Producer Jonathan Sothcott cites “exciting time for indie film production”
Prolific UK indie film production company Shogun Films has welcomed chancellor Rachel Reeves’ confirmation last October that the government’s popular Enterprise Investment Scheme will be extended for another decade, highlighting it as a lifeline for small independent studios as well as a great opportunity for investors to be involved with the evergreen independent movie business.
The scheme, which allows qualifying investors to write off 30% of their investment against their income tax, enables suitable companies to grow in a fast-changing landscape. Coupled with the incoming increase in the UK Film Producer’s tax credit from 20% to 40% it is creating exciting opportunities for commercial film production in the UK, despite headlines bemoaning a drop off in production.
Founded during the pandemic by husband and wife team of veteran producer Jonathan Sothcott and actress Jeanine Nerissa Sothcott, Shogun’s first film, gangland home invasion thriller Nemesis was shot during the national lockdown. Boasting a cast of thriller movie favourites including Nick Moran, Bruce Payne, Frank Harper and Ricky Grover, Nemesis was released in the USA by Samuel Goldwyn Films and followed by revenge movie Renegades which featured Lee Majors, Danny Trejo, Patsy Kensit, ‘Tiny’ Lister, Stephanie Beacham and Paul Barber. It was nominated for two prestigious National Film Awards.
“The problem with the indie end of the UK film business has always been the snobbery about being commercial,” explains Shogun Films chairman Jonathan Sothcott, “I have always made unapologetically commercial movies which there is a huge demand for. People used to sniff at them as going straight to DVD, I always said but look at how many DVDs they sell! Now we are making films for the streamers and the rise of AVOD platforms such as Tubi has totally reinvigorated the consumer appetite for low budget, high concept genre movies. We have to get away from the outdated concept that these films need to cost millions. They really don’t.”
Pivoting to focus on the booming horror market as well as action and thriller pictures, Shogun Films has produced 4 movies in the past year, with unsubtle, robust titles such as Helloween and Doctor Plague and has just started production on another, The Secret of Guy Fawkes.
“We reverse engineer these films for distribution,” explains Sothcott, “every decision is commercial – these are fun B movies for home entertainment audiences. The UK is no longer our biggest market, America is, but there are other significant territories opening up which just weren’t there a decade ago, such as Latin America. We’re attracting terrific faces such as Martin Kemp, Lee Majors, Michael Paré and Danny Trejo who audiences are familiar with, but keeping the costs absolutely nailed to the floor.”
The output looks similar to a Blockbuster video line up and the audience is a mix of old and young – Generation Z are keeping horror movies alive theatrically, while older viewers engage with familiar faces and old fashioned genre tropes. It’s a quiet, often underserved audience, but one that consumes voraciously. Another Shogun film, spy thriller Knightfall, pits former Saint Ian Ogilvy against Sir Roger Moore’s son Geoffrey.
For companies such as Shogun, the Enterprise Investment Scheme allows opportunities for growth that would not exist otherwise:
“Receiving Advance Assurance for EIS at Shogun is a game changer for us,” says Sothcott, “it will allow us to achieve an unprecedented level of growth and ultimately achieve our core ambition of becoming the number one provider of high concept, low budget genre movies in the UK and Western Europe. We want to ramp up production to ten movies per year from 2025 for as long as we can maintain the quality we’ve achieved so far. I believe the future is incredibly bright in our space and that Shogun will be the bona fide market leader, the British Blumhouse.”
Shogun’s 2025 slate includes ‘Dog Soldiers meets Predator’ action/horror epic Werewolf Hunt, explosive crime thriller Killer Instinct, creepy horror movies Harbinger, The Secret of Guy Fawkes, Midnight Kiss and The Mummy: Revelation as well as a post apocalyptic sci-fi action thriller currently titled Survivor. There are also plans to move into low budget episodic drama for Television and Streaming Platforms.
More information: www.shogunfilms.com
