Film and TV pumps £100m into local economies

It's been a record year for filming in English regions, according to data collected by Creative England's Production Services team.

More national and international film and TV productions moved into England and as the records kept by Creative England show, more and more of them shot outside the capital. It is estimated nearly £100m was pumped into local economies as a result.

The improved tax reliefs for both film, animation, high end drama and children's television, plus the attractive infrastructure of filming in England with its regional film funds and support, is ensuring the UK is quickly becoming one of the most attractive countries for productions.

The Creative England Production Services team generally helps source locations, studios, crew and facilities for productions shooting in England, outside London, as well as delivering on-the-ground facilitation to productions to ensure a smooth shoot.

In the 2014/2015 financial year it handled 1,582 enquiries, a leap of more than half from the previous year's 1,028 enquiries. This translated into an additional 37% of productions shooting in the regions and 25% more shoot days on location, compared to the previous year.
 

  • £92.8m of estimated spend in the regions
     
  • 8,000 shoot days in the regions (a 25% rise on 2013/14)
     

Creative England's Kaye Elliott, head of production services (pictured), said: "It's heartening to see this impressive leap in the levels of productions shooting in the English regions. With world-class locations, facilities and talented crews as well as over 20 studios based across the country, it's no surprise so many productions are choosing to shoot in the regions."

Some of the recent productions that have shot on location in England are Warner Bros.' films Tarzan, Pan and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.; Disney's Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass and Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron and Film 4's Suffragette - which has just been announced as the opening film of the BFI London Film Festival.

Some of the television drama highlights included Peaky Blinders, The Casual Vacancy, Wolf Hall and Downton Abbey.

 



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