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Pinewood Studios Expansion Project Rejected By Local UK Council

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday May 15, 2013 @ 11:43am PDTTags: Pinewood Studios

This is a surprising result given it’s the second time the UK’s venerable Pinewood has had an expansion project thwarted – and despite the increased interest of major U.S. studios to shoot there. The studio, which is home to the 007 set built in honor of the James Bond films that have been filmed there and which houses many major Hollywood pictures, first applied for permission to expand back in 2009 and was refused in early 2012 because it was eyeing protected land. The studio owns the land, but failed to satisfy the Buckinghamshire Council’s requirement of “special circumstances” to proceed. Today, the council refused a more recent modified application for an increase in capacity. Earlier this week it was reported that Hollywood studios, including Disney, Marvel, 20th Century Fox and Universal, had written to the decision makers urging approval. READ MORE »

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UK Tax Credit For TV Drama Goes Into Effect April 1 Amid Fears Of U.S. Cannibalization

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday March 27, 2013 @ 1:40pm PDTTags: Penny Dreadful, Pinewood Studios, UK Tax Credit

Sam Mendes’ psychosexual horror series for Showtime, Penny Dreadful, will be among the first U.S. TV dramas to benefit from the UK’s newly-approved TV tax relief for high-end productions. Legislation for a 25% tax credit for TV series costing at least £1M per hour to produce — plus animated programs and video games — has been given the state-aid greenlight by Brussels, clearing the last major hurdle before coming into effect April 1. Largely based on Britain’s Film Tax Relief scheme, which has provided about £800M in rebates to more than 800 movies since 2007, the new law requires productions meet a British cultural test. Co-productions made under an internationally recognized treaty may also be eligible, and it’s believed the new regs could inject about $570M into the local industry. But there are concerns that the potential £200M in relief available by 2018 could be gobbled up by U.S. productions that employ British talent on UK shores.

When first announced in March last year, the relief was considered an effort to stem runaway production. Shows like BBC Two drama Parade’s End and the Julian Fellowes miniseries Titanic, were made abroad. Downton Abbey is among the rare exceptions of big-ticket UK shows that have been produced at home, and I’m told it will now look to benefit from the break. But the scheme is also a means to encourage foreign shows to come to the UK. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne consulted both Disney and HBO to lay out the strategy. Read More »

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Pinewood Studios Proposes £200M Expansion To Meet With Growing Demand

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Friday February 1, 2013 @ 1:52am PSTTags: Pinewood Studios

A year after its Project Pinewood development was rejected by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Pinewood Studios has submitted a new planning application for an expansion project valued at £200M ($317M). The Pinewood Studios Development Framework proposal is expected to be spread over 15 years and would essentially double the studio in size with 100,000 square meters of new studios, stages, workshops and production offices along with new streetscapes for external filming and other improvements. Pinewood’s Mark Hamilton tells me, “The UK has capacity issues and everyone is having difficulty fitting in everything that wants to come here… We don’t want to be in a position where we’re turning business away.” Hamilton says a team from Pinewood met and with physical production folk at the U.S. majors to discuss their needs which helped to inform the new proposal. In the past year, Pinewood has played host to such films as Les Misérables, Skyfall, Disney’s Maleficent and Paramount’s Jack Ryan, which just wrapped. Read More »

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Pinewood Studios Could Double In Size, Looks To Increase TV Production

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Friday September 14, 2012 @ 10:22am PDTTags: Les Miserables, Pinewood Studios, Skyfall

Joe Utichi contributes to Deadline’s UK coverage:

Pinewood unveiled cutting-edge upgrades to its TV One and Two stages today as it reiterated a commitment to investing in and expanding its facilities. The studio, recently home to features Skyfall, Les Miserables and Maleficent, is keen on TV as a proposed 25% tax break on high-end television production is expected to go into effect in April. The incentive could inject about $570M into the industry. Pinewood corporate affairs director Andrew Smith tells Deadline, “The demand for content is clearly growing globally, and we’re investing in both infrastructure and facilities to respond.” Part of the response is to submit a new application to double the size of the studio. Read More »

