Broadcast
With several new studios opening and established ones being expanded, Adrian Pennington asks: is there over-capacity in the market, or will rising demand keep everyone busy?
Post-production consultant Peter Joly is lobbying to save the Twickenham site. He has drummed up a petition arguing that, having recently blocked further development at Pinewood, the government “would be ill-advised to allow another key part of what remains a relatively fragile industry to disappear to unnecessary development”.
Joly claims a groundswell of opposition to the potential destruction of the site within the creative community, and can point to signatures from David Cronenberg, Stephen Daldry and Steven Spielberg, who shot part of War Horse there. With names like that on board, hopes for a symbolic success for this campaign are high.
But the market won’t settle until, as looks likely, TV Centre is sold to property developers. It can only spell good news for the capital’s other established facilities, which will look to accommodate BBC productions. For now, studios are not sitting still.
3 MILLS STUDIOS
The past year has been the best ever in terms of occupation and income at 3 Mills Studios, claims
executive Derek Watts. Some 40% of its business is from features such as Danny Boyle’s Trance, and 30% from TV, including Channel 4’s The Million Pound Drop Live. The remainder comes from West End theatre rehear-sals and music videos.
It has also been the boosted by the occupation of Locog, which is rehearsing on site for the London 2012 opening and closing ceremonies.
THE BOTTLE YARD
The Bottle Yard is co-managed by Creative England and Bristol City Council. Its production spaces are sited with fellow tenants TR Scaffolding (media riggers), Visual Impact’s 24/7 Drama, and Bells & Two Tones (in-vision fire vehicles and crews). Bookings for 2012 include series two of Sky 1 comedy Trollied and feature Mariah Mundi And The Midas Box.
MEDIACITYUK
Open for a year, MediaCityUK studios has now counted 600 productions through its doors and can look forward to welcoming Coronation Street, the set for which is being built on part of the site overlooked by the BBC canteen.
“Growth is good,” says commercial director Ian Munford.
“We’ve seen strong demand for high-quality HD studios, but demand is also changing in that we are seeing interest for the range of facilities and spaces we have to offer, such as the piazza.”
Munford wants to promote MediaCityUK as a campus-wide facility for end-to-end digitaltapeless production and has enticed a couple of unnamed cloud-based facilities to the site
ELSTREE STUDIOS
What’s a studio’s USP? “It’s not just space – it’s the right sort of space,” says Elstree Studios managing director Roger Morris. “There are plenty of empty warehouses, converted paint factories and the like, but there are not enough of the right kind of studios, in the right location, to satisfy the TV market – or films.”
Cherry Portbury, studios manager at Media House, says it’s up to facilities to respond to any overcapacity.
“Much depends on how versatile they are and how they market their appeal to other areas such as film, channel hosting, events and the corporate sector.
“Reinvestment to adapt to new markets or improve existing facilities is an expensive risk and may force studios to close if it is not considered worthwhile,” she says, noting that IMG-owned Media House now benefits from complete HD upgrades with stereoscopic capability.
Elstree was home to the most recent run of Big Brother, with live evictions attracting around 1,000 people. Its two George Lucas stages have held Let’s Dance For Sport Relief and Dancing On Ice, plus a live Celebrity Millionaire.
“Our large stages are bigger than anything the BBC or ITV has, so it’s not a difficult sell; it’s just a case of fitting everyone in the time slot they want,” says Morris. “A new post operation, offering Avid editing, Pro Tools 10 with Euphonics series 5 sound mixing, Foley and ADR, will be part of our bundle with the studios. And we have 40 related trades on-site from special effects to drapes, scenery and lighting.”
THE PAINT HALL
There are also two 20,000 sq ft new stages nearing completion in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter adjacent to The Paint Hall, whose anchor project remains Emmy Award-winning Game Of Thrones. HBO is likely to film a third series there, having created hundreds of ancillary jobs for electricians, carpenters and set builders. Unlike the Paint Hall, this space is purpose-built.
Moyra Lock, head of marketing at Northern Ireland Screen, says: “We don’t believe we are over-supplied in Northern Ireland. We didn’t have anything to offer large productions before 2007. We continue to market aggressively – selling our facilities, funding programmes and studio space.”
PINEWOOD STUDIOS
Pinewood – like Media-CityUK, part of the Peel Group – has also spotted potential in digital. It will invest in digital workflow kit, improved cameras and HD infrastructure, and promote a new 30,000 sq ft stage in the hope of attracting event TV with large live audience demands.
WIMBLEDON STUDIOS
“The sale of TV Centre is exactly why we decided to invest in new studios,” says Wimbledon Film & Television Studios managing director Piers Read of a newly opened 8,000 sq ft HD studio aimed at light-entertainment productions and capable of seating an audience of 425.
The studio cost £200,000 in partnership with Roll to Record, which has provided technical infrastructure including Calrec sound desk, EVS hard disc recording and a Grass Valley vision mixer (though the studio is not yet ready for live production).
The site also includes two 8,000 sq ft stages and more than 50 standing sets left over from The Bill, plus two further 2,500 sq ft studios, set to open shortly.
Read says Wimbledon has been “exceptionally busy for a start-up in a recession”. In its first year, Baby Cow’s Sky comedy Starlings and Film 4-backed feature The Iron Lady filmed there.
“We have back-to-back bookings throughout the year but we can’t compete for larger format shows,” says Read, who is on the hunt to acquire a rival studio. “They need 10,000 sq ft and there aren’t enough of those spaces.”
Read says demand comes from the need for quality studio space “that has all thecreature comforts associated with a sound-proof and professional environment”.
He adds: “For a long time, productions have gone for underpriced spaces without quality facilities. That can seem like a good deal up front but peripherals, from dressing rooms to recording facilities, drive up costs.”
WOODFORD FILM STUDIO
Avro Heritage is considering converting a 500-acre site at Woodford, a former aerodrome where three hangars provide 118,000 sq ft of potential space.
Piers Tempest, a consultant driving the project, says the future of the
site has yet to be determined. “In the short term, we are inviting productions to come in for location filming,” he says. “It’s ideally suited for very large productions that need build space with a secure perimeter, and those who want to film either because part of the location is in the North, or on cost grounds.
“The next year is about getting productions in, assessing the market and giving feedback to the owners.”
WARNER BROS
The UK tax credit, where foreign productions can gain a cash rebate of up to 25% of qualifying UK spend, continues to boost the domestic film economy, with Warner Bros Studios set to become the country’s next major go-to production facility alongside Pinewood, Shepperton and Elstree.
Spanning 170 acres, the site will house nine sound stages, offices, workshops, a mill, a production rentals outfit and an extensive backlot. From this week, two stages are open to the public as the Warner Bros Studio Tour London – The Making Of Harry Potter, a permanent showcase of the sets and props used in the movie franchise, which was filmed at Leavesden for a decade.
This marks the first time a US studio has set up a permanent production base in the UK, but Warner Bros has no plans to operate Leavesden as a facility exclusively for its own productions. According to Screen International, had the land been abandoned or sold after Potter, the country could have lost 35% of its production capacity.
