Rebecca O'Brien (born 1957) is a BAFTA-winning

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

, known especially for her work with

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty (''Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessne ...

. O'Brien was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. Together with Loach and scriptwriter

Paul Laverty Paul Laverty (born 1957) is a screenwriter and lawyer best known for his screenplays for films directed by Ken Loach. Birth and early career Paul Laverty was born in Calcutta, West Bengal, to an Irish mother and Scottish father. He was educat ...

, she runs the production company Sixteen Films, formed in 2002. The trio received an "outstanding contribution" award from BAFTA Scotland in November 2016. Her career began in theatre and children's television and her early cinema work includes ''

My Beautiful Laundrette ''My Beautiful Laundrette'' is a 1985 British romantic comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Hanif Kureishi. The film was also one of the first films released by Working Title Films. The story is set in London during ...

'' (1985), on which she was

location manager The location manager is a member of the film crew responsible for finding and securing locations to be used, obtaining all fire, police and other governmental permits, and coordinating the logistics for the production to complete its work. They a ...

, and ''

Bean A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes th ...

'' (1997), which she co-produced. She was co-producer on Loach's '' Hidden Agenda'' (1990) and sole producer on his '' Land and Freedom'' (1995) and on many of his subsequent films, two of which, '' The Wind That Shakes the Barley'' (2006) and ''

I, Daniel Blake ''I, Daniel Blake'' is a 2016 drama film written by Paul Laverty and directed by Ken Loach. The film stars Dave Johns as Daniel Blake, a middle-aged man who is denied Employment and Support Allowance despite being declared unfit to work by his ...

'' (2016) received 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 ...

at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

. Laverty, Loach and O'Brien won the 2017

BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film The BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film is given annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts presented at the British Academy Film Awards. The award was first given at the 1st British Academy Film Awards, first recognising th ...

, for ''I, Daniel Blake''. She served as a member of the board of the

UK Film Council The UK Film Council (UKFC) was a non-departmental public body set up in 2000 to develop and promote the film industry in the UK. It was constituted as a private company limited by guarantee, owned by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and ...

, until that body's dissolution in 2010, and of the UK Film Industry Training Board. She is a board member of PACT, the trade body for independent film production companies in the United Kingdom, and of the

European Film Academy The European Film Academy is an initiative of a group of European filmmakers who came together in Berlin on the occasion of the first presentation of the European Film Awards in November 1988. The Academy—under the name of European Cinema Soci ...

. She is also a member of

The British Screen Advisory Council The British Screen Forum was established in 1985 under the name British Screen Advisory Council, it became the British Screen Forum in January 2020. It is a membership organisation that represents the audiovisual industries of the United Kingd ...

Filmography

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

* * *
2012 interview
with the Highlands of Scotland Film Commission
Cannes Winner Ken Loach’s Producer Rebecca O’Brien on Their 30-Year Film Partnership
' - 2016 interview with '

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

' {{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, Rebecca British film producers British women film producers 1957 births Living people Businesspeople from London BAFTA winners (people)