Shoots for international shows like Elementary accounted for most of the TV spending in the UK in 2013 as a result of the new TV tax credit, according to the British Film Institute. Just over GBP230 million was spent by TV productions and nearly 65% of this came from international shoots.
Two new studios will be built in the Titanic Quarter of Belfast in Northern Ireland in a GBP14 million development project. Titanic Studios currently includes the city’s Paint Hall studio and is home to HBO’s fantasy drama Game of Thrones.
The Elstree Studios exterior set for BBC soap EastEnders is to be expanded. Filming has been based at the north-west London studio for almost 30 years and a temporary set will allow shooting to continue while the new facility is upgraded and modernised to be ready for 2018.
Sonny London took a prosthetic ogre to the Greek island of Crete to film a new spot for Thomson holidays. Simon the Ogre features a family man whose office existence has turned him into a literal ogre, but the fun of a Thomson holiday helps him relax and rediscover himself.
Developers in Manchester in northern England are preparing to launch a new filming facility aimed at drama productions. The Space Project is scheduled to open in May 2014 and will offer five purpose-built studio spaces, as well as workshop, dressing and make-up facilities.
Canadian production company Sons and Daughters filmed on location in downtown Toronto for a new wintry spot for Nissan. Winter Warrior depicts a frozen business district where a Nissan driver bravely rescues a stranded family from an army of evil snowmen.
Peter Welter Soler is a producer with production service company Fresco Film, which covers Spain and Portugal. Locations and permitting flexibility are major factors drawing productions to Spain and Portugal, while the weather in places like Malaga are also an attractive prospect.
Screen Yorkshire in northern England has secured an extra GBP7.5 million in funding from the European Regional Development Fund. The money will help fund productions filming on location in the area, which recently have included the Birmingham-set period gangster series Peaky Blinders.
London-based visual effects company Cinesite VFX has announced it will open a new office in Montreal, Quebec. The company – whose credits include Tom Cruise’s upcoming sci-fi Edge of Tomorrow – will be spending CAD6.7 million with the help of an interest-free provincial government loan.
The 4th annual Ile de France Location Expo, run by the Ile de France Film Commission, will take place on 13 and 14 February 2014 in Paris at Les Docks, Cité de la Mode et du Design.