The Brit 50: Stigma Films

Need to know: The work of Matthew James Wilkinson’s Stigma Films is on display at the end of 2025. Edward Berger’s Ballad Of A Small Player starring Colin Farrell launched worldwide on Netflix on October 29, after Telluride, Toronto and London festival screenings; Wilkinson produced the gambling drama with Mike Goodridge’s Good Chaos and Berger. The producer also has thriller Odyssey, his second feature with Muscle director Gerard Johnson, releasing in UK-Ireland in early November.

Since starting Stigma in 2011, Wilkinson has built a slate that keeps him regularly in production. It was Wilkinson who originated the project that became Yesterday, the 2019 comedy-drama based on the music of The Beatles – directed by Danny Boyle from Jack Barth’s story and a Richard Curtis script, and produced by Wilkinson and Working Title.

In recent years, he has worked on projects funded by a sales agent (2022 thriller Choose Or Die, sold by Anton and bought by Netflix) and by a distributor (2024 historical comedy Seize Them!, released by Entertainment Film Distributors for UK-Ireland); and has engaged in international co-productions, including Estonia-UK horror Last Sentinel. Stigma’s genre reach is broad, with the aforementioned thrillers, comedies and horrors sitting alongside heist musical The Score and Sky Cinema seasonal comedy Last Train To Christmas, both in 2021.

Stigma remains a one-person shop. Wilkinson uses his experience working in development at Working Title pre-2011 to run the development side, and has regular external collaborators such as line and co-producer Jamie Harvey.

Key personnel: Matthew James Wilkinson, producer.

Incoming: Brian Kelly’s thriller No Way Off starring Maria Bakalova is slated to shoot in Q1 2026, sold by Altitude; with Ita Fitzgerald’s Ireland-set comedy-drama West The Road aiming to follow in Q2, starring Imelda Staunton and sold by Bankside.

Dominic West, Fiona Shaw and Adam Pearson are all set to star in Romola Garai’s Monstrous Beauty, a period drama about a bearded woman in the court of King Charles II, aiming to shoot in Q3. Also on the slate are Marc Munden’s The Optimists, based on Booker-nominated author Andrew Miller’s novel, and Julian Kemp’s crime comedy The Traffic Is Murder, with Michael Sheen and Dan Fogler attached to star.

Wilkinson is continuing his collaborative ethos, with projects including social media influencer story La Veronica, co-produced with Robert Pattinson for Icki Eneo Arlo; Sister Midnight director Karan Kandhari’s Heartful Of Napalm, with Andy Starke’s Rook Films; and high-concept comedy 24 Little Hours, with Paul Brooks’ Gold Circle.

Matthew James Wilkinson says: “Stigma is a high-concept, commercially-minded, genre-skewing production company. We’re always looking for something familiar enough to not be overly explained, but different enough to feel like you haven’t already been told this story before. Since 2018 we’ve strengthened our relationships with UK distributors, widened our selection of sales agents, and met more money people. We’re a company that is often in production; I never wanted to be a producer who just languished on a pile of scripts.”

Contact: joanna@stigmafilms.co.uk

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