This is Film4’s second biggest nominations year ever. Only 2016, with 22 Bafta nominations, scored higher.
Film4 is given a production budget of around £25 million a year from Channel4 to make British films, from shorts to bigger-budget Oscar contenders. Recent years have seen it allowed to make bigger bets on certain movies in a drive to get bigger returns and be self-sufficient by 2020.
Battsek said: “When you are building a slate [of films] you know most independent, low budget films don’t get their money back, so you need one or more hits to make up for that. We need to replenish our budget to not be a drain on Channel 4.”
As a UK film company, he said Brexit had not had a sizeable effect on its operations, but said the fluctuations in the pound had made it difficult to budget for its international sales. Around half of The Favourite’s box office receipts so far have come from the US.
British producer Working Title has had three Bafta nominations for Mary Queen of Scots, as has Fable Pictures’ Stan & Ollie.
