Screen Suffolk extends tenure for another five years
Six years after winning the contract to deliver the film office service in the county, Screen Suffolk’s tenure has been extended for another five years.
The new contract was agreed by Suffolk County Council, West Suffolk Council, Ipswich Borough Council, Babergh & Mid Suffolk Council and East Suffolk Council.
The county has hosted several high-profile productions in the last few years, including The Personal History of David Copperfield, that transformed Angel Hill in Bury St Edmunds into Dickensian London.
The Personal History of David Copperfield, Bury St Edmunds
The largest scale-shoot the county to film in the area since Screen Suffolk launched was The Power, an adaptation of the sci-fi novel by Naomi Alderman for Amazon Prime.
The production featured a set which built in a field on the coast in Bawdsey, as part of a shoot that lasted six months, with 300 crew working at the height of the project. As well as over 12,000 hotel nights booked by the production, many local facilities were used and local tradesmen and crew worked on both the build and shoot.
Other productions to have filmed in the country include The Dig, The Detectorists and Magpie Murders.
The Detectorists, Framlingham
Prior to Screen Suffolk’s launch, there were 30 filming days recorded across the county by separate local authorities. In their first year, Screen Suffolk recorded 212 days and the tally now stands at over 1000 days of filming.
Cllr Susie Morley, chair of Suffolk public sector leaders group and leader of Mid Suffolk District Council said, “The screen industries are growing across the UK. Screen Suffolk ensures we are part of that growth, and that film productions shoot in the county, buy our film services and create opportunities for local employment and work experience.
“The more filming that we attract to Suffolk, the more the county will become a place for screen professionals to live and work. We are working hard to make Suffolk a place where the screen sector can thrive. We know Screen Suffolk is a critical part of this, along with skills development, work spaces, rail and road connections and studios.”
Bit of Light, Cherry Park, Ipswich
Film officer Jim Horsfield added: “We looked at levels of spend for productions that have visited the county, ranging from a Hollywood blockbuster to a daytime TV show, and estimated that this economic impact for Suffolk was £13,500 per day. This may seem like a lot, but when you take into account hotels, local equipment suppliers, crew visiting restaurants locally it quickly stacks up. Suffolk has benefited by £14.5m since we started.”
Rachel Aldridge, film officer, commented: “The Dig, about the discovery of Sutton Hoo, hit the 2nd lockdown zeitgeist and became a massive hit globally, with Ralph Fiennes playing the role of archaeologist Basil Brown. The interest in the Sutton Hoo story on the screen turned into a massive increase in numbers of tourists visiting the site in the summer of 2021.”
Screen Suffolk has more than 600 locations registered including domestic houses, castles and former RAF bases, and they manage filming for organisations such as the Suffolk Wildlife Trust and the Churches Conservation Trust.
All images via Screen Suffolk.
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