Introduction

1066 The Film PLC is a company that has been specifically established as a vehicle to raise the necessary funding to produce the feature film ‘1066’ (1066themovie.biz).

1066 The Film PLC will co-produce ‘1066’ with Tiger Film Production Ltd.

The UK film industry has gone through many changes since WW2 and arguably the 1950’s are considered by some as the absolute pinnacle of British film making. There have however been occasional highs as the 1960’s produced a diverse range of productions that broke new ground in terms of both content and technical style reflecting the social and scientific developments of the era, but as the 1970’s approached and recession hit both the US and UK the number of movies produced and financed in the UK began to wane.

There is no doubt that Britain has a wealth of film talent both in front and behind the camera but raising the necessary finance for film production in the UK has always been difficult. It is Hollywood that has shown the greatest interest in British history and it has been Hollywood that has financed the majority of British born productions in the last 40 years.

There have been Tax Incentive schemes to encourage UK film making but they have often been accused of restricting creativity whilst becoming a haven for bureaucracy. There are various co-production deals which are generally thought to be Tax relief vehicles rather than the firm financial foundation of a good film production. With a great story, a strong script and an incisive creative vision as well as a comprehensive understanding of the many ancillary forms of revenue that can be utilised, a film can be very profitable. One only needs to look as such hits as Harry Potter, The Matrix, Alien, Predator and The terminator franchises to name a few. In today’s film industry, theatrical release is really a marketing tool for the DVD release, TV premier and the merchandising revenues.

British history has suffered greatly at the hands of Hollywood. For practical purposes there is often a need to compress some events and the timeline in which they occur to keep the production within the running time restrictions of the modern multi screen cinema chains. With this in mind, we have spent over three years on historical research, and a further two years writing and rewriting the script before arriving at a version that was both entertaining and considering the volume of factual documentation relating to the events leading up to Oct 14th 1066 as historically accurate as possible.

History is really not about dates, it is about personalities and events.