News from South West Screen’s Filming and Locations team
July 2010
Welcome to our newsletter which aims to give you a round-up of what we’ve been working on on your behalf here at South West Screen and an update on what’s happening in production in the South West. If you have any comments on this newsletter or you would like to suggest content for future newsletters, please get in touch.
WHAT WE HAVE BEEN DOING
Since our last newsletter we have:
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Met with filming contacts at Cornwall County Council.
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Attended the quarterly UK Film Council Locations teams’ meeting in London.
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Attended the Location Managers’ Forum in Bristol, hosted by Bristol Film Office.
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Hosted Fiona Carruthers, Production Co-ordinator at the Office of the British Film Commissioner, on a familiarization visit to the region and to the forthcoming production base
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Met with BECTU’s Western Branch to open discussions around pay levels and training and development in the region.
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Begun discussions around creating a Movie Map for the South West using Screen East’s Scene on Screenas a template.
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Met with Chris Matthews from the Duchy of Cornwall to discuss filming on Duchy property.
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Begun the re-branding process for the forthcoming production space , working towards an October launch.
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Employed Leonora Sheppard on a temporary contract to cleanse the Locations Database.
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Visited the set of Wall to Wall’s factual series High Street in Shepton Mallet.
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Hosted five recces for productions considering filming in the region.
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Visited four potential filming locations.
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Added 43 locations to the Locations Database.
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Seen 80 new entries to the Production Guide.
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And handled numerous enquiries which have kept us and our local authorities and councils busy.
UPDATE ON THE PRODUCTION FACILITY FOR BRISTOL
As we reported in our last newsletter, it has been confirmed by the South West RDA that The Constellation Site will be available as a production space for a minimum of 5 years. The site offers productions ample build space, plus office space, and is also available as a location. Although the site is currently available for filming, the last of the tanks are in the process of being removed and so we are using the time to work on rebranding (including a new name), getting the offices ready and having some of other areas of the old industrial site repaired to a good standard. As there can be no capital investment from the South West RDA or Bristol City Council, these repairs are being funded from income generated by productions already using the site. South West Screen is currently employed in an agencyrole for the site so if you are interested in using it then please contact us.
UK FILM COUNCIL REVIEW
The UK Film Council are continuing their review into the Location Services provision currently offered by the 9 Regional Screen Agencies. This has come as a direct result of funding cuts, but gives a good opportunity to investigate more streamlined areas of work, and to consult closely with the industry (particularly Location Managers, Line Producers and Production Managers). There is no indicative date for a decision to be made by, but we will keep you posted with news.
iFEATURES
After nearly three months of top-level professional development and intensive script writing, the six iFeatures teams have reached the greenlight stage, which will see three low-budget feature films made in Bristol this year. This is a rolling process, and the three successful films will be announced in early September. Meanwhile, if you’d like to get involved with any of the projects as they begin their search for cast and crew, or if you are interested in our professional development on iFeatures, take a look at the ifeatures website: www.ifeatures.co.uk.
BECTU MEETING
On Monday 14th June BECTU came to the South West Screen offices for a meeting to encourage a closer working relationship between SWS and BECTU WESTERN FL Branch. Amongst other things, the main topics of discussion were pay levels on visiting productions (particularly around voluntary work and work experience), and also training and development.
The meeting was attended by David Donovan (National Officer for Wales & West, BECTU), BECTU members Andy Leonard, Mike Luff, Tim Konewko, Martin Roberts and Chris Thompson, and Fiona Francombe, Lisa Howe and Joe Wheatley from South West Screen. It was a useful meeting that allowed both BECTU and South West Screen to discuss what each organisation is doing to support the crew in the South West and also highlight areas for improvement. The main point of the meeting was to act as the opening of a dialogue between the two organisations and should be seen as meeting one with more to follow in the future.
UK FILM COUNCIL VISIT
Fiona Carruthers, Production Co-ordinator at the Office of the British Film Commissioner, travelled down from London to visit the South West at the end of May. The trip was a chance for Fiona to familiarize herself with the region and for us to show her first hand what is on offer here. During the course of the day we managed to squeeze in a meeting with the Bristol Film Office, a tour of The Constellation Site, and a visit to Bath. We also made it out to Wiltshire for a visit to the exterior Lark Rise to Candleford sets.
