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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

London Calling

01

21:48 / 10.12.08

I've posted this over in the conversation, but haven't really got any info. Do any of you work in film over in London or anywhere else in Europe? What's the current state of the industry? Are there a lot of projects that film in London? Any of you work as an extra?

07:20 / 11.12.08

You might find that this is more of a Creation thread rather than a F,T&T thread, as both your threads (here and in Conversation) seem to be more to do with getting into the London Film Industry Scene rather than discussing the status of filming in London and what's going on there currently - although if I'm wrong, say so.

That said, credit for enthusiasm!

04:27 / 12.12.08

I worked in UK in Film (until moving this year) the state is a gulf between high budget US funded films (a handful a year) and very low budget, near exploitative "chancer made" movies. The film industry isn't anywhere near as healthy as the press or some people would have you believe, and the technician side is really feeling the sting, with many productions using overseas labour, shooting overseas, and using regional and national incentives to the productions benefit but not the employees.

London has several film offices and liaison departments (tending to break down by borough).

19:43 / 12.12.08

Most of the film industry types that I know work in post production, and seem to work on television, and sometimes music, as much (if not more) than they work on features. Suggests to me that the UK film industry on its lonesome is too small to support much in the way of a permanent workforce.

01

23:46 / 12.12.08

Thanks for all of your info. Looks like I'll be staying in this neck of the woods for now.

Anna de Logardiere

11:43 / 13.12.08

I know a couple of Assistant Directors and a Camera Operator. London has film work going on, mostly around the edges of the city. there are a number of studios dotted around, the big one is Pinewood which is in Buckinghamshire and it's where feature films like Tomb Raider and the Bond movies are shot. There's usually some TV work going on. If you want to do extra work than you need to sign up to an extras agency, I can't recommend one because I don't know any professional extras but I can try and ask a friend of mine where they get British extras for the films he works on. I can't guarantee a reply because he's just come off location. If you want to do work that isn't extra work but is industry related you probably need a car because film work is incredibly dotted around, you're as likely to be working in a warehouse off the M3 or a small village as a studio. There are projects going on at the moment but we're only in the first few months of a recession here so it's completely arbitrary right now, most of the stuff now has already had funding agreed.

Anna de Logardiere

11:54 / 13.12.08

I want to point out that the British film/television industry may not be very healthy all along the line but there's been a lot of work for people over the last ten years. You need to know people, you can't turn work down and exercise discrimination over projects unless you want to screw yourself over but there is work if you're prepared to go into an industry with hard hours and long stints away from home. A lot of films have British crews but post production is far kinder work that allows a stability that working on location doesn't. You have to actively want to be on film sets to stick with 14 hour days, food from a hatch, night shoots, work 300 miles from home, staying in hotel rooms in foreign countries but never seeing the sites, a scattered social and home life and if you're working in TV your weekend may not coincide with your partner's if they do a job with normal hours. If you keep turning those jobs down then people stop calling you to ask if you want to work with them.

16:11 / 14.12.08

The great problem is that there is no real film industry in the UK, monies made from films tends to return to private investors, rather than into the industry, so the template for productions is that of make it cheaply get a big return, giving most british films a parochial feel. Sequels to big successes are made cheaper than the originals, and a lot of productions are "producer" heavy, meaning that the below the line budget (ie the money that goes to crew and production, or shooting) is shrunk to accommodate the producers rates. Techniques such as deferred payments (which gave an inflated budget on paper for tax reasons, but didn't actually see the money going to the right sources, under the tax break scheme of the 90's/early 2000's) hurt the industry considerably. Budgets have been shrinking ever since. Coupled with a non-union or regulated industry, means that people aren't looked after and move up too quickly before they know how to do their jobs properly, which hurts productions.