Boost to Liverpool's plans to be Hollywood of the North

LIVERPOOL'S plans to establish a world class film studio will receive a major boost in a few days time. Liverpool City Council's Cabinet is set to approve the ₤1.8m purchase of 4.64 hectares (11.47 acres) of land, known as the MTL site, next to the former Littlewoods HQ which will soon be home to the new 'Liverpool Film Studios.'

That multi million project will be built by developer Capital and Centric which has planning permission to develop the 250,000 sq ft scheme with work expected to begin this summer.

It is envisaged the MTL site, owned by Homes England (formally known as the Homes and Community Agency) will become the heart of the media and creative industry in the City and will deliver comprehensive regeneration, job creation and promote further investment across the Central Liverpool Mayoral Development Zone.

The MTL site, which is also part of Liverpool Innovation Park on Edge Lane, is considered key to any potential future expansion of the Studios and has been earmarked for Phase 3 of the Film Studios scheme, which once completed would be a comprehensive creative and digital media campus of national significance.

Liverpool is already the UK's most filmed City outside of London, in 2018, alone and the award winning Liverpool Film Office recorded its busiest ever year in 2017, with 289 film and TV projects shot here, resulting in a massive 1,359 filming days which generated a ₤11.1million boost to the local economy.

Productions included both silver screen hits such as the BAFTA nominated:- 'Film Stars Don't Die' in Liverpool and the Emmy nominated Broken as well as TV favourites from BBC2's award winning:- 'Peaky Blinders' and 'A House Through' time to Channel 4's '1 Born Every Minute' documentary.

Early indications show 2018 is going to be yet another strong year for the City with the hotly anticipated TV adaption of 'War of The Worlds' by Mammoth Screen for BBC already confirmed to film later in the spring and there's a huge amount of anticipation around 'City and The City' which stars home grown TV star David Morrissey and is due to hit the small screen in mid to late 2018.

The City Council has also identified the site as critical to the development of Liverpool's:- 'Television, Film and Digital Media Infrastructure' in order to attract:- further inward investment, support the local creative industry, generate additional economic activity and employment and create wider benefits including:- enhanced image and improved skills.

The studios, which lies just 2 miles from the City Centre, would also provide a huge boost to the City's creative and digital hub in the Baltic Triangle and the emerging creativity district in the 10 Streets are to to the North of the City Centre.

Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson, who is championing Liverpool's bid to be the new home for Channel 4, said:- "Liverpool's digital and film industry has reached a tipping point where a major film studio would complete our world class offer and supercharge our plans to create 1 of Europe's leading creative centres. We have unbelievably talented writers, actors, directors, technical crews and programmers, our Film Office and locations are 2nd to none, and now with the Liverpool Film Studios we will soon have the very best in green screen filming and editing suites. This is a growing multi million pound industry with the potential to deliver hundreds of highly skilled jobs and the purchase of the MTL site ensures the future growth of these studios and is a major statement of intent to cement our reputation as the Hollywood of the North."

John Moffat, of Capital & Centric, said:- "We're well on our way to delivering a world class filming destination for the UK, with 1 of Liverpool's most iconic buildings at its heart. This is an important milestone in securing the land for our work at Littlewoods, where we'll mix heritage and new build development to form a creative hub for the North. Demand for the space has blown us away and we can't wait to announce our 1st residents in the coming months."

SAE Liverpool students on creating a professional trailer for 2 person play 'Eggs'

4 SAE Liverpool Film students, Francesca Tomlinson, Ciaran Wainwright, Thomas Kinley and Daniel Carr, have been working on a trailer for 'Eggs,' a 2 person play written by Florence Keith Roach, directed by Chantell Walker and starring Lauren-Nicole Mayes and Emily Curtis.

After attending SAE Liverpool's recent Northern Power Women event, the Director, Chantell, got in touch to see if some students would like to be involved in promoting their upcoming play by creating a short trailer.

Francesca explains:- "We originally heard of the job from our lecturers on campus who said they needed maybe 3 or 4 people to help, so myself, Thomas, Daniel and Ciaran put ourselves forward."

"A dark comedy about female friendship, fertility and freaking out," Eggs is a highly poignant play especially following the recent NPW podcast held at the Liverpool campus and with International Women's Day just around the corner.

The opportunity to work from the brief provided by Chantell has given the students some professional experience which will benefit them long term. Treating Chantell and the actors as their clients, it was imperative for the students to make sure that the brief was met and that the outcome was successful, as well as meeting the all important deadline.

On the day of shooting, Daniel was the Director of Photography, Thomas took on the role of Director, Ciaran was in charge of sound and Francesca was Thomas' 1st AD and Producer. Francesca and Thomas are now currently working together to edit the trailer so that it can be used by Chantell, Lauren Nicole and Emily in advance to spread the word about the play.

Thomas Kilney comments on his experience:- "The most challenging aspect was the editing since they requested a much higher level of visual effects. Which came as a massive learning opportunity for us."

On top of this, the 'Eggs' team required a really quick turnaround from the students. With just over 2 weeks to film and edit the trailer before the play started running, Francesca, Thomas, Ciaran and Daniel really had to pull together to get the job done.

Thomas tells us:- "Originally we were given a brief with a clear goal in mind, but with the project being set at a short deadline, creative changes were inevitable. Also, on the day they chose to make last minute changes meaning we had to adapt quickly and also provide creative support."

But despite the challenges, the project has been a fantastic learning curve for the students as well as being really enjoyable.

Ciaran comments:- "We all had a lot of fun, since we worked well as a team and were able to have a laugh, between ourselves and the clients too. On the day we were able to create a setup that transferred extremely well on camera and I'm excited to get more opportunities for work similar to this in the future."

With all 4 students studying the Digital Film Production degree at SAE Liverpool, they had a solid foundation of experience, knowledge and skills to aid their work on the project, as well as resources from the campus and expert staff.

Daniel explains:- "I think we all felt confident to do it, especially after having lessons from lecturer Jake Astbury on lighting setups and safety while on a shoot. We actually still had help from both him and fellow lecturer Carl Copeland on the day, which allowed us to perfect our image while feeling more confident to use their points of advice on our next job."

'Eggs' will be playing at 53Two, in Manchester, the from 7 March to 10 March 2018, get your tickets here.

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Boost to Liverpool's plans to be Hollywood of the North

SAE Liverpool students on creating a professional trailer for 2 person play 'Eggs'