New stages under construction at Elstree
The race for space
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ith three dramas shooting early this year, Chernobyl producer Sister has run into a familiar problem for many producers of scripted shows – finding studio space in the UK. Sister’s head of production, Magali Gibert, says it has been difficult to find what it needs for upcoming adaptations The Power (for Amazon) and This is Going to Hurt (for the BBC and AMC) and crime drama Landscapers (Sky and HBO). Sister is just one of many producers vying for limited studio space in an era of buoyant UK content production, which hit £3.62bn in 2019. Growing demand for shows from streamers and US studios, attractive tax incentives for making films and high-end TV here, and the country’s highly regarded crews, talent and infrastructure have all conspired to drive up output and, with it, the need for more sound stages. Yet very little new studio space has come on to the market, despite plenty of announcements about new developments (see box opposite). “There is a long way between a press release and a shovel in the ground,” says Stephen
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Tim Dams explains how the boom in scripted shows is driving the need for more UK studios Bristow, partner in the film and television unit at media accountants Saffery Champness, who played a key role in the introduction of the UK’s tax relief scheme for high-end drama. The new Sky Studios Elstree, which has 13 sound stages under construction, will be one of the first to open, aiming for the first half of 2022. Eastbrook Studios in Dagenham, east London, with 12 sound stages, is targeting 2023. Sky Studios COO Caroline Cooper says the investment in its new studios comes as the Comcast-owned firm has more than doubled its investment in original content. “We need places to put those shows,” she says. Sky is working in partnership with sister-company NBCUniversal on the new studios. “They really enjoy making movies in the UK, and they’d make more if they had more space to do it,” says Cooper. “Between the two of us,
there was a real demand for some more capacity.” Pressure on studio space has also been growing since Disney and Netflix signed long-term deals to lease all the stages at Pinewood and sister studio Shepperton Studios, respectively. Saffery Champness is projecting double-digit annual growth in UK film and TV production over the next five years. As a result, Bristow doesn’t think the new studio developments will lead to oversupply. “It will be good for the industry to have more studio competition,” he says. “Producers pay a lot of money for studio space in the UK, so the more entrants the better.” In the short term, the need for stages is only likely to grow, thanks to C ovid-19 and Brexit. Covid has led to producers looking for relatively safe, controlled studio environments at a time when many locations are nervous about accepting large film crews. International travel restrictions make shooting abroad a major challenge, and have caused many to opt instead for UK bases. Brexit has added to the challenge of filming UK productions in the EU, given the need for work permits and
