There was a certain ironic contrast lingering in the aisles of Watersprite’s “Setting Up A Company” seminar. A crowd of predominantly liberal arts students from one of the most prestigious universities for English, History and Classics, attentively leaning forward, crammed into a room bedecked with golden fleur-de-lis wall paper, desperately trying to uncover a few verses of wisdom on breaking into film from a man whose time at university was far away from the arts and whose working life began as an accountant.
“It’s not like that” explains Simon Flamank, acting Executive Director of Bob&Co. “Accountancy allowed me access into the arts and the creative scene … Secondly my father ran a paperback company. My parent’s house is still wall to wall books. We were encouraged to read, we were encouraged to watch films, so it has always been in my blood.
“The main thing is about having a passion, having an understanding. Eighty-five percent of business is about relationships. If they’ve got desire (as well), it’s absolutely grand.”
Founded by Flamank and Bob Benton (the titular Bob), Bob&Co stands as one of Britain’s most successful capital raising and investment companies for media projects, as well as an advisory group to the entertainment industry. Things were not always so impressive. As Flamank explains, the pair’s venture began as scribbles “on a paper place-setting in a restaurant”.
“What we (Flamank and Benton) talked about at that meal was how can you have a creative business that can invest in the industry but can also give advice to that industry”. For all of the structure, however, Flamank underlines that the driving force “remained with people”.
“Me and Bob decided we believe in talent, in content, in ideas, and we believe in young people as well – very strongly”.
We believe in talent, in content, in ideas, and we believe in young people as well.
Take, for example, Bob&Co’s involvement in films. “All these things begin with an idea. Something gets written down and it gets refined. One page becomes two pages, becomes four pages, becomes twelve pages, until you end up with a script… Once you have that you look around and you decide what you need – money, physical people, talent. It can take years before you get all the pieces in place and start shooting”.
Bob&Co’s related pictures include SUMMER IN FEBRUARY, OUTSIDE BET, and Ben Whishaw’s recent release LILTING, but the company’s investments extend much further, with financial stakes in areas from theatre to TV. More recently Bob&Co have raised funds for CBeebies production Q Pootle 5, the animated series of celebrated children’s author and illustrator Nick Butterworth.
“Children’s TV in general is becoming more and more like the financing model for film… but we are still in the hands of the main terrestrial broadcasters plus Disney, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, who are the big players. How do you piece together money to pay for one of these? Disney won’t pay for it outright – why should they?”
Length also provides a different challenge for TV, with multiple series now expected. “The big thing across all channels at the moment is long-running scripted drama, where you’re effectively taking somebody for the next five to seven years. So we’re involved with something at the moment that is feasible tied in for seven seasons, eight episodes a season. But its important we secure the services of those people for that length of time”.
A significant degree of Bob&Co’s labours now lie in advisory functions. The list of programmes given consultation by the multi-faceted company includes classics such as Thomas The Tank Engine and Bob The Builder. Flamank also played a pivotal role in the preservation of Handmade Films, the legendary production company founded by George Harrison and creator of such classics as THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY and WITHNAIL & I.
“Handmade was an AIM-listed public company and it was raising about seventeen million pounds. The Nomads – the old stockbrockers – wanted someone with a strong industry and finance background on-board, and they asked would I do it. I went on after the money had been raised and unfortunately found a very different business”.
Handmade at this time was estimated, despite its more positive reports, to be close to six million pounds in debt. Describing the issues during the Setting Up A Company seminar, however, Flamank’s assessment lies in people as much as money.
“When it goes wrong is when people start to cross the line, start lying to shareholders – which happened with Handmade”, Flamank confides. “Avarice and greed are always a factor in business… It is often in adversity that you find out who your friends really are”.
If this is how things go wrong, how do they go right? It is telling that Flamank, once again, returns to people and people skills.
“What I wanted to get across in the talk was collaboration. All the analogies of film-making and sports teams hold true, because it cannot be just you and you alone… you sign up to it being a team game. Making a film is a team effort… what we are trying to do is build that perfect team of people”.