Piers Tempest’s Yorkshire and London-based Tempo has a big UK hit in Kirk Jones’s I Swear
Need to know: Based in the Yorkshire town of Skipton and London, Tempo produced Kirk Jones’s current UK-Ireland box-office hit I Swear. The feelgood comedy drama falls into Tempo’s most challenging category of production, according to founder Piers Tempest, the one called “arthouse indie passion project”. Similar labours of love have included Frances O’Connor’s Emily and Bjorn Runge’s The Wife.
To fund its smaller films, Tempo partners with US outfit Gulfstream, which has a deal with Prime Video, on bigger films including Vicky Jewson’s Ballerina Overdrive starring Uma Thurman and romantic comedy Upgraded. It also works with the streamers on films including Bank Of Dave, for which Netflix acquired all rights two weeks before filming started.
Tempest describes the company as nimble, ready to work around the world and focused only on film (it doesn’t make TV). “I’m on set all the time,” he says. “There are always issues to deal with, especially when you’ve got the bigger actors.
“A lot of the films we do aren’t bonded,” Tempest adds. “That’s why we’re quite successful in working with investors, because we micromanage the productions in terms of expenditure and support the director as well.”
Based in the north of England, the company encourages productions to consider alternative shooting locations. “We shot Upgraded in Leeds and Bradford – it’s set in New York and London,” says Tempest. “You get so much more production value once you’ve got through the initial reticence. A lot of Americans think Leeds is in the outskirts of London and ask if they can stay at the Lanesborough [hotel].”
Key personnel: Piers Tempest, founder; Georgia Bayliff, Lauren Cox, producers.
Incoming: O’Connor’s original drama Sister Maria Goes To Rome, about a nun who visits Rome and forges an unlikely friendship, to which Thomasin McKenzie and Toby Wallace are attached; Desmar’s Naomi Despres and Notorious are co-producing, with Embankment Films selling.
Bigger projects include Nick Hamm’s 19th-century love story Black Palace, written by Jon Croker, on which Tempo is reuniting with Marie-Christine Jaeger-Firmenich, the Swiss financier and producer of Tempo-produced William Tell. Casting is underway on Black Palace with a shoot planned for spring 2026.
In post is Trudie Styler’s romantic drama Rose’s Baby, starring Antonio Banderas and Eva Birthistle as a couple in the throes of a messy divorce. Tempo was brought onto the project by Styler and Celine Rattray’s Maven Screen Media, while Rattray was busy producing Katie Holmes’ Happy Hours in New York.
Another film with Jewson and Bank Of Dave 2 are also in the works.
Piers Tempest says: “The films we get behind and make are the ones we think we can cast, that have got an audience. They’ve got to have a USP or a bit of IP or be based on a true story. They’ve got to have something that will generate column inches and people will want to talk about. And then you try to elevate them. It’s so difficult but it’s addictive. The last day of [principal] photography, on every film – I just cannot believe it. So much can go wrong. And then you get it in the can, and it’s hopefully good.”
Contact: pt@tempoproductions.net
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