Wonga confirms it will give filmmaker Gary Tarn full creative control of its film
Wonga's film will be completely overseen by Bafta-winning filmmaker Gary Tarn, whether he chooses to include any negative brand experiences from the 12 customers that it follows as subjects or not.
Following the announcement earlier this week by the controversial online money lending service that it was to produce the film '12 Portraits' telling the story of some of its customers, The Drum asked Neil Wass, chief operating officer of Wonga what would happen if the customers' experiences failed to paint a positive picture for the company.
"We hope that the finished film will go some way to challenging people's perception of Wonga and debunking some of the myths around the service we provide and who we provide to," explained Wass. "However the film is not designed to achieve anything more than simply giving a voice to our customers and showing how some people are using Wonga. It is Gary Tarn's film and we hope that critics will appreciate his work on it."
According to Wonga, in order to create the film, Tarn was given "unprecedented access" to the company's customers, giving him full creative control in order to provide "a snapshot" of its customerbase
It is understood that the film, currently in development and set for release later this year, will be released on OpenWonga.com and shown in selected cinemas. It will also be screened on TV in some form, although that is yet to be decided, and is to be entered at film festivals.