Pride was written by Stephen Beresford and directed by Matthew Warchus, who had previously only directed one feature film. In an interview with Warchus for Towleroad, he said that he instantly loved Beresford's script: "People don’t really realize—they’re probably not interested to be honest—that there’s a tangible difference between a script that’s been written by one person and a script that’s been over-noted and kind of written by committee. In a screenplay written by one person you get quirks and things that you’re not supposed to do. I love all that. I love that the script doesn’t behave in a totally conventional way all the time and that he just launched into the story without an individual hero. There was a lot of pressure for us to change the script and make it more about a single person or two people. But that was one change we definitely didn’t make."
Warchus wrote a piece for The Guardian about his desire to direct the film and his experience with it. He wrote about his personal connection to the miners' strike, the fact that it took place when he was 18 and coincided with his own political awakening. He details his own personal connection to leaving country life to pursue an artistic career in the big city, and the complicated feelings that he himself held about working-class closed-mindedness.
In the article, Warchus writes, "Both groups in the film—LGSM and the Welsh miners—are certainly politically minded, but it's their humanity that's so compelling. Pride engages the audience not in party politics or preachy agendas, but in much bigger concepts of generosity and compassion. As I sat down to edit the film, something dawned on me. The film humorously depicts the developing relationship between apparent opposites who somehow overcome the obstacles between them. In a way, it is a classic romantic comedy. But the relationship isn't between individuals, but between two groups, or communities."
In spite of some issues with homophobic censorship—the British Board of Film Classification disapproved of an instance of a character being seen in "bondage" clothing and a scene featuring a pornographic magazine—the film was a success with audiences. It received a standing ovation at Cannes, where it also won the Queer Palm Award. In spite of these controversies, many friends of the real Mark Ashton suggest that the film was misguided to leave out his communist beliefs, which were a central part of his activism.
