More British Film

[Guest Tim Partridge]

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/art...ject/article.do

[Hal Smith]

Sort of stupid like the Golden Age of Hollywood where all the crew and craft people had real jobs that one could raise a family on?

[Guest]

If you build it they will come. Won't they?

 

They are building more giant mega studios in Toronto right now as well. People are already calling it folly. Same problem here on the exchange rate front, US dollar has collapsed.

 

But once Bush leaves things might turn around.

 

R,

[David Mullen ASC]

I don't know if it will or will not help, but it seems to me that the doldrums of the U.K. film industry aren't really due to a lack of soundstage space.

[Guest Stephen Murphy]

Actually I think its a great idea.

[Adam Frisch FSF]

There ISN'T a doldrum - what are people on about? This is what's happening at Pinewood and Shepperton right now:

 

Mark Romanek's Wolfman is building at Pinewood.

Ridley Scott's new feature Nottingham is gearing up at Pinewood.

James Bond have already started building on the 007 stage.

They just finished Tim Burton's Sweeney Tood, which basically occupied every stage at Pinewood for a year.

Ron Howard's Angels & Demons (Da Vinci 2) is taking up EVERY stage at Shepperton at the moment.

 

Not to mention Leavesden who's constantly busy shooting Harry Potter films and the Bedford hangars that's done

two Batman films on the trot and has a huge American studio wanting to buy it and turn it into a permanent

film studio...

 

So exactly what doldrums and bad state of the British film industry are we talking about?

 

As a side note, I just shot (or was supposed to shoot) Amy Winehouse's new single on the backlot of Pinewood's only standing set - The Baker

Street set, but Miss Winehouse never showed up. So we stood there pre-lit for 11 hours and did nothing...

 

I think it's a great idea to have a backlot - that's exactly what's been lacking in Britain. I'm sure it's going to be a great success.

[Freya Black]

Quick Phil! It's all happening over here in this thread, you're missing out! :)

 

love

 

Freya

[Freya Black]

As a side note, I just shot (or was supposed to shoot) Amy Winehouse's new single on the backlot of Pinewood's only standing set - The Baker

Street set, but Miss Winehouse never showed up. So we stood there pre-lit for 11 hours and did nothing...

 

Noooooo! Come on, you knew she wasn't coming anyway, too many problems right now. You should have called me! I could have played some crazy Freya music, perhaps with some friends. Everybody would have been entertained, (well more like freaked out but it's kinda the same thing), we could have made a really great music video and nobody would have been bored for 11 hours! It would have been wonderful. That was totally a missed opportunity. *sigh*

 

Do you think this happens a lot, maybe I could hang around Pinewood with my little drum waiting for productions that aren't happening?

 

Maybe it will be all the re-bookings that will keep the u.k. industry afloat.

 

love

 

Freya

[Freya Black]

I like the bit about competing with eastern europe. That was my favourite bit. I mean who wants to hang out in Prague when you could be sitting in a muddy field just outside of the M25! I mean what does Prague have going for it, I mean yeah it's got some nice architechture and intresting culture and stuff like that but...

 

Anyway I also have a healthy dose of British skeptisism but mine is rather different to Phil's. I don't think this will be the economic disaster for Pinewood that people seem to be implying. You see I have a deep suspicion that large chunks of the money for this are going to be subsidised in some way. All this talk of housing and stuff. Hmmmm. I don't know anything about it but it just sounds like theres more to it than meets the eye. I think Pinewood will be just peachy keen even if some of the lots just sit empty.

 

I also personally think it is a great idea too. The stuff that's going through my mind is more like, if they can't fill the place, will they be giving major discounts in down season? I'm also wondering how good the security is likely to be on those exterior sets, I guess it will have to be okay up to a point to stop vandalism.

 

I wonder what effect this will have on the super studio in Wales tho, wasn't Mr Puttman backing that?

 

On a very unrelated note, I'm intrested that Mark Romenek is making a new movie! I've always wanted to see static but Mr Romanek seems desperate to bury it and forget about it. Sounded intresting to me. I think his new movie might be intresting too whatever the title. Then again maybe not with the way things are, these are strange days.

 

love

 

Freya

[Phil Rhodes]

> Quick Phil! It's all happening over here in this thread, you're missing out!

 

Yeah, but I'm in LA right now :)

 

Phil

[Lars Zemskih]

I like the bit about competing with eastern europe. That was my favourite bit. I mean who wants to hang out in Prague when you could be sitting in a muddy field just outside of the M25! I mean what does Prague have going for it, I mean yeah it's got some nice architechture and intresting culture and stuff like that but...

 

Did you shoot in Prague? Most of the big production crews are 60 per cent British, especially on the commercial shoots, some commercial production companies have even a rule to sign only British directors. Prague is also becoming more and more expensive to shoot in, the government stopped supporting the industry and there are no tax incentives. So everything is starting to shift more further East, but from what I here a lot of the time the film crews find themselves in badly equipped studios with bad sound and not very professional domestic crew and end up going over budget. I mean this might change fast as more and more productions come there. But if there is a way to shoot it in Britain that somewhat offsets the costs of flying the crew and accommodating them and obviously Pinewood believe that they will get more money out of the new stuff, then why not? Plus know that Prague is more cold than London and there is more precipitation. You people just like to complain a lot :)

Edited November 19, 2007 by Emile Rafael

[John Holland]

I must say i think its a really weird idea looks like a Universal Studios theme park BUT not open to the public !! . no new sound stages , but lots of housing built on a green field site [ for those not in this country not what the govenment is trying to sell the punters ] . why would anyone wont to use the same old set again and again ie ,o its that plastic castle you can see from the M25 .

