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Behind The Scenes Interviews

Behind the Scenes: Peter Carlton of Film4 Productions

For a British TV channel, Channel 4 have had a long and distinguished history of film production.

Since the channel’s creation in 1982, it has produced some of the key British films over the last 25 years. From My Beautiful Launderette in the 1980s, to Trainspotting in the 1990s, and more recent productions like The Last King of Scotland and Venus, it has long been a place where British talent has found an important creative outlet.

Now known as Film4 Productions it remains an important part of the British film industry, not least because of its digital TV channel that launched on Freeview last year. The BAFTA and Oscar recognition for Venus and The Last King of Scotland also demonstrated that it can still spot interesting projects that break into the mainstream.

But how does a film like The Last King of Scotland get made? And what other projects have Film4 got in the pipeline? I asked these and some other questions to Peter Carlton, the Senior Commissioning Executive at Film4.

You can listen to the interview in two parts below.

In Part 1 we discuss: his role at Film4; producing The Last King of Scotland; how long it takes a film to get made; Me and You and Everyone We Know; recovering from the problems in 2002; Touching the Void; how much Film4 productions cost; making The Lovely Bones with Peter Jackson; future plans for different films.

Listen to Part 1:

[audio:https://www.filmdetail.com/audio/peter_carlton_on_film4_part1.mp3]

In Part 2 we talk about: getting the Film4 channel on Freeview; the My Movie Mashup project with MySpace; involving the audience in Film4 films; forthcoming productions such as This is England and Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten.

Listen to Part 2:

[audio:https://www.filmdetail.com/audio/peter_carlton_on_film4_part2.mp3]

> Official Site for Film4
> Find out more about Film4 at Screen Online
> Check out what is on the Film4 channel this week
> Take a look at My Movie Mashup – the Film4 collaboration with MySpace