Celador is a small British production company that operates on a project-by-project basis, contracting freelance staff for each production. It was originally owned by Complete Communication but was sold in 2006. In 2004, Celador sued Disney for unpaid profits from screenings of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? in the US. Notable films produced include Dirty Pretty Things, Separate Lies, The Descent, and Slumdog Millionaire, often through co-productions with other small companies. Though much smaller than major Hollywood studios like 20th Century Fox, Celador has found success competing with larger films.

1. Productions –
Ownership.
o Celador was originally taken over by a
company called Complete communication,
which bought the shareholders including Paul
smith CBE and Jasper Carrot. Celador
expanded it’s fledgling radio, film, and
international business under the ownership of
complete.
o In the year 2006, Celador offered the rights and
the UK Programme library of Who wants to be a
millionaire? For sale, with a potential view
toward the sale of other parts of there business.
o In 2004, Celador took legal action against
Disney for what they said where unpaid profits
from Disney’s screening of the programme in
USA.
o Celador films was found in 1999, the company
was renowned for financing most of it’s own
productions from development through
production.

2. Operating model.
Celador is quite a small production company – it makes films on a
project-by-project basis, contracting with freelance staff ranging
from actors to directors, to lawyers and caterers to make sure that
the project will get made.
• Initial Capitalization - Companies are set up with a fund to use in
production. That fund might come from bank loans, initial investers
or even personal finance and credit cards from the film makers.
• Project Capitalization - rather than being set up with a production
fund, companies might attract finance from the same sources for a
particular project.
• Co-funding and Partnership - companies will do deals with similar
smaller companies - lots of independent UK films are co-
productions with small companies from other countries in Europe.
• Distribution frees - the company might fund a project by selling the
project to a distributor before it’s been made - the distributor is
guaranteed a final product and the producer will get the budget
up front.

3. Products.
 Celador and other large companies that work
together have created the films:
• ‘’Dirty Pretty Things’’ directed by Stephen Frears
(2002)
• ‘’Separate Lies’’ directed by Julian Fellowes.
(2005)
• ‘’The Descent’’ directed by Neil Marshals (2006)
• ‘’Slumdog Millionaire’’ with Fix Searchlight
Pictures, Warner Bros, Pathe and Film4.
• ‘’The Descent 2’’ directed by Julian Fellowes
(2009)

4. Market position and
competitors.
 Celador are a very small company compared to
the bigger companies in America like 20th century
fox. When it comes to making a film, Celador
would keep up with these big companies in the
success of the movie, there's this kind of weird
relationship going on between the big companies
and the smaller companies like 20th century fox.