Iain Canning & Emile Sherman

The Brit-Aussie team behind Lion talk winning an Oscar for The King’s Speech, working with Harvey Weinstein and the upcoming biblical epic Mary Magdalene

- Pamela McClintock

It’s the stuff of dreams. On Feb. 27, 2011, producers Iain Canning, a Brit, and Emile Sherman, an Aussie, won the Oscar for best picture for The King’s Speech — the very first film they made after launching See-Saw Films in 2008, a U.K.-Australian production and financing company. (It also was the first time either attended the Academy Awards.)

See-Saw was a bold gamble considering its London and Sydney offices are on opposite ends of the planet, but the payoff was immediate. Sherman and Canning — who talk almost every day but can go several months without seeing each other — have deep connections in their respective film communities, plus are able to tap into generous government-backed film funds and tax incentives in both locales. They cover the rest of a film’s budget via foreign presales and rich deals with U.S. companies, including go-to partner The Weinstein Co.

It was Canning’s friend and British producer Gareth Unwin who brought King’s Speech to Canning in London; it also helped that Sherman knew fellow Aussie Geoffrey Rush, who starred in the George VI biopic opposite Colin Firth. King’s Speech went on to gross a stunning $414 million on a reported $15 million budget.

While it hasn’t yet repeated the financial windfall, See-Saw and its 25 employees have established the company as a home for prestige film and TV fare, from British filmmaker Steve McQueen’s Shame to acclaimed television series Top of the Lake from Aussie filmmaker Jane Campion (McQueen is Canning’s pal; Campion is Sherman’s). In addition to planting a flag in this year’s awards race with Lion — they won’t say how much the film cost, but Harvey Weinstein’s shop plunked down $12 million for distribution rights in much of the world — See-Saw is getting more ambitious in scope.