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UK’s Pinewood Shepperton Plans U.S. Studio Based In Atlanta

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Monday April 29, 2013 @ 12:46am PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Pinewood Shepperton Film Studios

Pinewood Shepperton is continuing an aggressive expansion drive with its new Pinewood Atlanta joint venture. The studios are partnering with River’s Rock LLC, an independently managed trust, to develop 288 acres of land south of Atlanta into world class studio facilities. Pinewood has a 40% share in the venture which is being funded by River’s Rock and a debt facility from Synovus Bank. Georgia’s tax incentives can reach up to 30%: there’s a 20% credit for qualified productions, which are then eligible for an additional 10% credit if they include a Georgia promotional logo within the finished product.

Fayette County Development Authority president Matt Forshee recently told the Atlanta Business Chronicle that the new studio would provide the infrastructure required to attract large-scale Hollywood productions. Georgia has been the backdrop for a number of film and TV shoots that require natural scenery, but it’s had a harder time with productions that need big studio space. Construction on the facility will start immediately. READ MORE »

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Pinewood To Dig Into China With Bruno Wu; Will Mogul’s Latest Deal Bear Fruit?

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday April 17, 2013 @ 2:33am PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Bruno Wu, China, Pinewood Shepperton Film Studios

The UK’s Pinewood Shepperton is the latest Western outfit to hook up with Chinese media mogul Bruno Wu via a joint-venture to finance and produce content in China for the global market. The 50/50 partnership with Wu’s Seven Stars Media Limited will be called Song Lin (Pinewood in Chinese) with each side initially putting up $1M for R&D on local business proposals. Those include co-production opportunities; training courses to be given by British institutions in Beijing and other cities; financing and related services for local productions; film-themed entertainment venues in Shanghai and regionally; and film-themed projects in Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan. A UK chairman will be appointed.

This is the most recent announcement involving Wu in what’s been a busy 14 months. In February 2012, he burst onto Hollywood’s radar with plans for an $800M media and investment fund and subsequently formed a joint-venture with Fast Five helmer Justin Lin for a slate of films. He also outlined plans to build entertainment and media hub Chinawood in Tianjin with an investment of over $1.27B. Wu was then in Cannes to say he would back the John H. Lee remake of John Woo’s The Killer and in December hooked up with Avi Arad’s Arad Productions to develop superhero franchise properties inspired by Chinese history and mythology, starting with Rise Of The Terracotta Warriors. Those films along with Gong Li-starrer The Last Empress are in development.

Some industry insiders both in China and in Hollywood have been skeptical of Wu and his ambitious announcements, which so far don’t appear to have produced much tangible output. However, he is understood to be “incredibly well-connected politically” which foreigners believe cannot hurt in a territory like China, where the government retains a tight grip on the media. Read More »

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Pinewood Shepperton Studios See Increased Film Revenues, Operating Profit

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Tuesday November 27, 2012 @ 1:23am PSTTags: Maleficent, Pinewood Shepperton Film Studios, Skyfall

Studios operator Pinewood Shepperton’s unaudited six month results for the year ended September 30 show a marked improvement over the last comparable period. Before-tax profits are at £3M largely reversing a £5.4M loss in 2011. Revenues were £27.1M, up from £24.6M and operating profit jumped from £3.7M to £6.1M. Specifically, revenues from film were £18.8M, up from £16.4M. During the period, the UK facilities hosted Disney’s Maleficent; Marvel’s Thor: The Dark World; Working Title and Universal’s Les Misérables; Paramount’s latest Jack Ryan pic, Maryland; Universal’s Fast And Furious 6, Marv Films/Kick Ass 2 Productions’ Kick Ass 2 and Eon, MGM and Sony’s Skyfall. Pinewood Shepperton CEO Ivan Dunleavy said “The number of film productions contracted so far for next year is encouraging and the Board looks forward to the future with confidence.” TV revenues, however, were down to £2.5M from £3.6M in the earlier period. That was due to the increased film activity that saw those productions spill over to the TV studios. Read More »

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UK Film Industry Economics Report Shows Employment Growth, Cites Risks

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Monday September 17, 2012 @ 3:53am PDTTags: BFI, Big Deals Film, Pinewood Shepperton Film Studios, Warner Bros Leavesden Studios

A new study finds that British film contributes over £4.6B to UK GDP and more than £1.3B to the government. The Economic Impact of the UK Film Industry report, commissioned every two years by the British Film Institute and Pinewood Shepperton, notably shows the UK film industry directly employs almost 44,000 people, up from 36,000 in 2009. That’s more than are found in both the fund management and pharmaceutical manufacturing sectors. The median salary for film and TV workers is about $63,000. However, the report acknowledges there is a risk of highly-skilled workers taking their talent abroad if things like compensation, taxes and opportunities don’t remain competitive. The study further highlights the importance of the Film Tax Relief, warning that without the incentives, UK production would be a staggering 71% smaller.

