Producers Michelle Stein and Jennifer Monks have launched a new Liverpool-based production company, The Fold.
Stein was named a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2009 (as Michelle Eastwood)and has produced features including Brian Welsh’s Bifa-winning In Our Name in 2010, and Hussain’s shorts Naptha and Real Gods Require Blood.
Monks was selected as a producer to watch by Creative England in 2016 and recently co-produced on Charlotte Regan’s Sundance premiere Scrapper.
The Fold aims “to produce high quality authored work from unique creative voices to serve the UK and global market.” The pair behind the new company previously ran their own companies Escape Films and Pencil Trick Productions.
The Fold reportedly has seven feature films in various stages of development, starting with Retreat, from d/Deaf director Ted Evans and scheduled for a summer 2024 shoot. A drama about an all-deaf commune, the film will feature extensive sign-language.
Other future projects include a new feature from The Favourite writer Deborah Davis, who scripted the 10-times Oscar-nominee with no previous experience after studying screenwriting at night school.
The Fold will also work in series production, with a slate supported by the BBC’s Small Indie Fund. Projects in development include Offcuts by comedy writer Andy Yerlett; Lily by playwright Lizzie Nunnery; and Toxic from Kefi Chadwick, which is a co-production with Gina Carter and Stephen Fry’s Sprout Pictures.
Monks and Stein will also act as co-producers for UK and international productions looking to access regional funding and production support.
