Filmmaker Ron Howard may have to abandon plans to film on location near Reading in the UK. The director had wanted to build a set on Blackbushe Airfield to film his new Formula One feature Rush, but local conservation issues mean the project might have to go elsewhere.
England is busily organising its new filming support structure, while traditional global filming hub California has revealed a general production increase for 2011, despite a massive fourth-quarter dip. Elsewhere, Peter Jackson’s hobbit films completed their first stage of location filming and news broke that Kodak may soon file for bankruptcy.
Washington Filmworks is asking for USD3.5 million to help attract filming projects to Washington State during the next legislative term. The state ended its 30% cash rebate filming incentive last year and Washington Filmworks has since been operating unfunded.
Producers from nearly a dozen Ontario production companies have visited India to encourage more co-productions between the two regions. The Canadians visited Mumbai and Goa, and took part in a programme at the International Film Festival of India focussing on Canadian filming.
Kodak, one of the world’s most recognisable suppliers of film and photographic products, is likely to file for bankruptcy within the next few weeks. The company has had its share of problems since foreign competitors entered the market in the 1980s, but more recently the growth of digital photography has had a big impact.
Marvel Studios will start filming Iron Man 3 in North Carolina in May. Shooting is scheduled from May to September, using EUE/Screen Gem Studios as a base. It took a full year of negotiations to secure the shoot, with Michigan, New Mexico and Georgia all originally in contention.
Creative England has unveiled its new Location and Production Services (LPS) team. The team has seven members with two more to be recruited in the coming months and has several offices across England. They offer a full filming liaison service as part of Creative England.
California saw a 4.2% rise in location filming for 2011, but the number of TV and feature production filming days fell sharply in the fourth quarter. During these three months TV production declined by nearly 11% and feature filming days by more than 25%.