Sector Spotlight: Film and TV

SECTOR SPOTLIGHT: Film & TV

Fact…

• Bristol’s film and television industry brought in an estimated £17.5 million to the city’s economy in 2014.
• We have the largest concentration of creative industries outside London. Bristol and Bath are recognised by NESTA as two of nine hot spots for creative industries outside of London.
• Last year Bristol recorded 572 filming days.
• Bristol is responsible for 35 per cent of all natural history film production globally.

• The next big thing

Cotham-based production company Silverback Films has just inked a deal with Netflix and the WWF to create Our Planet, a natural history series that will combine spectacular photography of planet earth with an unprecedented look at our remaining wilderness areas and their animal inhabitants. Viewers will get a rare glimpse of ice caps, deep oceans, deserts and remote forests.

The eight-part series forms a follow up to the hugely successful Planet Earth and will debut in 2019 on Netflix. Silverback Films, whose portfolio includes the BBC’s Planet Earth, Frozen Planet and Blue Planet as well as Disney Nature’s Earth, Bears and Chimpanzee, will be producing the shows.

“Netflix is proud to be the global home for perhaps Silverback’s most ambitious project to date,” said Lisa Nishimura, vice president, Netflix Original Documentaries.

“The Planet projects have enjoyed great success on Netflix and have helped launch new technologies for viewing at home. We think watching Our Planet, fully on demand in 4K will be an unforgettable experience for our members.” 

Silverback Films executive producer Alastair Fothergill said:“We at Silverback Films are delighted that Netflix has made such a significant investment in a major new landmark natural history series, not just because they share our editorial vision and ambition for the series, but also because they are a new player in natural history production.

“Our Planet is going to raise the bar for natural history landmarks. Bristol can rightly claim to be the ‘Green Hollywood’ and it is exciting for all of us here in Bristol to have such significant new interest in the work we are renowned for.”

• Evolution

Post-production – the process of shaping and polishing recorded material to bring it to life – is big business in Bristol and continues to expand. Two years ago, Evolutions, the UK’s largest post-production company established a second base in Bristol. Demand here was so high that one year after opening its initial 30-suite base on Whiteladies Road, the company, which produces shows such as One Born Every Minute and DIY SOS, expanded by 40 per cent.

Managing director Simon Kanjee says the city was chosen in response to client demand. OFCOM-set quotas requiring more broadcast material to be made outside London have also helped boost regional trade, with Salford and Cardiff also beneficiaries of increased broadcast activity.

“Bristol is a thriving hub of entertainment where we saw an opportunity to grow our client base,” Kanjee says. “Post-production was under-served here until we arrived. We brought London facilities to Bristol but didn’t imagine this much success in such a short time.”

• New Talent

 Wildseed: Jesse Cleverly (left) and Miles Bullough

In the digital age, talent is no longer nurtured in traditional ways. Channels like YouTube, Vine and Instagram have led to a rise in bedroom producers who are increasingly being recognised as the future of visual broadcasting.

“We were fascinated at the rise in new talent,” says Miles Bullough of Wild Seed, a digital talent incubator established to help individuals with good ideas pitch and fund their programmes. The company brings funding of up to £10,000 to each project as well as mentoring.

“We act as a bridge between new talent, who on the one hand have never had it so easy and on the other have no support, to turn their skills into a career. We also link to big media companies who don’t have the bandwidth to look down to grass roots and nurture raw talent. We’re a training ground.”

It’s not the only organisation nurturing new talent. Creative England throws down the ladder to new talent with programmes and workshops to improve skills and access to funding. The South West Talent Modules start in July and will take the form of monthly workshops at the Watershed hosted by industry experts covering all aspects of the filmmaking process, from development to production and distribution.

iFeatures is a scheme that was founded in Bristol by South West Screen, with Creative England now provides three teams of filmmakers annually with £350,000 to produce their first feature. Meanwhile, iShorts encourages relatively new filmmakers to shoot a professional short film, aiming to support those who have not yet attracted financial industry support.

If you have a burning idea that needs help getting off the ground visit www.wildseedstudios.com/submissions or www.creativeengland.co.uk/film

• COMMENT: John Durrant; Director, BDH

John Durrant is Creative Director of BDH, a media company based in Clifton. He also sits on the board at the Watershed and is vice chair of the Royal Television Society’s Bristol branch.

“Welcome to the Best Television and Digital Media in the World” I wrote, in large captions, for the Royal Television Society 2015 showreel. Had I gone over the top?

I added more glorious shots from Wolf Hall and Poldark (both filmed at Bristol’s Bottle Yard Studios), Bill Bailey’s Jungle Hero (Bristol’s BBC Natural History Unit) and Bake Off (Bristol’s Love West production company) to name but a few. Quickly the national 2015 showreel was bursting with Bristol work and the future of the city’s film and television production is looking peachy.

This autumn, the best broadcaster in the world is launching BBC Store, so the world can buy our amazing programmes. Bristol’s Silverback Productions has been commissioned by Netflix to create the Planet Earth documentaries they’ve always wanted to make. My own company, BDH, is blazing a trail, with the first virtual reality app for the BBC, with our BAFTA-nominated War of Words VR available on Google Play and Apple Store.

Envied around the world, Bristol film and television has an exciting future ahead of it. Even the wondrous Aardmans start work on a new feature film commission Early Man. How brilliant will that be!

If you want to keep in touch with the heart of Bristol’s cultural media life, visit the Watershed or check out its Pervasive Media Studio – brimming with new digital ideas and potential adventures.

So is Bristol ready for the next thingy-ma-jiggy-VR-future.com? Quite simply, yes.

