From there he went to Ampleforth College, North Yorkshire, and subsequently spent a year at the University of Sussex.
In 1983, Powell and Stephen Woolley founded Palace Productions, which produced The Company of Wolves (1984), Mona Lisa (1986), and The Crying Game (1992).
[3] After presiding over the 1992 collapse of the company, Powell re-established himself in the film industry with Scala Productions and produced Fever Pitch (1997), Twenty Four Seven (also 1997), B. Monkey (1998), Last Orders (2001), and Ladies in Lavender (2004).
[4] Powell was director of the National Film and Television School[5] from 2003 to 2017 in England while maintaining his position as chairman of Scala Productions.
Powell's marriage to Merrill Tomassi, the sister of Richard Branson's first wife, ended in divorce.