Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan have achieved the near impossible - created a wildly successful production company in a country where the film business is subject to repeated predictions of imminent doom. Working Title has grossed $3bn (£1.6bn) since 1992. Their lengthy list of UK hits includes Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Elizabeth, Bridget Jones's Diary and Billy Elliot, but they have also produced the Coen brothers' extraordinary body of work, including Fargo and The Hudsucker Proxy.
It is immediately clear that, apart from more practical considerations of balance sheet and budgeting, a good part of their success comes from their near symbiotic relationship. This is a pairing that operates in the shorthand language of a long friendship, where sentences started by one are frequently concluded by another; where the characteristics are complementary (Bevan ebullient and bouncy, Fellner sardonic and softer spoken, both rather public-school). Even in an interview, they can't quite stop themselves from chucking ideas around. When discussing Billy Elliot: The Musical, their first venture into theatre production, now previewing in the West End, they jokingly catalogue other films that could be turned into musicals, from Fargo (definitely a joke) to Hudsucker ("not an entirely stupid idea", according to Fellner), to Bridget Jones, which gives Bevan a momentary glint in the eye.
They were brought together by Michael Kuhn of what was then Polygram. Bevan had founded Working Title in 1984 with Sarah Radclyffe, and in 1992 went looking for a corporate backer. Polygram was the one, and Fellner came on board, Radclyffe having left. According to Bevan: "Before that we had been independent producers, but it was very hand to mouth. We would develop a script, that would take about 5% of our time; we'd find a director, that'd take about 5% of the time and then we'd spend 90% of the time trying to juggle together deals from different sources to finance those films. The films were suffering because there was no real structure and, speaking for myself, my company was always virtually bankrupt."
Their offices are in Oxford Street, London, with about 40 staff (the same number as in 1992) working on the development, marketing and legal sides - though when separate companies are formed for individual projects, they could have hundreds, even thousands of people on the books. They have offices in Australia and Los Angeles, plus a low-budget offshoot, Working Title 2, responsible for films such as Billy Elliot and Shaun of the Dead.
The pair's pattern is that big decisions - such as whether to greenlight a project - are made jointly, after which they work individually on movies. According to Bevan: "The key relationships - with Richard Curtis, Rowan Atkinson, the Coens, Stephen Daldry - we work them very much together."
Being bought by Polygram - itself taken over by Universal in 1999 - has been liberating, says Bevan. "We turned the whole thing upside down. We were now part of a big structure, so we spent much less time on finding the money and much more on developing decent scripts ... It's no surprise that two or three years after [1992] we started to have a considerable amount of commercial success from those movies."
Pre- and post-production are "the most powerful times for us", says Bevan. "Quality is everything. The day we greenlight a movie, that's the day the development process starts for us. Every word of that script's got to be checked ... too often I think what happens in Britain is the day they greenlight a script is the day they say, that's finished."
There is no hint of a decorous artistic suspicion of the studio system. According to Bevan: "When we were independents we were very wary about the studios. But what we realised through our experience with Polygram is that being part of a US studio structure is essential if you want to play the long game in the movie business. Six studios control movie distribution worldwide. The various supply engines, like talent agencies and marketing people, understand the studios and everyone who is playing seriously in the film business will be part of a studio structure."
Fellner says: "I guess technically not owning the company means we lost control, but the way the film business works is that it's people-driven rather than structure-driven. Tim and I are by profession film producers, and the business of Working Title is producing films. By dint of that we get to run it how we want.
"The production company itself will never be a profitable company. The value is not in ownership of the company but in part ownership, as we ultimately have, of the rights of any film made."
Universal's involvement will vary widely from project to project. Bevan gives two contrasting examples - Pride and Prejudice, starring Keira Knightley and with a budget of just over $20m, and The Interpreter (out this weekend), a thriller directed by Sidney Pollack and starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn. "With Pride and Prejudice they said OK - they hadn't met the director, they didn't question any part of the casting, when they saw the movie they were delighted with it. The Interpreter is patently a huge movie, one of their cornerstone films of the year. By the time you've taken into account marketing and so forth, it's a gigantic investment. Collective heads are on the line for a film like that, rather than just our heads."
That variation in approach stems from Bevan and Fellner's ability to run slates of films, different in genre, budget and risk. "If you make one movie at a time the problem is it's boom-bust, stop-go," says Bevan. Take 2004: "In the year you do Bridget Jones 2 you kind of know that film is going to do all right, so you can take a bigger risk at the other end, which was Shaun of the Dead. Which turned out all right, thank God, because we also did Thunderbirds which we thought was going to do all right, but didn't work out, and the other two supported it."
What with the mixed fortunes of Wimbledon, 2004 was not a spectacular year for them, though they did manage to pull in $600m.
The Interpreter represents a slight shift towards commercial US movies as part of that range. Fellner says: "We are trying to up the ante a little bit in terms of the scale and diversity of films we make ... You have to have films that are going to do $200-$400m in box office revenue, and finding them from here is difficult." They are keen to staunch rumours that the era of British romantic comedies from Working Title is dead, and firmly place Pride and Prejudice as part of that brand.
They are cautiously optimistic about government plans to change the system of tax incentives for filming in Britain. According to Fellner: "This is the first government in 20 years that has genuinely been engaged and tried to sort it out. But the practical application of this new structure is what needs to be resolved." Of more immediate concern is the strong pound, which is hampering their ability to shoot in Britain. Bevan says: "When you're doing a big movie that's studio based, spending a lot of money on building sets, the first thing you do is a budget for shooting here, as tight as possible. Then you have to do an exercise in your head about taking it to Prague or somewhere in eastern Europe, or Canada, or America. On a $50m movie the difference can be as much as $6m-$9m."
The pair claim good luck has played a huge part in their success. They are constantly surprised by reactions to their films. "We often put down the number of what you think a film will ultimately do worldwide in gross revenue," says Fellner. "But it's amazing: the one you didn't think would work is suddenly huge."
Fellner: "Making movies is like herding cats. Just when you've got 19 or 20 in a room ..." Bevan: "... suddenly you turn round and the whole lot of them is gone!"
The CV
Born Fellner: October, 1959; Bevan: December 1957
Education Fellner: Cranleigh School; Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Bevan: Sidcot School
Career Working Title founded by Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe 1984; My Beautiful Laundrette, 1985. Fellner made films including Sid and Nancy, 1986. From 1992: Bevan and Fellner co-chairmen of Working Title, films included Four Weddings and a Funeral, Fargo, Bean, Elizabeth, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones's Diary, About a Boy, Love Actually, Bridget Jones, the Edge of Reason, The Interpreter. Bevan and Fellner launched Working Title 2 in 2000
Interests Bevan: governor, National Film and Television School. Fellner: governor, British Film Institute
Family Bevan: partner, Amy Gadney, two children; one child with ex-wife Joely Richardson. Fellner: girlfriend Laura Bailey, one child; three children with ex-wife Gaby Dellal