Yorkshire News

IT’S OFFICIAL – SHOOTING IN YORKSHIRE IS BETTER VALUE AND EASIER THAN FILMING IN LONDON

Research commissioned by regional screen agency, Screen Yorkshire, confirms that shooting in Yorkshire is much better value than shooting in London. The research reveals that locations are 30-50% cheaper and crews are 10% better value in Yorkshire than in London.

Line Producer, Richard Johns (Producer for Working Title film THE CALCIUM KID) conducted the research, which indicates that filming in Yorkshire is 10% cheaper overall than filming in London. The research compared (like for like) the costs of shooting a £ 5 million feature film in London and in Yorkshire.

Screen Yorkshire’s Head of Production, Hugo Heppell says:

“The cost comparison research just goes to show how much a film producer saves, both in terms of money and time, by shooting in Yorkshire rather than in London. This is the message we’ll be taking out to producers worldwide to encourage further production and inward investment to the region.”

The latest Shane Meadows feature film to be produced by Warp Films in Sheffield, THIS IS ENGLAND shot recently in Yorkshire and the East Midlands. Mark Herbert, Producer says:

“Our film is shot and is going to be edited entirely in Yorkshire and the East Midlands. We’re going to do the sound and post production up here. Everything is going to be done out of London which is going to save me £200,000 out of the budget.”

Yorkshire has seen a record summer of feature film production this summer, with seven feature films shot in Yorkshire, bringing over £1 million inward investment to the region. This compares with two feature films shot in Yorkshire for the whole of 2004. By the end of the 2005, the figures look even better, with the feature films, LIKE MINDS and THIS IS ENGLAND in post-production.

Location Manager of Garfield II which shot in York over the summer talks about the ease of filming in the region:

“Permits for filming, road closures and traffic management, could not have been simpler to obtain and the co-operation of local businesses and public, cemented our ability to complete the very complex series of shots we needed to do in Yorkshire while it doubled for London.”

Piers Tempest, Producer of LIKE MINDS which shot in Yorkshire earlier this year says:

“I found filming in Yorkshire to be a lot easier than other areas in the UK – primarily because of a combination of the professionalism of crews, diversity of landscape, the infrastructure and the general ‘can do’ attitude that we encountered every day of the shoot. You certainly would not find your unit vehicles wheel clamped, which has happened to me before in London! Having this supportive environment meant that we got a lot more done and productivity increased substantially.”