Adrian Sturges (born 17 October 1976) is a British-born film producer.

Early life

Sturges was born in London, England and grew up in

Rochester, Kent Rochester ( ) is a town in the unitary authority of Medway, in Kent, England. It is at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway, about from London. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rainham, Strood and Gillin ...

Education

Sturges was educated at

The King's School, Rochester The King's School, Rochester, is an English independent school in Rochester, Kent. It is a cathedral school and, being part of the foundation of Rochester Cathedral, the Dean of Rochester serves as chair of the school's governing body. The sch ...

, in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, in South East England. He studied Theology and Religious Studies and History of Art at

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

and graduated with First Class Honours in 1998. Whilst at Cambridge he was President of the

Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club Founded in 1855, the Amateur Dramatic Club (or ADC) is the oldest university dramatic society in England – and the largest dramatic society in Cambridge. The club stages a diverse range of productions every term, many of them at the fully equi ...

and produced comedy for the

Footlights Cambridge University Footlights Dramatic Club, commonly referred to simply as the Footlights, is an amateur theatrical club in Cambridge, England, founded in 1883 and run by the students of Cambridge University. History Footlights' inaugural ...

. Sturges studied producing at the

National Film and Television School The National Film and Television School (NFTS) is a film, television and games school established in 1971 and based at Beaconsfield Studios in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England. It is featured in the 2021 ranking by ''The Hollywood Repor ...

, taking their Industry Course and was selected for the inaugural Inside Pictures scheme.

Life and career

Sturges began his career working as assistant to producer

Simon Relph Simon George Michael Relph, CBE (13 April 1940 – 30 October 2016) was a British film producer and assistant film director. Biography Relph was born in Chelsea, London on 13 April 1940. His father, Michael Relph was a Ealing Studios writ ...

whilst he was also chairman of BAFTA. Sturges began producing by making the short films of such directors as

Rupert Wyatt Rupert Wyatt (born 26 October 1972) is an English screenwriter, director and producer. He made his directorial debut with the 2008 film ''The Escapist (2008 film), The Escapist'', which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. His second film wa ...

– ''Subterrain'' and ''Get the Picture'', Gareth Lewis – ''Normal for Norfolk'' and

Sam Taylor-Wood Samantha Louise Taylor-Johnson OBE ( née Taylor-Wood; 4 March 1967) is a British filmmaker and photographer. Her directorial feature film debut was 2009's '' Nowhere Boy'', a film based on the childhood experiences of The Beatles songwriter ...

– '' Love You More'', the latter being nominated for the BAFTA and the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

His first feature was '' The Baker'', written and directed by Gareth Lewis. Subsequently, he produced '' The Escapist'', the first film by

which was selected for the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

and for which he won the

British Independent Film Awards The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports and promotes British independent cinema and filmmaking talent in United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early November, ...

prize for Best Achievement in Production. He then produced ''

The Disappearance of Alice Creed ''The Disappearance of Alice Creed '' is a 2009 British neo-noir film written and directed by J Blakeson. It is about the kidnapping of a young woman (Gemma Arterton) by two ex-convicts (Martin Compston and Eddie Marsan). The film was shot on th ...

'', written and directed by

J Blakeson Jonathan Blakeson is an English film director and screenwriter. His first feature film was ''The Disappearance of Alice Creed'' (2009), a thriller starring Gemma Arterton, Martin Compston and Eddie Marsan, which he wrote and directed. His most r ...

which premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

. In 2011 he produced ''

Albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacifi ...

'', the film debut of

Niall MacCormick Niall MacCormick is a Scottish film and television director. His credits include the feature-length comedy-drama ''The Long Walk to Finchley'', ''Firewall'' (the second feature-length episode of '' Wallander''), and ''The Song of Lunch'' (starrin ...

. For television he has produced ''Whatever Happened to Harry Hill?'' for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

– a spoof documentary about the comedian. Future projects include

's ''Bad Blood and Trouble'' which he is producing with

Michael De Luca Michael De Luca (born August 13, 1965) is an American film studio executive, film producer and screenwriter. The former president of production at both New Line Cinema and DreamWorks, De Luca has been nominated for three Academy Awards for Best ...

. Sturges was named a Producer to Watch by ''Variety (magazine), Variety'' a Star of Tomorrow by ''Screen International'' Producer on the Move at Cannes Film Festival by European Film Promotion and a BAFTA Brit to Watch in 2011

Personal life

Sturges has a daughter, Nancy, born in 2010 and a son, Gilbert, born in 2011 with his partner Catherine Mahoney.

References

External links

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Why producers so often have the toughest role Guardian article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sturges, Adrian 1976 births Living people English film producers Alumni of the National Film and Television School