Husband-and-wife producing team Stephen Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen are skilled at making UK films that travel internationally
Need to know: Stalwarts of the independent scene, husband-and-wife duo Stephen Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen scored an international hit in 2025 with Marianne Elliott’s The Salt Path starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, which made $22m in four months from a handful of territories, including $10.8m in UK-Ireland. The film’s reception in Germany and the Netherlands is indicative of Number 9’s success in making UK films that travel internationally.
Number 9 was formed in 2002, and has a long list of credits including Made In Dagenham, Great Expectations, Carol, Colette and Living. It has worked with directors including Neil Jordan, Todd Haynes, Paolo Sorrentino, Lone Scherfig, Eva Husson and Oliver Hermanus, and actors such as Cate Blanchett, Saoirse Ronan, Bill Nighy and Josh O’Connor.
Keeping six to nine features in development on its slate, the company has strong relationships with both the UK public funders, and with a range of sales agents, distributors, and co-producing partners. It is open to streamer collaborations, having had its first this year, with Amazon Prime handling international on Fleur Fortune’s The Assessment starring Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Olsen and Himesh Patel.
The company’s films are regulars at major festivals. The Salt Path and The Assessment started at Toronto 2024, while Kei Ishikawa’s A Pale View Of Hills – based on a novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, who also wrote the Living script – launched in Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2025.
Number 9 also feeds significantly into the UK film industry: Karlsen was instrumental in the instigation of the Independent Film Tax Credit through her role as a BFI governor, as well as chairing the competition jury for the recent BFI London Film Festival; while several former Number 9 staff have gone on to prominent careers in the industry, including BBC Film head of development Claudia Yusef.
Karlsen and Woolley jointly received the Bafta for outstanding British contribution to cinema in 2019.
Key personnel: Stephen Woolley, Elizabeth Karlsen, co-founders; Caitlin Leydon, development executive; Chloe Tucket, head of TV.
Incoming: Literary adaptations continue to prosper on Number 9’s slate for 2026. Nick Hornby is adapting Laurie Colwin’s 1978 novel Happy All The Time, about two couples in 1970s New York, for Number 9 and Searchlight. Nina Raine is adapting an Ian McEwan short story about a literary heist, entitled The Tumult, which is heading towards production. Further projects include a drama about Malcolm X’s visit to the Oxford Union in 1964; India-Ines Levy’s gothic thriller The Disappearance Of Elizabeth Beaumont; and Take This Longing, a comedy-drama from We Live In Time writer Nick Payne.
Number 9 is also branching into television, supported by Beta Films, with Philippa Lowthorpe to direct Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s adaptation of Henry James’ The Portrait Of A Lady for the BBC and Masterpiece Theatre; and TV adaptations of Number 9 feature Hyena.
Elizabeth Karlsen says: “We’re still standing – that distinguishes us more than anything, that we’re still here and independent. We are very hands-on, from the inception of a project all the way through to marketing and distribution. [On TV] If you come into something at a time that’s turbulent, and you’ve been around for a long time, that hopefully gives you added stability and attraction for people.”
Stephen Woolley says: “We look at a world market, beyond the obvious places films are shown. That’s how we’ve been able to survive over so many years. We take a lot of time on development, and don’t like to rush things – we’re not conveyor belts. No director, actor or writer can ever guarantee success, but what you can do is build relationships that can weather some of the storms.”
Contact: info@number9films.co.uk
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