Spitfire Pictures was founded in early 2003 by Guy East and Nigel Sinclair .

Spitfire is a specialized Development, Production and Finance company for motion pictures and television, with access to substantial development funds and other equity.

In 2005, Spitfire established its own documentary division which debuted with the multi award winning production of No Direction Home: Bob Dylan directed by Martin Scorsese.

In May 2007, Spitfire signed a First Look development and production deal with the newly revived British horror production powerhouse Hammer Films. Spitfire will exclusively produce two to three genre films per year for the studio. East and Sinclair have joined the board following the purchase of Hammer Films by a European consortium headed by Dutch-based Cyrte Investments BV, the investment vehicle of Big Brother creator John de Mol.  

The Los Angeles office of Spitfire Pictures is headed by Founder Nigel Sinclair with Executives Tobin Armbrust and Alex Brunner, alongside Creative Executive Anna Bocchi and a team of staff and readers.

Founder Guy East is based in Europe and heads the international operation.

Spitfire is currently in post production on Possession, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Grudge, Cruel Intentions). Based on the hit Korean film,  Possession is a sexy psychological thriller AND pairs Spitfire with Vertigo Entertainment, producers of US Box Office Number One hits The Departed, The Ring and The Grudge, all of which were remakes too, and Yari Film Group, producers of the 2005 Academy Award winner for Best Film, Crash.

Spitfire has a development slate of some twenty projects. These include a biographical picture about the life of legendary Who drummer Keith Moon, to which Mike Myers  is attached both to star and to produce. Other announced projects include Snitch, which Spitfire developed and will produce for New Line Entertainment, and which is based on a Frontline documentary of the same name and written by Booker Prize nominee Justin Haythe (The Clearing); Deadly Feasts, a thriller written by  Christopher Cleveland (Glory Road); and Moral Hazard, written by John Romano (Intolerable Cruelty) and to be directed by acclaimed filmmaker Phillip Noyce  (Rabbit Proof Fence, The Quiet American, Clear And Present Danger, Patriot Games).
 
Spitfire's documentary division is in production on the definitive documentary feature about The Who, currently titled Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who, which it is producing with the band and Trinifold Management.

This follows Spitfire's Grammy, Peabody and DuPont Award winning documentary,  No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Martin Scorsese, and produced in collaboration with Greywater Park, WNET and the BBC. The UK Sunday Times called this two-part film "the greatest documentary about rock music ever made".
 
Spitfire's other producer credits include Masked And Anonymous, starring Jessica Lange, Jeff Bridges, Bob Dylan, Penelope Cruz, John Goodman and Luke Wilson, a cult film  directed by Larry Charles (Borat). 

Spitfire holds the library distribution rights to certain films, including the box office hit Sliding Doors, starring Gwyneth Paltrow.

What is a spitfire?