recommendations
BENNY IN THE DARK by Phillip Morgan (Independent Talent Group)
Producers: House Productions
Genre: Supernatural Thriller
Summary: A character driven 1950s set allegory for the unspoken societal fears around male depression.
8 recommendations
SURGE by Rupert Jones (Casarotto) & Rita Kalnejais (42)
Producers: Rooks Nest/BBC Films/Creative England
Genre: Thriller/Drama
Summary: Set over 24 hours in London, SURGE is a stripped back thriller about a man goes on a bold and reckless journey of self-liberation in London.
6 recommendations
YESTERDAY TOMORROW TODAY by Lawrie Doran (unrepresented). Revisions by Polly Vernon (42)
Producers: Met Film Production
Genre: Indie Rom Com
Summary: Feeling pressure to start a family she’s not sure she wants, a bored thirty something finds a portal to the past where she embarks on an exciting affair with a younger man – her husband before they met.
5 recommendations
SHEPHERD by Chris Andrews (Independent Talent Group)
Producers: Stray Bear Productions
Genre: Revenge Thriller
Summary: Determined to avenge the killing of his flock, a Cumbrian shepherd is drawn into cycle of violence that exposes secrets from his past.
THE BIKE THIEF by Matt Chambers (unrepresented)
Producers: Ugly Duckling Films/Ellipsis Pictures
Genre: Thriller
Summary: A Romanian delivery driver’s moped is the centre of his family’s new life in London. When it is stolen, how far will he go to get it back?
ANNA’S STORY by Paul Herzberg (MBA Literary and Script Agents)
Producers: Ecosse Films
Genre: True Story
Summary: The extraordinary story of Anna Nathan who became pregnant during the holocaust and, facing certain death if discovered, resolved to conceal her pregnancy inside the camps.
4 recommendations
QUEEN’S GAMBIT by Henrietta & Jessica Ashworth (United Agents)
Producers: Magnolia Mae/Baby Cow
Genre: Period Drama
Summary: Adaptation of Elizabeth Fremantle’s novel about Katherine Parr, the one wife to survive Henry VIII.
CAB RIDE HOME by Charlotte Colbert (unrepresented)
Producers: Popcorn Group
Genre: Drama
Summary: In the final fortnight of Marilyn Monroe’s life, when she cannot find her therapist, she instead befriends her taxi driver.
A PAIL OF AIR by Alistair McDowall (Judy Daish Associates)
Producers: Pari Passu Films
Genre: Post Apocalyptic SciFi
Summary: A family survives a devastating ice age and find out they are not alone. Adapted from the short story of the same name by Fritz Leiber.
GB by Philip Robinson (The Agency)
Producers: Available
Genre: Road Movie
Summary: A white van man and his best friend since childhood, who is also a trans woman, take a road trip to make the money for her reassignment surgery – one last trip as mates before they’re man and wife …
ALL MY FRIENDS HATE ME by Tom Stourton & Tom Palmer (Independent Talent Group)
Producers: Available
Genre: Comedy Horror
Summary: Pete’s turning thirty and the old gang from uni are throwing a party. But his head begins to spin as one by one his friends slowly turn against him. He can’t work out: did he do something wrong? Is he paranoid? Or are his friends the sick ones?
3 recommendations
BLUE by Sam Baron (Curtis Brown) & James Appleby (unrepresented)
Producers: Blueprint/3Arts
Genre: Scifi drama
Summary: In near-future San Francisco, a successful therapist is struggling to raise her child after her husband’s death. She is intrigued by an offer to treat the world’s first artificial consciousness – but is surprised to discover that it wants to die.
BURMESE DAYS by Richard Cottan (Casarotto)
Producers: Magnolia Mae
Genre: Period Drama
Summary: Adaptation of George Orwell’s first novel based on his experiences as a policeman in Burma, it presents a devastating picture of British colonial rule.
THE POWER by Corinna Faith (Casarotto)
Producers: Stigma Films/Air Street Films
Genre: Horror
Summary: 1973: a young nurse is forced to work the night shift in a crumbling hospital as striking miners switch off the power across Britain. But inside the walls lurks a terrifying presence that threatens to consume her and everyone around her.
THE HORNED MAN by Toby Finlay (Casarotto)
Producers: Nira Park/Jim Wilson/Rachael Prior
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Summary: Based on the novel by James Lasdun. A New York professor of gender studies becomes increasingly unhinged when he suspects that his mysteriously AWOL predecessor – who epitomised the toxic masculinity he rails against – is framing him for the brutal murders of women in the city.
THE HOUSEKEEPER by Patrick Gale (United Agents)
Producers: Headstrong Pictures
Genre: Psychological Drama
Summary: The Housekeeper is a beautiful and tragic love story between two women set in 1930’s England and the fictional origins story of the Daphne du Maurier novel, Rebecca and du Maurier’s creation of the infamous character of Mrs Danvers.
FACE BLIND by Dominic Harari & Teresa de Pelegri (Curtis Brown Group)
Producers: Rooks Nest
Genre: Thriller
Summary: A female psychiatrist develops a condition that makes her unable to distinguish people’s faces, including the face of her stalker.
SHE WILL by Kitty Percy (The Agency)
Producers: Popcorn Group
Genre: Feminist Horror
Summary: A fading film star, bitter at becoming powerless and invisible, travels with her young nurse to a remote Scottish healing retreat, where she discovers the power of actual invisibility and sets out to get revenge on the men who’ve wronged her.
Thank you
This year’s list was announced on Monday 19th November 2018, at The Brit List networking event. The evening was made possible by the following generous sponsors:
- The Century Club
- ScreenSkills
- OnePoint21
- Renaissance Vodka
- Franklin & Sons Tonic and Mixers
