Filmmaker Peter Jackson has urged the New Zealand Government to be flexible with location filming incentives in the coming years. He stressed that the hobbit trilogy came very close to being filmed in the UK partly because of a high-profile actors’ union dispute in 2010.
The BBC has filmed on location on a heritage railway in the West Yorkshire region of northern England for a new World War I-era TV gangster saga. Peaky Blinders begins in 1919 and scenes have been shot on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway north-west of Leeds.
Creative Scotland has invested in the initial stage of planning for a potential studio facility in Scotland. The organisation has put forward GBP75,000 for a feasibility study and an initial GBP1 million has also been set aside towards the cost of the development.
Elstree Studios in north-west London has secured a GBP2 million loan to help fund an expansion plan. In recent years the facility has hosted Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows and Oscar-winning feature The King’s Speech.
[slideshow id=327]Cheltenham Racecourse, near Gloucester in western England, has terrific flexibility as a filming location. The Racecourse has an extensive history of horse-racing events and reflects this proud legacy in its buildings and facilities.
Virginia is looking to boost its regional film tourism to take advantage of Steven Spielberg’s high-profile Lincoln shoot. The state has launched a self-guided Lincoln Movie Trail and accompanying website, which points out filming locations used for the much-lauded movie.
Film tourism from the UK to Mumbai is growing, due partly to an increase in the number of Bollywood productions filming in Britain. Virgin Atlantic launched a new daily flight from London to Mumbai in late October 2012 and credits Bollywood for driving demand.
A sequel to 2011 historic drama Ironclad is scheduled to film on location in Serbia, doubling for the English countryside. Ironclad: Battle for Blood will be based at PFI Studios in Belgrade and will also film exteriors at various historic forts and ruins on the Danube.