The genre-focused London and Los Angeles-based outfit is feeling buoyed by growth in the UK theatrical market

James Harris, Leonora Darby, Mark Lane

Source: Tea Shop/Stuart Wallace Shutterstock

James Harris, Leonora Darby, Mark Lane

Need to know: Bold, commercial and authored genre are the core tenets of Tea Shop’s production slate, producing the likes of Lorcan Finnegan’s Cannes 2024 thriller The Surfer starring Nicolas Cage, John Maclean’s Glasgow Film Festival 2025 opener Tornado, Rowan Athale’s BFI London Film Festival world premiere Giant, Curry Barker’s Toronto 2025 premiere Obsession, which sold to Focus Features, and Fantastic Fest 2025 vampire thriller Night Patrol.

The company was initially founded as a UK operation in 2010 by Mark Lane and James Harris, rising up outside of the traditional public funder route, preferring a US sensibility for pulling together financing. Harris and Lane took on franchise projects, such as Green Street 3: Never Back Down, to keep the lights on at the start and allow them to pursue more creatively enriching projects.

Tea Shop regularly works with US partners such as Capstone, XYZ and Gramercy Park Media. Harris is now based full-time in Los Angeles, while Lane holds the fort in the UK and producer Leonora Darby goes back and forth between the two. Key partners in the UK include HanWay Films and Screen Scotland.

Key personnel: James Harris, Mark Lane, co-founders; Leonora Darby, producer.

Incoming: The trio work relentlessly despite the company’s small size, with nine features shooting in the past year, including Jordan Downey’s horror The Cycle, which Shudder will release in the US-Canada, UK-Ireland and Australia-New Zealand, shark thriller Alphas, the third film in the 47 Meters Down franchise, Fall 2 and Dracula film Abraham’s Boys.

Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s Banquet, starring Meghann Fahy, is about to enter production, with two other features set to shoot at the same time. Further projects in development include Ruth Paxton’s Pirate’s Wife with BBC Film and Brock Norman Brock writing, and work on the script for Fall 3 is underway.

James Harris says: “We have looked over the last 12 months into more British projects. It’s felt like the British theatrical climate has grown. It has felt like you can make local content at a decent level, whereas 10 years ago it felt like that had gone away.”

Contact: info@teashopfilm.com

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