28/11/2003

There’s a new boom in activity for the UK post-production sector, which is set to pass the £750m registered during the golden year of 2000, and the trend looks set to continue as UK film studios are currently fully-booked with Hollywood films.

The 09/11/01 terrorist attack and its negative repercussions on the UK film industry are now just distant memories. Thanks to tax incentives attracting foreign investors from all parts of the world –especially the US- and the post-production sector enjoying an excellent reputation worldwide for its quality, innovation and highly skilled workforce, the total investment in the UK for 2003 will be at least double last year’s £440m.

The UK’s biggest film studio, Pinewood is currently the venue for shooting on Oliver Stone’s Alexander The Great, starring Colin Farrell, as well as Joel Schumacher’s Phantom Of The Opera and Disney’s King Arthur.

Meanwhile, Shepperton Studios, which is co-owned with Pinewood by Michael Grade and Ian Dunleavy, is the set for Bridget Jones: The Edge Of Reason starring Colin Firth and Renee Zellweger. Leavesden Studios, owned by Warner Bros, are filled with Harry Potter’s wizards for the third and fourth instalments of the series. Britain’s oldest film studios, Ealing has Johnny Depp shooting Bride and Prejudice for Gurinder Chadha and Gwyneth Paltrow is at Elstree in Hertfordshire, for the film version of the play Proof.

This is excellent news for the whole post-production sector, which hires 15,000 people in total from 1,000 companies, and generates over £1.4 billion for the local economy, according to the report “Post-production in the UK” just published by the UK Film Council (available on it’s website).

In order to expand the post-production industry and raise its profile internationally, the majority of UK companies working in the sector have decided to create a new trade body, which will be financed by companies within the sector and by the UK FC and the Department of Trade and Industry.