Most "zeitgeist" film production companies have a similar trajectory - scrappy beginnings, have a hit, then another hit, then become red hot, and some flops send them crashing to earth. Occasionally they last longer if bought out by a studio (eg Miramax) or the mangers are particularly stingy/brilliant (Working Title, New World).
British cinema is littered with crash and burns, from the bigger scale - Ealing, Korda, Hammer, Thorn EMI, Rank - to smaller, like Goldcrest, Bryanston and Palace. Palace was a distributor/cinema chain that had success in the early 80s moved into production. Run by Steve Woolley and Nik Powell they were very cutting edge - distributed Evil Dead, Diva, etc - and moved into production via a close relationship with Neil Jordan which resulted in The Company of Wolves, Mona Lisa, and The Crying Game - by which time the company was bust.
Their actual run was very small - from hits like Mona Lisa and Scandal, they did a bunch of flops (The Big Man, Dust Devil) which they couldn't afford - that and over expansion so they went under.
Powell and Woolley went out on The Crying Game though so were still attractive to investors and came back as Scala. This was good for Britain but means the book doesn't have that epic "if only" quality of say My Indecision is Final, about Goldcrest, or National Heroes.
Still it's an entertaining read full of lively characters like the two leads, plus people like Richard Stanley and (alas) the Weinsteins. Palace's record really was amazing.
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