The Reel Poster Gallery is the creation of Bruce Marchant, who owns and manages the business today.
Originally trained as a sculptor, Bruce started collecting in the late 1980s dealing with a handful of private clients. As many collectors start out, he never thought he'd deal. Within a year or two, however, he'd amassed a volume of posters and the business of selling began. Collecting is very addictive and emotionally driven. Bruce bought what he liked; either for the film title or more often, for the design merits of the poster itself.
Bruce founded The Reel Poster Gallery in 1991 and prior to this date, he had always seen the market potential at major auctions like Christies and Sotheby's, notably he observed the kinds of audience that these sales were attracting. Historically the market was very US-led and to a lesser extent French and Italian. Within a few years, Bruce and the gallery had put London on the map for serious collectors and film aficionados.