The Art and Craft of Producing Films: Simon Relph
2014; Edinburgh University Press; Volume: 11; Issue: 2-3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.3366/jbctv.2014.0205
ISSN1755-1714
Autores Tópico(s)Political and Economic history of UK and US
ResumoSimon Relph has become a forgotten figure in British cinema history and yet he made a major contribution both as a successful independent film-maker from c.1981 to 2005 – making twenty films as either producer or executive producer (see filmography) – and as the first chief executive of British Screen (1985–1990), the successor to the National Film Finance Corporation (NFFC).1 Relph’s grandfather, George (1888–1960), was a distinguished stage and film actor, while his father Michael (1914–2005), who formed a long-term partnership with director Basil Dearden, was a successful production designer, writer and producer working principally at Ealing Studios. Although he initially resisted following in their footsteps, Simon Relph gradually became convinced that film and theatre were his real passion. He started out as a third assistant director on a television series at Rank’s Beaconsfield Studios in 1961, working his way to first assistant director on the Betty Box-Ralph Thomas comedy Hot Enough for June (1964). Box became a mentor, encouraging Relph to learn about the whole craft of film-making, including preand post-production work, which stimulated an interest in producing rather than directing. Thus although Relph continued to work as assistant director on a number of prestigious productions at Pinewood and Shepperton studios in the 1970s – including Roman Polanski’s The Tragedy of Macbeth (1971), John Boorman’s Zardoz (1974) and John Schlesinger’s Yanks (1979) – he moved inexorably towards producing. His opportunity came on Warren Beatty’s Reds (1981), a major American production filmed in the UK. Relph was hired as assistant director but took over as executive producer when Charles MacGuire,
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