Where Did ITV 1's Titanic Begin?

The story of ITV1's £11m Titanic production began with Simon Vaughan. He had the idea of creating a new drama marking the 100th anniversary of the ship’s sinking in April 2012 and took it to BAFTA award-winning producer Nigel Stafford-Clark.
"I saw the anniversary coming up and thought it was an opportunity to do something that was distinctively the best of British but yet would work on a world stage,” recalls Simon.
“Nigel and I joined forces and together took it to ITV. And then we got Julian Fellowes on board. Creatively speaking it’s Nigel’s and Julian’s baby. My responsibility was to help pull the financing together.
“This is a global project. Luckily it’s an international subject so we could do something that is very rare in our business, which is to create a show for the global market place that still retains its creative integrity.
“We’ve managed to hold on to the Titanic that we want to make without having to be distracted by any financial or international requirement.”
London-based Simon established Lookout Point - an independent media rights company specialising in international high-end event drama - in 2009.
He has previously helped to create projects including Ben Hur for ABC, Flashpoint for CBS and BBC/TNT’s The Company.
Simon recalls the day he arrived at the Titanic film studios, before the massive set had been built.
“It was an empty room and there was a guy sawing some wood, with a plan on the wall. And you think to yourself, ‘We’re going to start filming here in eight weeks. How on God’s Earth are we going to do that?’”
He laughs: “My thought at that moment was, ‘What have we taken on here?’ And then you walk in another day and it’s all there. That’s a pretty cool feeling.”
Technical challenges included building a special metal frame so the lifeboats could be lowered in the studio in the same way as they were on Titanic. “That’s the kind of thing that you don’t see on the screen but it’s a major consideration.”
Constructing the biggest purpose-built indoor water tank in Europe at Stern Studios was another huge undertaking.
“It’s our legacy to the Hungarian and international film industry. I’m looking forward to using it again one day.”
What was the initial reaction when he told people about the project?
“When you say you’re making Titanic, people say, ‘What are you going to do differently?’
I’d hope that what we do is create a much more intricate insight into the world of Titanic.
“The truth of it is, there’s plenty of unexplored material. Thousands of individual stories that were there for the telling, both imagined and real.
“The shadow of the Cameron movie looms large but we think that we’ve found a way to do it in a fresh and interesting way. Including the format of each episode, with the boat starting to sink at the end. And then beginning again with a different set of characters who then meet and overlap.
“The idea of taking a cross-section of that ship and literally there is Edwardian society
encased in steel. And then throwing those people into the most incredible jeopardy.
“Julian Fellowes’ take on Titanic is an enormous treat. While Nigel Stafford-Clark is one of the most prestigious producers in Britain.
“A whole family can sit down together and watch this. It’s obviously sad and poignant but we haven’t gone for the current trend of making everything sexy and salacious. That isn’t the angle at all. It’s dramatic with romance, love, betrayal, violence and death.”
The 10-week film shoot was just part of the story.
“You could say it’s a production in two halves. Half of the job is the principal photography. As soon as that’s finished there’s an equally big job to be done in post-production. Our visual effects supervisor Tom Turnbull is incredibly talented.”
The project also involves interactive online content, also available as an app. “That will include views of our set where you can actually tour the boat, using both real photography and digital effects created for the drama.
“There will be 360 degree shots of all the different rooms, where you can click on all the different objects and see what’s there. You can walk down the corridors and inhabit that world.”
Simon adds: “This is a real broadcast event that is being screened all over the world, with the ending timed to mark the night - 100 years on - that Titanic hit the iceberg and sank.
“I’ve managed to pull together some quite big shows in my time but this is the biggest thing I’ve ever done.”
(LB/GK)