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IT'S ALMOST TIME
FILMING PLANS BEING FINALISED
Peccadillo Pictures and Pathétique Films will move into production shortly on the eagerly-anticipated film of The Wrong People, based on the novel by the acclaimed author of The Servant. Delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic meant shooting was delayed significantly.
Robin Maugham’s gripping thriller - republished in 2019 - follows a repressed English schoolmaster lured into a web of intrigue in 1960’s Tangier, a bolt-hole for bohemians from around the world. The story was inspired by Maugham’s own travels in Africa.
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The property was optioned in 1971 by former Hollywood star Sal Mineo but the project was abandoned - until now.
'A GRIPPING THRILLER'
Sunday Express
Drawing to a degree on the author’s own experiences and his efforts to expose the African sex trafficking trade, Maugham’s novel was both a critical and commercial success
Welcome to Warden Hall...
Until they were abolished in the United Kingdom in 1969, approved schools were residential institutions for boys convicted of minor offences and those considered to be beyond parental control.
The Wrong People focuses on the fictional Warden Hall Approved School in Folkestone, England - and the bohemian ex-pat community in Tangier in the 1960s.
CREATIVES
NEWS AND BLOG
Updates
June 2022
Spring 2022
August 2020
COVID-19 POSTPONES FIRST PUBLIC SCRIPT READING
March 2020
NEW FILM HIGHLIGHTS AUTHOR'S CAMPAIGN AGAINST SEX SLAVERY
February 2020
PRE-PRODUCTION STARTS ON NEW PECCADILLO FILM
January 2020
STEVEN FIERBERG
Director
Steven Fierberg, ASC, is an accomplished cinematographer and director. As a cinematographer, Steve created the ‘look and feel’ of some of the most successful series in television, including The Affair (Golden Globes Winner, Best Drama), Emily in Paris (Golden Globe nom), Entourage (5 Golden Globe noms), Once Upon a Time, and Attila (ASC Award Winner for Outstanding Cinematography). He recently shot Amazon’s epic Wheel of Time and Bosch Legacy. Steve received the 2024 ASC Career Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers.
He will be collaborating with Sally Potter as cinematographer on her next film, Alma, starring Pamela Anderson, Richard E. Grant, and Esther McGregor, preparing to shoot late next year. His short film, Heaven and Nature, premiered in October 2024 at the Santa Fe International Film Festival and played at Dances with Films LA 2025 to substantial acclaim. It is currently in competition for the 2025 Academy Awards. An earlier short he directed, Sea Life, screened at Sundance.
PETER BENEDICT
Screenwriter - Actor
Peter has worked extensively as a writer, actor and director, and contributed to numerous film projects as casting associate and dialogue coach. His production of Satyricon played at London's Phoenix Theatre and Off Broadway. Other West End productions include Marlowe's The Jew of Malta (Donmar), The Hardman (Donmar & Arts Theatre transfer), Beckett's Play (Bloomsbury) and many Shakespeare and Restoration plays in London and UK tours including Fenella Fielding in A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest, a unique multimedia production with Victor Spinetti. His thriller Deadlock was the last major production to star the late Simon Ward and his staging of Sir Terry Pratchett's Guards! Guards! played across the UK for two years.
ROBIN MAUGHAM, 2ND VISCOUNT MAUGHAM
Writer - original novel
Robin Maugham is known throughout the world for his novella The Servant, adapted into a celebrated British film by Joseph Losey in 1963. His career saw him write more than 30 books including novels, travelogues, plays and biographical works. In the House of Lords, he drew attention to human trafficking as "the new slavery". He died in 1981.
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Speaking about this production of The Wrong People, Robin's former partner William Lawrence said:
"A great script, telling a compelling story. I was quite out of breath by the end of it."
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STEPHEN ISRAEL
Producer
Prolific independent Producer Stephen Israel is probably best known for 1995’s cult classic Swimming With Sharks and two-time Independent Spirit Award-nominee Swan Song (2021), featuring a career-defining performance by the legendary Udo Kier. Other credits include some of the best-loved, award-winning gay films: Boy Culture; (2007); GBF (2014); 2016 Outfest audience award-winner - Miles starring Molly Shannon; and the 2024 documentary Studio One Forever. Collectively, his LGBT projects have been screened at over 500 film festivals and won over 50 awards.
As an innovator, Stephen was part of the team that produced The Spot - the world's first episodic series on the internet. He was the first to develop the concept of a network of episodic shows delivered via the web, which ultimately became the 1995 tech startup American Cybercast - at which he served as SVP Development & Acquisitions.
With broad corporate experience at Warner Bros., Turner Broadcasting, and top management consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, Stephen combines seasoned management & financial expertise with hands-on production in film.
Stephen is also a trained rocket scientist and a Royal Air Force marksman (seriously).
GET INVOLVED
Filmmaker David McGillivray writes:
The 50-year battle to bring Robin Maugham’s novel to the screen is a story worthy of a film itself.
In the 1970s, The Wrong People could have changed the life of Hollywood star Sal Mineo: his first film as director. But it wasn’t to be.
Would you like to know more?
Would you like to get involved in this amazing film project?
With the majority of finance in place, investment opportunities are still available.