Film Studios are on the Move

The proliferation of huge studio complexes being announced to cater for the seemingly insatiable demand of superhero movies and episodic TV is a massive vote of confidence in the UK Film and TV industry and its huge and diverse pool of talent in front of and behind the camera as well as in the world of VFX, editing and sound.

The latest announcement is the transfer from New Zealand of the second season of Amazon’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ including all of its huge studio sets. It is a blow to the NZ economy, possibly linked to the announcement that the country’s zero tolerance COVID policy will continue until at least next year. Many of the production’s crew and cast are British and have been unable to travel home for up to two years, so undoubtedly this is also a factor.

Meanwhile Blackstone and Hudson Pacific are investing almost a billion dollars in a 91-acre film studio campus in Broxbourne, Herefordshire, managed by Sunset Studios, a major force in the US studio scene, whose LA studios hosted productions including ‘La La Land’ and ‘When Harry Met Sally’.

I’m hoping that Mount Pleasant Studio can benefit from this activity. We don’t see new mega film studio complexes, with huge stages built for longform drama, as competition. We are hoping that the influx of talent will bring more shoots of all kinds to London, not least promotional interviews with Hollywood stars, of which we have a lot of experience. Among others, we have hosted interviews and promotional shoots with Gal Gadot for ‘Wonder Woman 1984,  Sam Mendes and George Mackay for ‘1917’, Helena Bonham Carter for ‘Ocean’s 8’ and a performance by Rebel Wilson for ‘Pitch Perfect 3’.

We have worked, in a small way, for Amazon ourselves recently, hosting the ‘The Kindle Storyteller Award’, which was presented by Claudia Winkleman. This was shot in our soundproofed studio, in Central London. You can read about the award here .

Meanwhile, the BTEC Awards used our live streaming studio for the second year running, which we consider our own vote of confidence. This year we had two presenters and Zoom calls with multiple interviewees, awards presenters were also played in. It was again produced by live stream experts Spell Binder.