'New York in Ghostbusters was really Winnersh'

Parkside Winnersh Film Studios has hosted Hollywood blockbuster productions

The new owners of a large film studio have said they're "confident" that the studios will continue to be used to film large Hollywood blockbusters.

Winnersh Film Studios, near Reading, has previously been used to film movies including Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire and George Clooney's The Boys in the Boat.

The site's future looked in doubt earlier this year, until SCIO Capital secured a 30-year lease to take it over and added Parkside to the start of its name.

To mark the resurrection, the BBC was given a tour of the studios which has played host to stars including Paul Rudd, Bill Murray and Daisy Ridley.

Terry Winter, from the studios, explained: "What we have here is two 20,000 sq ft sound stages, where productions will come in and build their sets."

The site also has a large workshop, where set designs are turned into reality, before being installed in the stages.

The site is home to two large sound stages

"A lot of imagination is required," the studios operations director, Laurence McCormack, said.

"The production will come in with their plans, with their blueprints, they'll measure out and work out where the set can be."

For Ghostbusters, a three-storey recreation of the iconic New York firehouse base was constructed on one of the stages.

"Although it was clad outside to look like the firehouse, the floors within were what was filmed, which you see in the actual movie," Mr McCormack said.

"For the scenes looking out of the windows, they had a big drape that ran around two thirds of the stage which had a New York sky line on it."

Another recent production saw the crew of The Cleaner, starring Daisy Ridley, recreate London's Canary Wharf.

Mr McCormack said: "Its just incredible- you look at the space now and think 'wow, how do they do that in here'

"But when they're actually building it and they're filming on it, it's madness in here - there's not an inch to spare."

"It's one of those things, when you're sitting at home watching a movie or a show, I'm automatically thinking 'well that scene I know was built at one of the stages at Winnersh'," Mr Winter said.

"The New York Library steps in Ghostbusters weren't in New York, they were in a carpark in Winnersh Triangle!"

The site was used to film some scenes from Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Mr Winter said once filming had started, it could often be "chaos" on sound stages, with as many as 300 people in the one stage.

"I accidently bumped into Paul Rudd in his ghostbuster's outfit with a proton pack on the back at one point," he added.

On what was coming next for the studios, Mr McCormack said: "We're loving it and are very confident that we will have more films like Ghostbusters."

"They're able to come in, we've got the space, we've got the capacity, we can make it work for them," he added.