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Film

Britain’s Thames Valley is a centre for film and television production. It has a long tradition of filmmaking, with world class studios such as Pinewood, together with beautiful and varied locations all within easy reach of London and Heathrow Airport. A large number of crew and facilities are based in the region, contributing to the overall strength of the creative sector, which is a significant employer in the South East of England.

Gareth Neame, Executive Producer of Downton Abbey and MD of Carnival Films

Film in the UK

Worth £1.4 billion to the UK, the Government is investing heavily in supporting the film industry through various funding mechanisms.

The UK’s film industry is a competitive industry with tax reliefs for film, high-end television and animation, tempting British productions back to the UK and proving attractive to other Hollywood and US TV companies.

The independent TV production industry in the UK is worth roughly £2.5 billion a year in revenue.

See a show-reel of the UK film industry in this video from the Department for International Trade, featuring some of the Thames Valley’s fantastic assets.

Film in the Thames Valley

Pinewood Studios

The Pinewood Group is a truly global centre of excellence, with studios in Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta, as well as 5 other locations around the world. Its home and headquarters, however, is situated in Buckinghamshire in the Thames Valley; a very short distance from Heathrow Airport and benefiting from excellent connectivity to London.

Home to iconic brands such as James Bond 007 and Star Wars, and with 20 stages, over 22 acres of backlots and workshops to deliver world-class creative output, Pinewood is truly the place to be.

It has been described as the only place in the world where you can enter with a script and leave with a finished film – as every aspect of the work can be completed on site. The facility hosts many creative companies who rent space just to be co-locational with a cluster of film-related businesses.

Pinewood and Disney

Pinewood has entered into a long-term agreement with The Walt Disney Company Limited. The arrangement will see Disney take all the stages, backlots and other production accommodation at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire.

It’s wonderful to have Disney here at Pinewood. They’ve been making great films with us for many years and the fact they want to shoot so many more here is testimony not only to the quality of the teams and infrastructure at Pinewood, but also to the British film industry as a whole.

Paul Golding, Chairman of Pinewood Group Limited

Vicon

Another leading player within the Thames Valley is Vicon, a Denver-based business whose main premises, outside of the United States of America, is Oxford. Their work on motion capture products and services has led them to win an Academy Award and an Emmy, as well as several Queen’s Awards for Export and Innovation.

Audiomotion Studios

Also situated in Oxford are Audiomotion Studios; Europe’s leading performance capture service provider. The company uses 160 Vicon cameras in their 24m x 12m studio, meaning that they have the largest capture volume in the continent.

Ex Cantibus Gaudium

Run by multi award-winning composer Robert Hartshorne, Ex Cantibus Gaudium provide compositions for TV, corporate, commercials, film and theatre.

Thames Valley is highlighted in the video (left) as holding exceptional locations for filming. Particular reference is made to Bampton, Oxfordshire and Highclere Castle, Newbury and the access to skilled crew and infrastructure in London, which is easily accessible from the Thames Valley.

The UK provides a range of benefits for the creative industry particularly for TV/film production by giving access to a variety of locations, as mentioned above, whilst the creative industry brings a range of benefits to the UK by attracting visitors and subsequently enhancing the visitor economy.