Producers seek deals for Four Weddings follow-up

The producers of the sequel to Four Weddings and a Funeral, one of the most profitable British films ever made, have began a search for product placement deals to help promote the film on its release.

A spokeswoman for the film’s distributor confirms that product placement specialist IEM has been appointed to arrange co-promotion deals with other companies.

Scripts of the film, known by the working title The Notting Hill Film, are being sent to product placement specialists who act for clients.

The film stars Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts in a romantic comedy written by Richard Curtis, who also wrote Four Weddings. The film will be distributed by PolyGram Filmed Entertainment.

The company is trying to arrange 2m worth of joint marketing support in the UK and anything up to 5m more around the world.

Gordon Arnell, marketing director of Eon Productions, which made James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies with product placement deals worth 35m, says: “These things work best when money never changes hands, but you get an agreement with the company to promote the film in their outlets when it is released.”