The woman behind hit film 'Slumdog Millionaire'
19th January 2011

Tessa Ross, Controller of Film and Drama at Channel 4, yesterday (18th January 2012) explained how the movie 'Slumdog Millionaire' came to be made to members of her alma mater Somerville College's Media Network, at the Oxford & Cambridge Club in London. The 2008 film which cost $15 million to make grossed in excess of $377 million in sales, won 8 Oscars and made stars of Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto, was based on Indian Diplomat Vikas Swarup's book 'Q&A'. Ms Ross, Executive Producer of the film, spoke about her role as supporting the writing and directing "talent", in this case, scriptwriter Simon Beaufoy and director Danny Boyle, best known for 'Train Spotting' and '28 Days Later'. However her role in bringing together all the ingredients to get the film made urged Boyle himself to say "It's all to do with Tessa Ross" and for The Independent newspaper to dub her the "mother of British film-making".

'Slumdog Millionaire' is about a Mumbai teenager who grows up in the slums, becomes a contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" He is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being interrogated, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers. Despite not having any well-known stars other than Hindi cinema actor, Anil Kapoor, the producers were able to attract music legend A R Rahman to write the score for the film which won him two Oscars. Interestingly several of the cast perform a traditional Bollywood song and dance number set in a train station over the end credits - a scene that went on to become a major hit clip on YouTube and set the track 'Jai Ho' to become a major hit for 2009.

Ms Ross ended her talk by showing more recent successes from Film 4 including 'One Day starring Anne Hathaway; 'The Inbetweeners' Movie and recently released film 'Shame' by Steve McQueen starring Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan.

About Tessa Ross CBE
Controller of Film and Drama Channel4/Film4

Tessa Ross has a distinguished career as a commissioner of feature films and television drama. From British Screen, where as Head of Development she was responsible for commissioning and developing screenplays, she moved to the BBC's Independent Commissioning Group in 1993. Here she commissioned and executive produced Billy Elliott, Clocking Off, In A Land of Plenty and Sex, Chips and Rock and Roll, among many other productions. She was appointed Head of Drama at Channel 4 in 2000 and in 2002 moved into the role of Head of Film Four. Ross's commissioned for TV include Shameless, Teachers, The Navigators, Buried, the Civil War drama The Devil's Whore, Longford, The Mark of Cain and Skins. Recent FilmFour productions under Tessa's aegis include The Last King of Scotland, Slumdog Millionaire and The Lovely Bones.

In May 2009 was named by 'Time' magazine as one of the hundred most influential people in the world. She was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2010 Queen's New Years Honours List for her services to Broadcasting.

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