The Brit 50: EMU Films

Need to know: Manchester and London-­based EMU Films was founded in 2012, shooting its first feature in 2013: Catch Me Daddy, which premiered in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. Since then, its film and TV credits have included Steve McQueen’s Small Axe, boxing drama Jawbone, Sacha Polak’s Dirty God and Terence Davies’ Benediction.

“Bold, authored filmmaking,” is how co-founder Mike Elliott describes the company ethos. Ian McShane became an investor in EMU after partnering with the company on 2024 dramatic thriller American Star and, says Elliott, “his talent relationships have brought some exciting projects to the company”.

Although EMU is hatching a screen version of Tyrell Williams’ hit play Red Pitch, about three teen footballers in south London, and is developing Maria Pawlikowska’s musical A Little Death, the company is making fewer films from first-time directors. “We’re growing naturally with the filmmakers we work with,” Elliott explains of the slight change in direction. “You put a lot of energy into a debut film and the margins are much smaller. If you continue in that vein, it becomes difficult to grow a company.”

Key personnel: Mike Elliott, Jim Mooney, Walli Ullah, founding partners; Laia Senserrich, head of development; Deborah Aston, head of production; Issy Carr, associate producer.

Incoming: Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego’s car chase thriller The Pursuer is set to shoot in the Canary Islands, as did his previous film with EMU, American Star. Jawbone director Thomas Napper’s The Man Who Stole Portugal, written by Richard Galazka and about the Portuguese swindler Alves Reis, is being backed by new financing outfit Moviedrome and is out to cast, with plans to shoot in Lisbon and the UK next year. A TV series by Steve McQueen is in the works.

UK-Ireland co-production Haul, a Victorian neo-noir made with Dublin-­based Tailored Films and Marleen Slot’s Viking Films, is expected to be launched in time for AFM by New Europe Film Sales, while David Thompson is directing an untitled Terence Davies documentary for BBC Film. EMU produced Davies’ final feature Benediction, and is still actively developing his Noel Coward project Firefly, to which Davies was attached at the time of his death.

Mike Elliott says: “Coproduction has become more important and that’s to do with how much tougher it has become. It’s about partnering up with companies we like working with and where we can all contribute to the financing plan to get the film made. We’ve been beginning to develop films with a bigger audience in mind, a bigger budget, and maybe with more international appeal. We are still trying to hold on to that sense of there being something authored about them.”

Contact: info@emufilms.com 

• The full list of Brit 50 profiles