CHANGES TO THE GUILD OF LOCATION MANAGERS
We thought we would take this opportunity to let you know about some changes to the Guild of Location Managers. On 2 June 2010 a new committee was selected by a secret ballot of the entire membership (Committee member’s names are listed below). Jane Soans was voted unanimously by the new committee to be the Chairman. Richard Godfrey is Vice Chairman, Leonora Sheppard is Treasurer and Membership Secretary, Andrew Pavord and our own Fiona Francombe are sharing the duties of Secretary.
At the first Annual General Meeting, Jane Soans outlined the new mission statement (available on the Guild website www.golm.org.uk). The Guild of Location Managers will be campaigning on behalf of member’s interests, within the industry and also with government and local authorities.
Committee of the Guild of Location Managers:
David Broder
Roland Caine
Rob Champion
Jonah Coombes
Fiona Francombe
Richard Godfrey
James Grant
Ben Greenacre
Andrew Pavord
Leonora Sheppard
Jane Soans
Camilla Stephenson
UPDATE YOUR CREW & FACILITIES LISTING – YOU COULD BE LOSING OUT ON WORK
The level of enquiries that we are receiving from productions wanting to shoot in the region this summer is really stepping up. We are consistently asked to provide lists of potential crew so it is imperative that you get online and ensure that your listing on the Crew & Facilities database is up to date. Towards the end of the summer we will be having a big push to make sure all of the information that we hold is relevant for productions wanting to film in the region, and any records that are deemed to be too out of date will be deleted. Please update your listing here.
BRISTOL FILM WINS AT WORLDFEST 2010
Action short Special Delivery, won the top award in the Remi Platinum Award category for Best Action short at this year’s WorldFest event in Texas.
Special Deliverywas shot and edited entirely in Bristol with over 90 percent of the crew also living and working in the city as well. The film was written and directed by David Hawk and produced by Richard Cambridge.
PRODUCTION UPDATE:
Currently in production / pre-production in the South West
High Street
Skins 5
Permanently Excluded
Sparticles
Casualty
Pilcher ‘10
Coming up:
iFeatures
PLEASE DO NOT RING US TO ASK FOR PRODUCTION DETAILS – USE THE EXPRESSION OF INTEREST AREA OF OUR WEBSITE INSTEAD
SOUTH WEST ON SCREEN:
Casualty: Saturdays at 9:30pm on BBC1
Deal or No Deal: Weekdays at 4:10pm on Channel 4
Statistics
Number of production enquiries registered from Mar ‘10 to Jul ‘10: 133
Our contact details….our services are free:
Fiona Francombe, Production Services Manager
fiona.francombe@swscreen.co.uk
+44 (0)117 952 9983
Joe Wheatley, Production Liaison Assistant
joe.wheatley@swscreen.co.uk
+44 (0)117 952 9979
Summer Holidays…
We have tried very hard to co-ordinate out holidays so that there is always someone here in the office to handle your enquiries. Here are out holiday dates for this summer:
Fiona – 2nd to 6th August and 31st August to 3rd September
Joe – 26th to 30th July and 23rd to 27th August
FEATURED LOCATION:
The Duchy of Cornwall owns 54,090 hectares of land across 23 counties. There are over 3,500 individual lettings, including 700 agricultural agreements, 700 residential agreements, and 1,000 commercial agreements.
The portfolio is managed in five geographical districts: London – commercial property and the Kennington estate; Eastern – estates in Somerset, Dorset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire; Hereford; Western – estates in Devon and Cornwall; and The Isles of Scilly. There are satellite offices on Dartmoor and at Poundbury.
The properties cover everything from large farms of more than 650 hectares to small gardens, office premises to craft workshops, Highgrove House to barn conversions, along with new developments such as Poundbury.The Duchy of Cornwall also has a small number of holiday cottages which are housed in attractive period properties in beautiful locations. Holiday cottages are currently available in Cornwall, Herefordshire and the Isles of Scilly.
Chris Matthews, Deputy Land Steward for The Duchy of Cornwall, is open to the idea of filming on Duchy property and welcomes speculative enquiries – 07860 637 295 / cmatthews@duchyofcornwall.org.
If you'd like further details on this, or any other location, please contact us.
South West Screen is funded by the UK Film Council and the South West of England Regional Development Agency.
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