More than ready.

• On Script

On June 1 the Bristol chapter of an England-wide agenda to support emerging script writers launched. Bristol Old Vic hosted an intensive weekend residential for the South West region, including a discussion session with playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz who won a best foreign language film Oscar for her script, Ida.

A cohort of 18 writers has been selected by the five theatres who will attend the weekends in each partner city. They represent some of the freshest voices emerging from England’s regions. They are provided with professional development and paid commissions of £3,500. At the end of the programme, writers will be provided with the tools to transfer these skills to other fields, including novels, television and film, while Creative England will professionally produce three short film scripts.

“We are delighted to be hosting the inaugural residential weekend for what is a ground breaking and inventive new initiative between film makers and theatre makers,” said Bristol Old Vic chief executive Emma Stenning.

“We are working together to provide a critical space where new creative conversations can be instigated between those who write for theatre and those who make feature films. This exchange of ideas can only make our creative industry ecology even more robust, vital and internationally acclaimed.”

• Green Screen

Lynn McFarlane, founder, Drèsd

Like any industry, film and TV can be wasteful but – with Bristol’s proven green credentials – city firms are doing their bit to increase sustainability in the sector. Drèsd, based at The Bottle Yard, recycles, resells or repurposes TV and film set waste.

“We identified a gap in the market,” says founder Lynn McFarlane. “No one was doing repurposing; the norm was skips. Many of the items going to landfill were reusable. We’re trying to turn it into a more circular economy rather than being totally scrapped.”

Demand has tripled in the last three years without any formal marketing, including the recent open of a prop shop.

Studio Cars, also based at the Bottle Yard, provides an eco-friendly chauffeur service using low-emission electric and hybrid cars to productions based at the studios.

• COMMENT: Wendy Dark; Head, BBC Natural History Unit

Wendy Darke has been working at the BBC Natural History Unit for more than 20 years and was appointed head in 2012. She has been involved in major series, including Land of the Tiger and Big Cat Diary.

“Bristol could not provide a better foundation for what I believe is the most exciting time for natural history programme making. We have everything here – the expertise, passion and knowledge along with a culture and history of making world class programmes.

Now in its sixth decade in Bristol, the BBC Natural History Unit employs over 350 people delivering 150 hours of original content every year and an always on digital BBCearth.com But the natural history fabric of Bristol runs far deeper and partnerships with the wildlife community are key to our success, as are our strong links with the universities.

The future of our industry relies on making immersive and relevant programmes across every television genre, taking inspiration from drama and comedy as well as other factual formats. The talent lies in the art and craft of storytelling alongside the outstanding images for which we are well known. We are pioneering new technology, often taking the lead from the worlds of sport and Hollywood, and taking the natural world to audiences in innovative ways beyond the conventional TV format.

There is a collective need for humans to rethink our relationship to the natural world if we are to live in harmony as much as any population can. Bristol has the capacity to be a catalyst. Our ability to tell stories globally is huge – uniting 500 million people in a moment of time and space is within our gift.”

• Breaking In

With a high concentration of creative companies and global brands Bristol is a good place for established filmmakers and hopefuls, but that also translates into high demand for jobs. Is the market saturated or are there still employment prospects for those trying to start a new career?

“There has never been a better time for young and energetic natural history film makers to enter the industry,” says Harry Marshall, creative director at Icon Films. “Not only are the environmental issues more pressing than ever before but the technology to tell the stories has never been more extensive nor so affordable.  Night vision, infra-red and starlight/low light cameras have opened the nocturnal world. Drones have given us an affordable bird’s eye view of landscapes and habitats. And the hunger for natural history content is undiminished across multiple platforms.  A few natural history broadcast and cable commissioners are not the gatekeepers any longer. The only limitation is your energy and determination. Go forth and just do it.”

Lynn Barlow, chair of the Royal Television Society in Bristol, agrees. “Do your research. Be persistent,” she advises. “You need to network, talk to people and to understand the industry. Understand how stories are found and developed. It’s complex and multi-layered these days and with digital creativity as well, there are lots of different opportunities, some surprising.”

• Prospects

After Casualty left our shores 11 years ago, some feared that the writing was on the wall for the Bristol broadcasting scene, but instead the city has seen a boom in independent film and TV making. “Casualty moving allowed Bristol to reinvent itself beyond a Saturday night medical drama,” says Fiona Francombe of the Bottle Yard Studios. “It’s self-evident that Bristol can cope with film and TV demands. It’s not just an overflow from London – people are choosing to come here.”

A high-end TV tax relief introduced by the government has helped to bring in business. “As long as it’s in place then growth is set to continue,” says Fiona. “It makes Bristol competitive against any other location. High profile dramas like Poldark are home grown but Bristol attracts American money.”

Triggered by the BBC, there’s little doubt that the industry is now a stand-alone entity. “The independent production community has grown around that,” agrees Grant Mansfield of Plimsoll Productions, the UK’s fastest growing production company.

“It’s close to London for buyers but Bristol now has its own broadcasting ecology.” Grant and his business partner Christine Owen chose to set up here for quality of life matched with access to resources: “We love living in Bristol and there’s a fantastic independent talent pool here.”

“When the independent sector does well, it’s good for the whole sector – it brings talent, ideas and work to the city,” agrees Pete Lawrence of Tigress Productions. However he cautions that with an OFCOM focus on regional growth, Bristol needs to ensure that local cities like Cardiff do not grow at our expense. “We need to be aligned,” he continues, “but there’s incredible creative potential here. It feels buzzing”.

Click to read about Bristol’s other key business sectors, including animation and green energy.