Monty Python's Life of Brian December 1976, with a first draft completed by mid-1977. The final pre-production draft was ready in January 1978, following "a concentrated two-week writing and water-skiing period in Barbados". The film would not have been made without Python fan former Beatle George Harrison, who set up HandMade Films to help fund it at a cost of £3 million. Harrison put up the money for it as he "wanted to see the movie" — later described by Terry Jones as the "world's most expensive cinema ticket." The original backers, EMI Films, had been scared off at the last minute by the subject
John Cleese the fourth season. Despite this, he remained friendly with the group, and all six began writing "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"; Cleese received a credit on three episodes of the fourth series which used material from these sessions, though he was officially unconnected with the fourth series. Cleese returned to the troupe to co-write and co-star in the Monty Python films "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", "Monty Python's Life of Brian" and "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life", and participated in various live performances over the years. From 1970 to 1973, Cleese served as rector of the University