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Pinewood USA Enlists Andy Weltman To Head Up Los Angeles Office

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Tuesday March 27, 2012 @ 7:41am PDTTags: Pinewood Studios, Skyfall

Pinewood Andy WeltmanEXCLUSIVE: The Pinewood Studios Group is bulking up its Los Angeles office with the hire of Andy Weltman, who has been named EVP of Pinewood USA. Weltman was EVP of U.S. Production for the British Film … Read More »

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UK Prime Minister David Cameron Calls For Focus On “Commercially Successful” Pics

By NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor | Wednesday January 11, 2012 @ 3:48am PSTTags: David Cameron, Julian Fellowes, Pinewood Studios, The King's Speech

British Prime Minister David Cameron will visit Pinewood studios today where he is expected to urge filmmakers to ramp up efforts to rival Hollywood by making more “commercially successful pictures.” Cameron’s visit comes just ahead of next week’s release of the findings of a government film policy review overseen by former culture secretary Chris Smith with input from such folk as Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes. According to Cameron’s official website, the review is expected to suggest the UK’s Lottery funding scheme be rebalanced to support more mainstream films with commercial potential as well as culturally rewarding films. The news is likely to upset the independent film community, with director Ken Loach already appearing on the BBC today to say: “If you knew what was going to be successful before you made it then we’d all be millionaires. It doesn’t work like that. Public money should go to fund a wide variety of projects and people.” The review is further expected to propose that the British Film Institute reinvest returns into film companies with the most box office success. Read More »

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Global Showbiz Briefs: UK, India, Korea

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Wednesday August 24, 2011 @ 9:50pm PDTTags: Christopher Nolan, Daniel Craig, India, James Bond, Oscars, Pinewood Studios, Prometheus, Ridley Scott, Sam Mendes, Snow White and the Huntsman, The Dark Knight Rises, Universal

Solid First Half For UK’s Pinewood Shepperton Studios
Revenues are up 68% over the first half of the 2011 according to interim results released today, from $27M to $42M over the same period a year ago. The largest film production based at Pinewood Studios during the period was Dark Shadows (Warner Bros), and the largest production based at Shepperton Studios was Wrath of the Titans (WB). Other films that used Pinewood Shepperton facilities included The Iron Lady (DJ Films/Pathé), Gravity (WB), Woman in Black (Hammer Films), 47 Ronin (Universal) and Ridley Scott’s Prometheus (Fox). Universal’s Snow White And The Huntsman has just begun shooting at Pinewood. The surge in film business offset a drop in TV revenues from $8.3M last year to $7.6M, which the studio attributed to using more space on movie productions.

Off-Track Bond 23 May Exit India For South Africa
Unhappy that permission to shut down portions of two railways outside Mumbai still has not been granted, Take One Productions is threatening to move production of Bond 23 from India to South Africa. Originally scheduled to shoot in the fall, the Sam Mendes-directed project starring Daniel Craig is now pointing for a January start. “South African authorities are waiting to provide everything that is required to support this movie,” said Take One’s Pravesh Sahni. “If we can’t get this cooperation from India, the film will no longer be shot here.” The railroad scenes will be a major part of the film, Sahni told The Times of India. 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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Pinewood Debates Management Buyout

By TIM ADLER in London | Monday August 23, 2010 @ 8:05am PDTTags: Crystal Amber, Michael Grade, Michael Grade Pinewood Shepperton, Pinewood Finance, Pinewood Shepperton Finance, Pinewood Studios, UK Film Producers

The publicly-quoted studio facility faces a renewed attack by shareholder Crystal Amber on Wednesday, when it announces its half-year results. Pinewood is expected to announce operating profits have fallen from last year’s £3.3 million ($5 million). Crystal Amber thinks that … Read More »

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