Jon Finn(I)

Jon had a deep connection to the story of Billy Elliot, in that his grandfather was a miner. He consequently knew the mining communities very well, in fact, all of his mother's side of the family worked in the pits, in the area where Billy Elliot was filmed. He knew the feeling of leaving a tight knit community, as he was the first of his family to leave home and go to college. In 1998, he produced the short film 'Eight' , winning the Jerwood Film Prize for Best Script and was BAFTA-nominated. The same year, he co-produced Jake Scott's feature film 'Plunkett and MacLeane'. In 1996, he was appointed production executive for Working Title Films, and, in 1999, with Natascha Wharton, set up WT2 which aimed to cultivate emerging writers, directors and producers in the UK. 'Billy Elliot was their first project which began filming in August 1999.