[Guest]

> Quick Phil! It's all happening over here in this thread, you're missing out!

 

Yeah, but I'm in LA right now :)

 

Phil

 

Quick Phil grab an American woman! The American dream is one wedding away!

 

R,

[Freya Black]

Did you shoot in Prague? Most of the big production crews are 60 per cent British, especially on the commercial shoots, some commercial production companies have even a rule to sign only British directors. Prague is also becoming more and more expensive to shoot in, the government stopped supporting the industry and there are no tax incentives. So everything is starting to shift more further East, but from what I here a lot of the time the film crews find themselves in badly equipped studios with bad sound and not very professional domestic crew and end up going over budget. I mean this might change fast as more and more productions come there. But if there is a way to shoot it in Britain that somewhat offsets the costs of flying the crew and accommodating them and obviously Pinewood believe that they will get more money out of the new stuff, then why not? Plus know that Prague is more cold than London and there is more precipitation. You people just like to complain a lot :)

 

Me complain? I think I was implying that Prague might be kinda neat. :)

So what you are telling us is that it's all really awful where you live in Prague and we are much better off in London right? ;)

 

It does appear that the motivation for all the "plastic castles" and stuff might be that there are lots of these kind of sets that have been knocked up in Eastern Europe. I know that one of those Eastern European studios also has its own Baker Street.

 

love

 

Freya

[Freya Black]

> Quick Phil! It's all happening over here in this thread, you're missing out!

 

Yeah, but I'm in LA right now :)

 

Phil

 

Yay! I hope you're having a great time there. It's all really shivery cold and raining here in England. :)

 

I've bought 4 pairs of mittens.

 

love

 

Freya

[John Holland]

tim go onto the Pinewood/ Shepperton website ,where you can hear the chief exec. explain it all [ not] and pics of the proposed development ,i think its just a way of building 2000 houses and making lots of money nothing to do with film / tv industry.

[David Mullen ASC]

Or it's just a way of covering their asses by making the development serve double-duty. I remember when CalArts was built in the 1970's, it looks like a hospital -- apparently the story goes that they had to design it a certain way so that if it failed as a school, it could be converted to a hospital. Though that may be apocryphal and they simply hired a very bad architect. Endless white cinderblock hallways with no windows or doors... like something out of THX-1138.

[John Holland]

David whats really strange about this it looks like its set out like a Disney/ Universal theme park but not open to the public as a tour thing . Pinewood has great stages and facilities but this isnt going to improve them .

[Andy_Alderslade]

David whats really strange about this it looks like its set out like a Disney/ Universal theme park but not open to the public as a tour thing . Pinewood has great stages and facilities but this isnt going to improve them .

 

This actually reminds me of an article/essay Aldred Hitchcock wrote during the 1930 wishing British Studious would build more permanent sets to increase the production values in British Productions.

 

It was an interesting article, if I get a chance I'll Scan and post it.

 

Who knows maybe there is some sense of parrallel wisdom to it.

 

Best,

Andy

[Leo Anthony Vale]

Or it's just a way of covering their asses by making the development serve double-duty. I remember when CalArts was built in the 1970's, it looks like a hospital -- apparently the story goes that they had to design it a certain way so that if it failed as a school, it could be converted to a hospital. Though that may be apocryphal and they simply hired a very bad architect. Endless white cinderblock hallways with no windows or doors... like something out of THX-1138.

 

That's the story about Disney's Burbank studio in the 30s. It actually was across the street from Burbank Hospital.

 

CalArts is more of a Homeland Security fortress guarding the pass into LA.

 

Don't forget the two wings that don't quite lineup, creating the bump in the hallway floor.

 

 

As to Pinewood, having the employees live on the grounds seems so Chinese.

Like the town that converteed itself into a huge backlot.

One of the advantages of shooting there is no annoying OSHA-type safety personel interferring with stunts and fight scenes.

Not that many Chinese factories don't have the employees living in dorms.

[Jonathan Bowerbank]

Same problem here on the exchange rate front, US dollar has collapsed.

 

But once Bush leaves things might turn around.

 

There's $1.6 Trillion that I wouldn't mind having back ;)

[John Sprung]

I remember when CalArts was built in the 1970's, it looks like a hospital --

I was at UCLA back then, and got to visit again recently. Melnitz Hall hasn't changed -- it still has all the warmth and charm of a mini-storage.

 

What seems strange to me about this is integrating housing into the standing sets. Will kids grow up with mom saying "Quiet, Billy! We're on a bell!" ? ;-)

 

 

 

 

-- J.S.

[Mark Williams]

The British film industry is in serious decline because talent in this country is supressed. Many companies making cheap films use wannabes to work free and use. The chosen few who get on usually through connections, birth or money. Many times you see competitions for indie films where professonal actors crew and directors make short professional films with real budgets sometimes a new director or actor but with the right connections and money who completly decimate those trying to break in with less than professional equiment, actors, finance, and walk all over any possible chance of future talent.

 

The British film industry has become for the well off with an occassional bone to something weird and wonderful.

 

This new Idea for pinewood will be elitist and for international established film makers. I believe were starting to see the return of a class system again.

 

Anyway do I think its a good idea?

 

Yes.

[James Steven Beverly]

Yay! I hope you're having a great time there. It's all really shivery cold and raining here in England. :)

 

I've bought 4 pairs of mittens.

 

love

 

Freya

 

People in England still wear mittens :blink: ??!!....or is that like an English term for gloves? :huh:

[Phil Rhodes]

> People in England still wear mittens

 

Only if they're:

 

a) 5

 

b) Female

 

Phil