Mike Leigh and Simon Channing Williams first met back in 1980, when Simon was First Assistant Director on Mike’s BBC film Grown-Ups, starring Brenda Blethyn.

They hooked up again a few years later, when Simon co-produced The Short and Curlies (1987) and High Hopes (1988), both for Portman Productions.

Having by now forged a close personal and working relationship, it seemed natural for them to form their own company. And so Thin Man Films was born.

Thin Man has made eight successful feature films, Life is Sweet (1990), Naked (1993), Secrets & Lies (1996), Career Girls (1997), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All Or Nothing (2002), Vera Drake (2004) and Happy-Go-Lucky (2008).

Secrets & Lies and Topsy-Turvy had nine Oscar nominations between them, Topsy-Turvy winning two. In 1994, Naked won Best Director and Best Actor at Cannes, where two years later Secrets & Lies won the Palme d’Or and Best Actress. I won The Golden Lion and the Best Actress at Venice in 2004, as well as six BIFA’s, 3 BAFTA’s including Best Director, and three Oscar nominations

Thin Man is responsible for the forthcoming ten-disc DVD Mike Leigh Box Set, comprising seven of the Thin Man features, plus Bleak Moments (1971), Meantime, (1984) and, High Hopes. Details of the box set will be seen here first, so check back for more information soon.

Writer-director Mike Leigh was born in 1943 in Salford, Lancashire. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, at Camberwell and Central Art Schools in London, and at the London Film School, of which he has been Chairman of the Governors since 2000.

His first feature film was Bleak Moments (1971); this was followed by the full-length television films, Hard Labour (1973), Nuts in May (1975), The Kiss of Death (1976), Who’s Who (1978), Grown-Ups (1980), Home Sweet Home (1982), Meantime (1983), and Four Days In July (1984), which was shot entirely on location in Belfast.

His later feature films are High Hopes (1988), Life Is Sweet (1990), Naked (1992), Secrets and Lies (1996), Career Girls (1997), Topsy-Turvy (1999), All Or Nothing (2002), Vera Drake (2004), and most recently Happy-Go-Lucky (2008).

Mike Leigh has written and directed over twenty stage plays, the best known of which is Abigail’s Party (1977), which he also directed for television. His other plays include Bleak Moments (1970), Wholesome Glory (1973), Babies Grow Old (1974), Ecstasy (1979), Goose-Pimples (1981), Smelling A Rat (1988), Greek Tragedy (1989), It’s A Great Big Shame! (1993) and Two Thousand Years, which Mike created for the National Theatre in London in 2005.

Producer Simon Channing Williams’ career started at the BBC where he worked with many directors, including Stephen Frears, James MacTaggart, Mike Newell, Michael Apted and Mike Leigh.

Outside his relationship with Mike Leigh and Thin Man Films, Simon Channing Williams has produced a number of other films, including Puccini for director Tony Palmer, When the Whales Came directed by Clive Rees, and Jack and Sarah, directed by Tim Sullivan, which was an enormous hit at the UK box-office, as well as Nick Love’s debut feature Goodbye Charlie Bright.

In 2000 he formed the independent production company Potboiler Productions with Gail Egan. Together they have produced seven feature films including an adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby directed by Douglas McGrath, the rock epic Brothers of the Head directed by Keith Fulton & Lou Pepe, and the Oscar winning The Constant Gardener directed by Fernando Meirelles. Potboiler has acquired the rights to the latest John le Carre novel The Mission Song, and Simon and Gail are joint executive producers on Fernando Meirelles’ current film Blindness.

As a result of filming The Constant Gardener Simon was instrumental in setting up The Constant Gardener Trust which is building a secondary school in the desert town of Loiyangalani some 600 km north of Nairobi. The Trust is also building showers and lavatories in the Nairobi slum of Kibera as well as installing 10,000 litre water towers (www.constantgardenertrust.org)

He was given the honour of being made an elder of Loiyangalani and was awarded the Order of the Grand Warrior in recognition of both his work with The Constant Gardener film and The Constant Gardener Trust.

Gail was executive producer on Vera Drake and Happy-Go-Lucky. She acts as Thin Man’s legal brains and as our fund-raising superwoman. She’s a qualified barrister, and practised commercial law at Lincoln’s Inn before joining Price Waterhouse Corporate Finance. She has also worked for the international media group Carlton Communications. And of course she and Simon Channing Williams head up Potboiler Productions (See notes on Simon).

Mike, Simon & Gail and the offices of Thin Man Films are supported by Abbie, Bek, Edie and Tess.

Simon and Mike feel as they’re as perfect a producer/director team as you could find. This is partly because they share both a sense of purpose and a sense of humour, but mostly because Simon has no pretensions to be a director or an ideas man, and Mike has no desire to be his own producer!

“Simon is brilliant at raising money, putting all the elements in place, and overseeing and guiding the whole operation. He sees his job as being to create the safe space for me to make my films freely and without interference. Of course, he’s always there with helpful, sympathetic advice when I need it, but he’s never intrusive. He’s just fantastically supportive.” [Mike Leigh]

Simon loves Mike’s work, and totally respects his approach. And over the years they have built up around them a talented and loyal team of fellow workers.

(Of course, Simon develops and produces many other films that have nothing to do with Mike Leigh. All such projects are through his other company, Potboiler Productions, which you can find on www.potboiler.co.uk)