Broadcast
Along with Salford, Bristol is booming thanks to a busy BBC slate, leaving the likes of Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham playing catch-up. Adrian Pennington reports
BIRMINGHAM
Birmingham has yet to recover from the switch of BBC factual outside the region and there is a feeling that investment in Manchester and Bristol has stalled any resurgence.
“It’s inexcusable that the region is so poorly represented by locally commissioned content,” says Neil Hillman, owner of The Audio Suite. “There is a huge mismatch between programming resources allocated to the region and the money that is raised in the area through the licence fee.”
Recent redundancies at indies Maverick haven’t helped, but Crow TV, the London facility that set up in the city three years ago to service Endemol, says indies are returning. “Producers are either setting up here because of talent or placing work on a regional basis,” says Crow director Victoria Finlay. The facility is currently working with 12 Yard and 7 Wonder (My Kitchen Rules) and Spun Gold (on a gardening project).
For Hillman, the high overheads of the traditional post model make no economic sense in the region. He provides a specialist online mixing service and offers feature fi lm sound design to a much wider client base.
“We opened in Australia because of projected growth in this kind of work,” he says. “However, we’re still confident of growing business in the Midlands.” So much so that The Audio Suite is upgrading with a Fairlight Xynergi to accommodate Dolby Atmos mixes alongside a voiceover studio for ISDN sessions.
“The BBC’s slicing and dicing of Birmingham has not gone down well,” agrees Scott Ledbury, managing director at corporate and promo producer Slinky. “There isn’t really a post scene and many freelance TV crews have departed. However, the wider creative industries are thriving.”
Game developer Codemasters has relocated to The Custard Factory, which is now run by former Wimbledon Studios chief Piers Read, with hopes of providing a focal point for digital media.
BRISTOL
The diversity of production in the West Country has proved a magnet for London facilities. VFX firms Coffee & TV and Nineteen twenty have facilities in Bristol, with smaller London offices acting as feeders to the more cost-efficient regional bases.
The Farm’s long-running work on Channel 4’s Deal Or No Deal at the Bottle Yard is currently on pause, but the group is opening a finishing shop opposite the BBC on Whiteladies Road.
“We can open relatively small here, but have the whole might of London behind us,” says operations manager Duncan Armstrong. “It’s an opportunity to give Bristol jobs to Bristol people.” The Farm will target BBC work and has local indies such as Icon, Warehouse 51 and Keo West in its sights.
Evolutions bolstered its substantive presence in March by absorbing Big Bang Post’s assets, people and buildings, giving the group four city centre facilities. It continues to attract factual work from Love Productions and Dragonfly, as well as BBC NHU (Wild New Zealand). But managing director Simon Kanjee suggests there’s been a drop in BBC features commissions. “Like post every where, it’s in finishing, not offline, that the money lies.”
The majority of boutique Doghouse TV’s work is for BBC Bristol, including returning strands such as Gardeners’ World and Fake Or Fortune?. “We hope to work more with indies in future,” says business development manager Sarah Miller. Doghouse has seen no direct impact from London facilities poaching work. “If the demand for post does not decrease, we would hope that we remain unaffected – but this remains to be seen,” she adds.
LIVERPOOL
When the British Film Commission hosted studio execs, including representatives of HBO, on a tour of the north of England in March, their visit included Liverpool. The city is used for filming more any other in the UK bar London, but post resource is scarce. That could change if plans to convert an industrial site a mile from the centre come to fruition.
Manchester developer Capital & Centric is reported to be spending £30m on turning a vacant building adjacent to the existing Wavertree Technology Park into a studio complex. Construction could start at the end of this year.
The company predicts that the facility could double the £20m annual revenue the city earns from location shoots within a couple of years and create more than 1,000 jobs. “It will have a big impact, but it’s got to be fit for purpose,” says Patrick Hall, head of post at indie LA Productions.
Lime Pictures managing director Claire Poyser, however, believes the city is no nearer to securing studio space. “The longer Liverpool doesn’t have a studio, the less chance there is to build a sustainable backdrop for media in the city,” she says.
Merseyside’s producers are typically resourceful. LA Productions handles DIT and dailies for film productions and puts its own drama productions, like Jimmy McGovern’s Reg and Moving On for BBC1, through in-house suites.
