Matthew Stillman

Stillman grew up in Richmond, south-west London. His father imported products from China, while his mother worked for Air France at Heathrow Airport. He has two siblings. He was educated at University College School, and the University of Sussex, where he studied politics, graduating in 1991.

Early career

After unsuccessfully trying to break into the film industry in London, Stillman visited Prague in 1992 with a friend, Nick Spikings, to explore the possibility of setting up a production company in the city. Beginning with "$500 and a typewriter" and renting an office at Barrandov Studios for $150 a month, the two friends set up a company called Stillking. They then started a nightclub, Ubiquity, to provide cash flow over the company's first summer.

Stillking

Stillman won Stillking's first business working on a music video for k.d. lang, then produced a TV commercial for Dentsu. More work on TV commercials followed. In 1994, Stillman chose an unknown Czech film student, Ivan Zachariáš, to make a film about UN peacekeepers for a 50th-anniversary commercial for the UN. The project marked a breakthrough for both Stillking and Zachariáš.

By 1995, Stillking was working on around ninety commercials a year. Film-makers were coming to Prague in large numbers, attracted by the combination of low costs, attractive locations and high production standards, and over the next decade the company thrived and expanded. Offices were in due course opened in Budapest (Pioneer Stillking), Bucharest (Icon Stillking), Belgrade (Stillking WIP), Malaga (Anima Stillking), Cape Town, Ljubljana and Mexico City. By 1999 the company was turning over around $20m a year and by 2002 about $168m.

In 1995, Stillking made its first network mini-series: The Ring, for NBC, starring Nastassja Kinski, was released in 1996. The same year Stillking worked on its first feature film, Plunkett & Macleane (released 1999) with Working Title Films. Stillking subsequently set up its own development arm for producing its own English-language films.

The company has become one of Europe's most significant production entities, participating in over 150 film and TV projects, including Maria, Poor Things, Casino Royale, The Bourne Identity, Van Helsing, Red Sparrow, Wanted, Interview with the Vampire, Wednesday, Carnival Row and The Witcher.

It has also continued to produce music videos, including work for Beyonce, Kanye West and Madonna; and commercials for clients such as Guinness, Audi, Coca-Cola, Mercedes, Apple and Stella Artois.

In 1997, the American heiress Elisabeth Goth purchased a minority stake in the company (reportedly 20 per cent) for an undisclosed sum.

In 2004, Stillman married Katherine Driver, a manager and producer who is sister of the actress Minnie Driver. They live in London.

Stillman enjoys cycling and appreciates the clothes of designers such as Acne and John Pearse. The fashion website Mr Porter includes him in its Style Council, a directory of "the world’s best-connected men". Stillman is a director of the children’s cancer charity, the Pink Bubble Foundation.