Pinewood chief exec Ivan Dunleavy said: “The trends show that we’re performing well, relative to today’s economic climate. We can do more though. We now need to look at how to enable further investment in infrastructure and how to build on the UK’s growing international reputation to boost exports. By making gains in these areas film can provide more jobs and help play our part in bringing growth to the UK economy.” Read More »

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Global Showbiz Briefs: Consolidated Media, ‘Making Of A Lady’, Pinewood, BBC

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday August 28, 2012 @ 8:00pm PDTTags: BBC, Consolidated Media Holdings, Pinewood Shepperton Film Studios

Seven Group Still Undecided On News Corp.’ $2B Offer For Consolidated Media
In June, News Corp. launched a $2.1B bid for Consolidated Media Holdings, a 25% owner of pay-TV platform Foxtel and 50% owner of the Fox … Read More »

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Project Pinewood Development Refused Local Planning Permission

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Friday January 20, 2012 @ 3:19am PSTTags: DreamWorks, Pinewood Shepperton Film Studios

Pinewood Shepperton Studios’ £200 million Project Pinewood development hit a roadblock today when its planning permission was rejected by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, effectively kiboshing the project. Back in 2009, Pinewood submitted an application to develop what would have been a purpose-built living and working community for the creative industries – including 16 permanent streetscapes for external filming. The streetscapes would have represented such cities as Paris, Venice, Amsterdam, Prague, San Francisco and New Orleans giving British filmmakers on a tight budget the opportunity to shoot locally while also enhancing Pinewood’s international offer. Further, Project Pinewood envisioned building 1400 homes, including affordable housing, that would have been open to all comers and provided special discounted rates for staff. Technical and craft training facilities were also on deck. In a bugaboo somewhat reminiscent of the DreamWorks/Playa Vista debacle, however, the acreage Pinewood is eyeing is in a “greenbelt” of protected land. Pinewood owns the land, but had to prove “special circumstances” in order to go ahead with the building. Complicating matters, Read More »

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Vaughn Pitches UK-Hollywood Film Fund

By TIM ADLER in London | Friday August 27, 2010 @ 6:20am PDTTags: Matthew Vaughn, Pinewood Shepperton Film Studios, UK Film Funding, UK Film Tax Credit, X-Men:First Class

Details Of Matthew Vaughn’s UK-Hollywood Film Plan

Hollywood studios have a long history of shooting blockbusters in England. For instance, Britain’s Pinewood Shepperton has been the location of choice for big Hollywood blockbusters like … Read More »

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Pinewood Profits Fall 12% To $4.5M

By TIM ADLER in London | Wednesday August 25, 2010 @ 1:17am PDTTags: Crystal Amber Pinewood Shepperton Film Studios, Hugo Cabret, John Carter of Mars, Martin Scorsese Hugo Cabret, Michael Grade, Pinewood Finance, Pinewood Shepperton Film Studios, Pinewood Studios

First half operating profits after exceptional items have also fallen 3% to £3.2 million. Total revenue fell 6.4% in the first 6 months to £19 million. Film production revenue fell by 8.5% to £10.8 million, while TV shooting income fell … Read More »

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Michael Grade Shrugs Off Call For Him To Quit As Pinewood Shepperton Boss

By TIM ADLER in London | Tuesday June 29, 2010 @ 7:19am PDTTags: Crystal Amber Pinewood Shepperton Film Studios, Finance, Foreign, Michael Grade, Michael Grade Pinewood Shepperton, Pinewood Shepperton Film Studios, Pinewood Shepperton Finance

Michael_GradeThe former ITV chairman has survived a shareholder rebellion at this morning’s annual general meeting of the company that owns Pinewood and Shepperton film studios.

Crystal Amber, an activist investment fund with 18% of the shares in Pinewood Shepperton has attacked Grade’s … Read More »

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