With 360 episodes a year of C4’s Hollyoaks, Lime’s 14 Avid and five dubbing suites are busy all year round. “There’s little reason to go outside of Childwall except for specialist finishing grades on series like The Evermoor Chronicles,” says Poyser. “We keep end-to-end production in-house for efficiency and economic reasons.”
Dubbing mixer Sam Auguste opened boutique Onomatopoeia in the city at the start of 2016 after freelancing in London. “It is less and less important that you are physically on site,” he says. “I was spending more time working from home, remote from the facility in London.”
Spying an opportunity to plug a gap in the north-west for low- to mid-budget feature post, Auguste picked up sound design for Hurricane Films’ trailer for A Quiet Passion and an animation for local indie Mocha. He is also looking to move into picture post support such as rushes transfer.
LEEDS
VTR North had a traumatic end to 2015 as it restructured out of administration. “We’ve been fortunate to work with some faithful clients who have helped us back on our feet,” says managing director Spencer Bain.
The company specialises in audio, animation and VFX, with recent commercials for Bupa and Jet2 under its belt, but it’s a full-service house and completed the grade for True North’s Coastal Walks With My Dog for C4.
Since ITV transferred production outside the region a decade ago, Leeds has lacked a production base. True North retains all but specialist crafts in-house, but the region’s locations are popular for drama (Mammoth Screen’s Victoria; Left Bank’s DCI Banks).
“We tend to touch everything that comes up here, even if it’s rushes uploads,” says Chris Davey, head of operations at full-service house The Other Planet. “That said, since programme execs tend to be based in London, the final post disappears back south. Leeds doesn’t have a major studio for light entertainment, and CBeebies work stays in Manchester.”
Rollem Productions (BBC1’s In The Club) posts at The Other Planet, which has picked up factual shows such as Daisybeck Studios’ Channel 5 series The Yorkshire Vet.
At ADBS, owner Andrew Dobson says he has enough business to see him through the year. The firm mostly handles factual jobs such as Emergency Rescue Down Under and Canals: The Making Of A Nation. “We’ve lost some facilities in the region and gained some. Overall, I’d say the Leeds scene is small but thriving.”
MANCHESTER: NORTHERN POWERHOUSE
Bargain Shop Wars: post at Salford’s Core
MediaCityUK is generally applauded as a magnet for business, even if there are gripes about the volume of work that seeps out to indie facilities from anchor tenant the BBC.
In-house post for BBC North is managed by The Farm, while studio service provider Dock 10 is mid-way through a 10-year contract that guarantees a volume of post for shows like Match Of The Day and Dragons’ Den.
“Our main focus is not to be over-reliant on the BBC,” says Dock 10 head of post Paul Austin. “The aim is to become the ultimate one-stop-shop.”
Looking to widen its base, the facility struck a deal with Red Productions, which locked in dramas Happy Valley and The Five (filmed in Liverpool). It also set up a VR division and moved into short-form VFX by acquiring local outfit Edit 19.
“There’s a slow but sure move of facilities from the city centre to MediaCityUK,” suggests Brian Barnes, managing director at Manchester facility Sublime, which works closely with video agency Activideo on live-action and animated corporates.
The Salford hub boasts several established houses, including Flix (which has a link to the capital in partnership with Molinare) and Core (post on Crackit North’s Bargain Shop Wars), but others feel no need to move.
“The ad agencies are in town and it’s easier for talent to get here than Salford,” says David Jackson, managing director at 422 Manchester, which welcomes Caroline Aherne to narrate Gogglebox every Friday.
While ITV and the BBC have pulled out of other regions, Manchester remains a viable centre for production with a significant pool of crafts, from camera ops to make-up. It’s also good for location shoots. “You can close off half a dozen streets in a day, which you could never do in London,” says Jackson.
Phantom Post is the latest MediaCityUK recruit, albeit one set up by former Timeline North executive Eben Clancy within the same Blue Tower building. Since Phantom specialises in providing remote editing and finishing facilities, does location even matter?
“We would not have picked up the work we have if we’d started in London,” says Clancy. “You can get extremely good, relatively inexpensive office space here with fantastic connectivity.” The firm’s first project is the Potato-produced series Bear Grylls’ Survival School.
“The talent in the north-west is of high calibre and MediaCityUK is a big draw,” he adds. “That said, our model works for producers willing to break the mould of big post. Instead of having to sit in facilities for 10 weeks, remote production frees creatives to work in their own space.”
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