THE COMPANY

Film and television production company, Footprint Films, has embarked on a new chapter of story telling and filmmaking.

Under joint managing directors and producers Mark Blaney (original co-founder of Footprint) and Jackie Sheppard, Footprint is developing and producing films for a broad mainstream audience which combine commercial appeal and viability with inspiring, entertaining and engaging storylines.

The films bring to life stories of courage, mercy, forgiveness, redemption, commitment, spiritual truth, faith, hope and love. Multiplex presentations and primetime broadcasts that ignite your mind, fire your heart and stir your soul.

With an emphasis on dramatic adaptation of real-life events but with occasional forays into drama fiction, Footprint, whilst perhaps at times exploring difficult areas and subject matters, wants to inspire audiences of all persuasions, beliefs and backgrounds to think what it is that shapes them and the world around us.

Engaging all genres and styles, but always anchoring storylines in an authentic and credible real world, Footprint believes it is essential that stories have an unashamed honesty that compels the audience to engage and reflect. Light or darker in shade, Footprint's productions must be at their very core gripping stories that seek to challenge our attitudes, our beliefs, our lives.

HISTORY

Footprint Films grew out of a passion and collaboration between graduating film school students Mark Blaney, Simon Beaufoy and Bille Eltringham and record producer Juliet Wills. A series of short films, Linger (1995 Footprint, Channel 4), Yellow (1996 Channel 4, BFI) and Closer (1997 BBC Films, Film Four) laid the foundation stone towards feature production.

Footprint's first cinema feature was The Darkest Light (Pathé, BBC Films, Studio Canal, Yorkshire Media), written by Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire, The Full Monty), co-directed by Simon and Bille Eltringham (The Long Firm, Mrs Ratcliffe's Revolution) and produced by Mark Blaney.

Subsequently the team produced the groundbreaking This is not a Love Song (UK Film Council, Footprint), a DV/35mm feature which premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival and was released simultaneously in theatres and on-line, a world first and bold experimental move, in 2003. Mark also produced, amongst others, Fran Lea's much acclaimed, Everyone's Happy (Footprint, Yorkshire Media) and Kim Hopkins' Native American cop feature, Wanted (UK Film Council, A&E [USA], WDR [Germany], Soros Documentary Fund).

Alongside seeking out new writers and directors through short film production, Footprint now sees producers Mark Blaney and Jackie Sheppard working on a broad cross-section of projects - ranging from low budget features to studio level projects - based on a combination of true stories and drama fiction from the UK, South Africa, Rwanda, Hong Kong, Poland and the USA.


Footprint Films does not accept unsolicited scripts. If you have a project that you'd like us to look at please send a log line, synopsis and your CV, by email.