Yates awarded a gold medal from The Phil + Q&A

Such an inspiring speech from Yates. I can understand why Heyman wants him around to direct these films.

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Also interesting comment from Yates on working with WB:

I have a very good relationship with the studio I work with. They’re very hands-off. Simply because… I think the Potter films were very successful, so when I joined them, they were very supportive. I don’t think that’s the norm. I think the norm is probably the opposite. So on Beasts and on Potter there’s been a fairly comfortable ride with them. Where they, they kind of, they have notes and they have issues that they sometimes want addressed. We discuss. We never argue, but we always discuss fairly openly, what’s right, what’s wrong. But generally they’re very respectful and they encourage me to make the film that I want to make. And that’s been the experience through all the Potters and Beasts as we’ve started. And I think the reason for that is that the films were successful to start with.

I made a movie called The Legend of Tarzan which I made while I was making Fantastic Beasts. Alongside it, in parallel if you like. That was a slightly different experience because it wasn’t Potter, it wasn’t a built-in success. And we had a much more vigorous relationship about certain issues to do with the film. But they would still, fundamentally, listen to any argument, and I still made the film I wanted to make. My understanding, speaking to a lot of other directors, is that that’s not the case. That studios, generally, can be a little bit more controlling, and I’ve been very lucky. I’ve not experienced that. And I think that’s because of the calmer of Potter; they’ve sort of left me alone to a certain extent. And I’m also very vigorous about defining what I think is important about the films and what makes them work. And so when they do suggest things that I don’t think are helpful, I’ll be very vigorous pushing it back. And sometimes those discussions can be fairly intense, but I’ll always hold the ground. And I don’t think yet I’ve quite lost an argument on any one issue. they’re always very respectful. It’ll be interesting to see how Beasts does when we open in November, if its a success or not. We’re planning a second movie which we start shooting in July. And depending on if its successful will by us our freedom or not

It sounds like five films is just Rowling's outline, and it'll all depend on how well the films do. Also sounds like he had (some) more issues with the studio on Legend of Tarzan, which, of course, brings back the rumours of studio fall-outs and what not. Still, it sounds like the film mostly retained his vision, which seems right: it was pretty different from most other studio films coming out these days.

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