I’ve worked to research and draft business plans, marketing plans and feasibility studies for film studios internationally, with projects in Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Serbia, and market research in the USA, Germany, France, Australia, the UK, India, the UAE, Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria.

Film Studios allow film productions to manage risks in systematic ways and are currently in great demand. Dedicated film production complexes that include stages / sound stages for the recording of performance, business offices for management of the productions, workshops for the construction of sets and props, and a backlot / outdoor location that can be used for the construction of external locations are therefore in demand. Studios offer cost/risk mitigation to productions as follows:

  • They allow full size sets to be created (in studio, on the backlot, digitally) that release productions from the limitations of filming on location;
  • They allow production sound to be recorded at the same time as image capture, increasing efficiency and authenticity;
  • They provide for cost-effective build of sets and special effects in warehousing and workshops adjacent to the sound stages (this is particularly important in modern SFX-heavy productions);
  • They allow for the clustering of service providers in a centralised location in ways that simplify time, access and scheduling constraints;
  • They eliminate weather / climate / daylight challenges of external shoots –in turn eliminating budget risks from re-shoots.
  • They alleviate environmental impacts of filming-on-location from the surrounding community (ie no negotiating road closures with local police departments);
  • They allow for longer shooting schedules, and more flexible shoot days/times, than city locations which are frequently subject to local policy / by-law requirements, neighbourhood sensitivities etc;
  • They offer security and privacy, which protects high-value IP, assets and talent;
  • They improve job creation because of the need for full time staff and crew.

Digital Studios are also affecting production decisions; Chroma Key studios allow actors to work in front of LED screens pre-loaded with set images generated live in photorealistic 3D by powerful GPUs. Unlike greenscreen though, the backdrop of a 3D Chromakey studio moves in realtime. The camera sends its real-time position and orientation to a computer running on the Unreal Engine gaming programme, which takes the movement and renders it exactly in the 3D environment, with changes to perspective, lighting, distortion, depth of field and so on — all fast enough so that those changes can be shown on the giant wall nearly instantly.

So how can I help prepare your film studio plans?