Wild Child is a 2008 British-American coming-of-age teen comedy film directed by Nick Moore and produced by Working Title Films. It stars Emma Roberts as Poppy Moore, an American teenager who is sent to an all-girls boarding school in England as punishment after setting her previous school on fire. The film is based on screenwriter Lucy Dahl's experiences attending boarding school in England as a teenager and raising teenage daughters in Los Angeles. Despite using Working Title's typical conventions of romance and comedy and starring Nick Frost, Wild Child underperformed at the box office, only making back its $20 million budget.

1. Directed by: Nick Moore
Produced by: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Diana Phillips
Written by: Lucy Dahl

2.  Release date: August 15th, 2008 (UK).
 Incorporation of Working Title’s ‘formula’:
- Most of the film is set in England.
- It has the typical Working Title conventions of romance and
comedy.
- Uses a familiar Working Title actor – Nick Frost – who starred in
Shaun of the Dead (2004).
 Genres: coming-of-age, teen romantic drama, comedy.
 Working Title‟s first movie made exclusively for teenage girls
which is based on the life and changes of an American girl
adapting to British culture.
 Director, Nick Moore, has a reputation for editing romantic
comedies. Wild Child was the first film he directed.
 No special effects were used – mostly realistic settings.

3.  Wild Child is based on two different times during the
screenwriter‟s (Lucy Dahl) life. During her childhood she had
attended an English boarding school and once she became an adult
and became the Mother of teenage daughters, she moved to Los
Angeles. Lucy Dahl was fascinated by the resemblances of young
women across generations, and by how different her teenage
daughters‟ culture was compared to when she was a teenager.
 Lucy Dahl said “I wrote the screenplay based on my antics when I
was at school. I did actually set my school on fire, and I was
expelled. I did have a real Mrs. Kingsley [the headmistress], and she
was lovely.”

4.  Filming Locations:
- Balls Park, Hertford, Hertfordshire, England, UK.
- Cobham Hall School, Cobham, Kent, England, UK.
- Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, UK.
- Haworth, West Yorkshire, England, UK.
- Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Malibu, California, USA.
- Robin Hood‟s Bay, North Yorkshire, England, UK.
 Scenes being filmed at Balls Park, Hertford included children
from schools around the area to be extras in the film.
 A group of lacrosse players from Cranbrook Lacrosse Club and
Oxford University Lacrosse took part as extras and several
referees in the film too.

5. Alex Pettyfer and Emma Roberts
Nick Frost Natasha Richardson

6. 1) At the Braehead Xscape in Glasgow - Scotland, Universal Pictures
staged the Wild Child „Pink Premiere‟ on Wednesday 30th July,
2008 to celebrate the film‟s release. Emma Roberts and Alex
Pettyfer, two of the main stars of the film, had attended.
2) The only promotional poster used:

7. 3) Official trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJdRt2OJUic
4) Interviews and radio shows of the main characters/cast members on
STV (Scottish Television) were carried out.
5) On „ABC Family‟, the movie„s American television premiere was
aired.
6) A competition was held by Working Title for the chance for five
people to win Wild Child goody bags.
 Not many marketing methods were used (only the traditional
marketing methods) which is why the film was a flop as they only
made around the same amount of money ($21,972,336) that was
spent on the film ($20,000,000). Also, there was no social-network
marketing or any other internet-based marketing because the
certificate of the film was 12A. Therefore, this age group were quite
young so they wouldn‟t have a social-network account and may not
use the internet much. Consequently, marketing the movie was
limited due to the target audience only being centred around
teenage girls. Internet-based marketing makes a huge difference in
promoting a film as many people use it today, so if the film had a
wider audience it could have been more successful.

8. Opening Weekend:
 £1,177,472 (UK) (17 August 2008) (359 Screens).
 The film was also released in Australia (5 screens), Norway (30
screens), and the Netherlands (46 screens) as well as in bigger
markets, such as France, Russia, and Germany.
 Box office: $21,972,336 (budget was $20,000,000).
 In USA, it was released to DVD directly on November 17th, 2009.
 Wild Child was a flop – 42% rating at “Rotten Tomatoes” and The
Sun Online gave the film 2 out of 5.

9. Technological Convergence:
 DVD.
 Cinema.
Internet – LOVEFiLM.com (watch the movie online or rent the
movie).
 Sky Movies (pay for the movie).