Focus Features

Paul Webster

Executive Producer

Paul Webster is an independent feature film producer based in London. He is currently producing Pride & Prejudice for Working Title Films, to be directed by Joe Wright.

As the creator and head of FilmFour, the feature film arm of the U.K.'s Channel Four, he oversaw a slate of original productions from 1998 through 2002 that included such movies as The Motorcycle Diaries; Gregor Jordan's Buffalo Soldiers (starring Joaquin Phoenix); Jez Butterworth's Birthday Girl (starring Nicole Kidman); Gillian Armstrong's Charlotte Gray (starring Cate Blanchett), and Jonathan Glazer's Sexy Beast (for which Sir Ben Kingsley received an Academy Award nomination).

Prior to forming FilmFour, Mr. Webster was head of production at Miramax Films for over two years. In that capacity, he supervised such Academy Award-winning films as Anthony Minghella's The English Patient, Gus Van Sant's Good Will Hunting, and John Madden's Shakespeare in Love.

He had previously worked as a producer, both independently and with Working Title Films, during which time he produced such films as Mel Smith's The Tall Guy (starring Emma Thompson), Peter Medak's Romeo is Bleeding (starring Gary Oldman), and James Gray's Little Odessa (which won the Silver Lion Award at the 1994 Venice International Film Festival). He subsequently reteamed with the latter filmmaker as producer of The Yards.

Prior to segueing into his producing career, he ran Palace Pictures, the theatrical distribution arm of the U.K. production company Palace. Mr. Webster began working in the film industry in the mid-1970s, clerking at the (Notting Hill) Gate cinema.