UK in Focus - page 70

SPOTLIGHT
REGIONAL UPDATE
Work is under way to bring a world-class
studio space to Scotland. In March 2016,
Scottish Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop
revealed the country could have a new per-
manent film and TV studio facility based in
Cumbernauld, north east of Glasgow.
Hyslop confirmed that private investor
Terry Thomson, Chairman of Wardpark Stu-
dios, is expected to submit a planning appli-
cation to enhance significantly the existing
production facilities at Wardpark— the home
of hit TV series
Outlander
— to create a film
and TV studio complete with six sound stages
totalling 78,000 sq ft, as well as production
offices, ancillary spaces and a backlot.
The development is already drawing both
international and local interest. Producers
shooting in Scotland can utilise both UK tax
reliefs and Scottish incentives, including the
$2.5m (£1.75m) Production Growth Fund and
$2.9m (£2m) Tax Credit Advance Facility.
While a dedicated studio may be on the
horizon, Scotland currently has several sites
offering roughly 462,000 sq ft of space for
film and high-end TV projects. This includes
48,000 sq ft at Wardpark and 70,000 sq ft at
Dumbarton Studios’ three stages. Alternative
sites include The Pyramids in Bathgate, which
will play host to the eagerly anticipated
Trainspotting 2
. Based in central Scotland, the
site’s 50,000 sq ft of production space is
within easy access of both Edinburgh and
Glasgow.
Other facilities include Pelamis, in Leith,
Edinburgh, which has 160,000 sq ft, and Bor-
ron Street, Glasgow, which has 40,000 sq ft.
“We want to encourage production of the
whole nuts and bolts,” says Creative Scot-
land’s Brodie Pringle, Head of Screen Com-
mission. “We want [producers] to come here
and shoot a production in its entirety. We
want to move away from this idea that they
can come here and shoot what we call a post-
card of Scotland; they take plates of our
amazing scenery and drop in the occasional
CGI monster!”
While it may be a small country, Wales now
boasts three functioning film studios. One is
Pinewood Wales, based on the site of the
former Energy Centre, Wentloog, adjacent to
Cardiff Bay, which has entered into a lease for
a minimum of five years with the Welsh gov-
ernment, and also manages the government’s
television and film investment fund.
One early coup was to attract the
pilot of US TV series
The Bastard
Executioner
.
“We have 70,000 sq ft of shoot-
ing space in Wales,” says Andrew
Smith, Director of Strategy and
Communications, Pinewood
Group, who describes the
site as being especially well-
suited to high-end TV drama.
Equally as successful is
Bay Studios, based in the
old Ford Factory in
Swansea, which came
to prominence when
Starz TV’s
Da Vinci’s Demons
SCOTLAND
WALES
started shooting there in 2011. Consid-
ered one of the biggest indoor filming
spaces in the world, the site has
265,000 sq ft of studio space
and another 30,000 sq ft of pro-
duction offices and facilities.
Along with
Da Vinci’s
Demons
, Bay Studios has
also housed upcoming Ama-
zon Prime show
The Collection
.
Edward Thomas, Co-Producer on
Da Vinci’s Demons
and a key figure behind the
site’s expansion, pays tribute to the landlord,
Roy Thomas. “When I approached him to turn
what was a leaky warehouse with no power
and no water into a film studio, he was very
supportive,” says Thomas. “He gets it. He sees
what a film studio can bring to a region.”
Also supportive are Neath Port Talbot County
Borough Council. “They are pulling out all the
stops to help us because they can see the ben-
efits to the region,” says Thomas. “When a big
production like
Da Vinci’s Demons
comes in and
spends $30m in a season, that has a huge
impact on the local community.”
Wales’ third studio space is the revitalised
Dragon Studios, long championed by the late
Richard Attenborough, which has seen produc-
tion on
Doctor Who
,
The Bastard Executioner
and films such as Mythic International Enter-
tainment’s
Ironclad
.
UK
Doctor Who, filmed at Dragon Studios
As evidenced by these examples, all the UK’s
regions offer a diverse and ever-growing range of
production facilities, with new and alternative
shooting spaces continually being made available.
The British Film Commission is always on hand to
provide information about the countless filming
opportunities available across the UK.
The Collection
Outlander
68
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