UK Brit List topped by Stephen Fingleton’s The Survivalist

The 2013 Brit List is being sent out to the UK film industry, topped by Stephen Fingleton’s dystopian future script The Survivalist. Producers on the thriller are Robert Jones and Wayne Godfrey of The Fyzz Facility.

Set years after a lack of resources result in much of the world’s population dying off, a survivalist is living alone on a farm until a woman and her 17-year-old daughter show up looking for cover.

The annual list of the best unproduced screenplays is compiled from nominations made by more than 80 producers, agents, distributors and sales agents throughout the UK film community.

Created in 2007 as a UK version of the UK Black List, it aims to draw attention to and stimulate interest in some of the top projects that have yet made it to the screen.

A script has to receive three or more votes to appear on the list, which this year totals 15 titles, and be penned by a non-US writer. Scripts that have appeared on previous Brit Lists are not eligble.

This year there was a wider spread of scripts nominated, with fewer achieving the three votes or more needed.

The Survivalist secured seven votes.

Second on the list, with six votes, was A Tale of Two Cities by David Farr, co-writer of Joe Wright’s action thriller Hanna.

Produced by David Thompson’s Origin Pictures and BBC Films, the drama is a new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic story set against the backdrop of the French Revolution.

Other screenplays include What We Did On Our Holiday, from Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, writers of BBC sitcom Outnumbered; and Posh, adapted from Laura Wade’s hit play and previously reported by Screen.

UK Brit List 2013

SEVEN VOTES

THE SURVIVALIST by Stephen Fingleton (Independent Talent Group)
Producers: Robert Jones/Wayne Godfrey
Genre: Thriller
Summary: Years after lack of resources result in much of the world’s population dying off, a survivalist is living alone on a farm until a woman and her seventeen year old daughter show up looking for cover.

SIX VOTES

TALE OF TWO CITIES by David Farr (Curtis Brown Group)
Producers: Origin Pictures/BBC Films
Genre: Drama
Summary: A bold new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic set against the backdrop of the French Revolution.

FIVE VOTES

INVASION by Joe Barton (Independent Talent Group)
Producers: Raw/Film Four
Genre: Thriller
Summary: A US-set psychological thriller with science-fiction elements.

TRIGGER by Lindsay Shapero (Blake Friedman Agency)
Producers: Met Film Productions/BFI
Genre: Dark Comedy
Summary: A twisted detective thriller centred around a teenage boy investigating his own suicide.

WHAT WE DID ON OUR HOLIDAY by Guy Jenkin & Andy Hamilton (Berlin Associates)
Producers: Origin Pictures/BBC Films
Genre: Comedy Drama
Summary: From the creators of hit TV show ‘Outnumbered’, comes the story of a family going through a difficult divorce who turn up at a family gathering and find themselves tested by a series of extraordinary circumstances.

YOUR VOICE IN MY HEAD by Emma Forrest (Casarotto)
Producers: Ruby Films/Warner Bros
Genre: Drama
Summary: Based on Emma Forest’s memoir of the same name.

FOUR VOTES

SON OF MAN by Hania Elkington (United Agents)
Producers: World Productions/BFI
Genre: Comedy
Summary: A rites of passage comedy about an obese, bullied Catholic schoolboy with a gift for art and an eccentric saint fixation, who learns what it means to be a man in the unlikely setting of a teenage pregnancy class.

THREE VOTES

BUMMER by Andrew Yerlett (Curtis Brown Group)
Producers: Escape Films
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Summary: A teenage couple, in the throes of first love, discover their parents are engaged to be married meaning they will become brother and sister, unless they can find a way to stop the fast-approaching wedding.

COMPETITION by Sean Buckley (Knight Hall Agency) & Martina Amati (Independent Talent Group)
Producers: Cowboy Films/Film Four Talent Group)
Genre: Drama
Summary: Visceral coming of age tale set in the world of gymnastics.

DRIVEN by David Leon & Rashid Razaq (Curtis Brown Group)
Producers: Zeitgeist Films
Genre: Crime Thriller
Summary: Loosely autobiographical film based on David Leon’s childhood experiences growing up in Newcastle in the late 80s and early 90s.

FUTURES by Rob Green (Michelle Kass Associates)
Producers: Starchild Pictures
Genre: Thriller
Summary: Time-travel thriller in London’s financial world.

HARRY’S BLONDE by Caradog James (Michelle Kass Associates)
Producers: Dan Films
Genre: Comedy Horror
Summary: A teenage boy comes of age with the help of two feuding serial killers.

POSH by Laura Wade (Knight Hall Agency)
Producers: Blueprint Pictures
Genre: Comedy drama
Summary: Adaptation of Laura Wade’s hit stage play.

SECOND COMING by Debbie Tucker Green (The Agency)
Producers: Hillbilly Films/Film Four
Genre: Drama
Summary: Jackie is pregnant and knows that it’s not her husband’s. She also knows she’s slept with no-one else. She doesn’t know if she’s losing her mind.

TRIVIAL PURSUITS by Tom Nash (Berlin Associates)
Producers: Embargo Films/BFI
Genre: Thriller
Summary: A hitman befriends the children of the man he’s trying to kill.