New film studio would 'keep talent local'

Leo Pearlman runs Sunderland-based production company Fulwell 73

A film producer behind plans to build a £450m film and TV studio complex in Sunderland says people should not have to leave the region to work in the media.

Leo Pearlman, managing partner at Fulwell 73, felt disheartened by a talk with media students who felt they needed to leave north-east England to find work.

He said up and coming talent "love their region and want to stay" but have limited "opportunities".

Plans for Crown Works Studios on former shipyards in the city are undergoing public consultation.

About 8,500 jobs could be created at the site on Wearside

Documents submitted to Sunderland City Council show land on both sides of the Northern Spire Bridge would be turned into sound stages and offices.

If approved by the authority in March, work on what would be one of the largest TV and film production facilities in Europe could begin later this year.

Dubbed the "Hollywood of the North", it aims to create about 8,500 jobs, but is appealing for financial backing from central government.

'Amazing content'

Mr Pearlman, whose production company was behind the documentary Sunderland 'Til I Die, said nurturing and retaining the region's talent was "absolutely critical" to fill those roles.

"I grew up and there was Auf Wiedersehen Pet, The Likely Lads and Byker Grove," he told BBC Look North.

"Amazing content came from our region that the whole country got to see, but in the last 20 years that has completely disappeared.

"Our dream and ambition is that in ten years' time, when you ask [students] leaving university how many of them intend to stay in the region and work, 100% will say we will, and we can because there was this facility."

How the new TV and film studio could look if built

Helen O'Hara, editor of film magazine Empire, said a facility of such scale risks becoming a "white elephant" if not used to its full potential.

She said: "It really is about having people going out there recruiting filmmakers, persuading streamers that this is the place to be.

"That seems to be possible, something that Northern Ireland and Scotland are doing successfully, so I don't see why the North East can't do that as well."

The region has featured as a backdrop in blockbuster films such as Indiana Jones, The Avengers and Mission Impossible - but few have been edited and finished in the North East.

"You want something that’s sustainable, you don’t just want a production that comes in and leaves nothing behind it," Ms O'Hara said.

Sunderland Council leader Graeme Miller says the development "will happen"

Sunderland Council's Labour leader Graeme Miller said the city was already working with the education sector to promote new talent.

He said: "When they shoot Vera, pretty much all the talent in the North East is taken up by shooting, and maybe a couple of other local programmes.

"We need to build a talent pool and that's why universities and colleges are so important to be working with us, so that we can create all the people that we need for these jobs."

FulwellCain, a joint venture between Fulwell73 and Cain International, says it has secured the private investment to pay for the studio's creation.

But it wants the government to provide up to £20m each year, for ten years to incentivise filmmakers to travel from other parts of the UK and use the site.

The firm had hoped to receive a promise of public funding in the Autumn Budget and has warned that the Spring Budget is the "cut off".

Mr Pearlman said: "It really is a project that makes sense on so many levels so, yes, if there's a message to government, it’s do the right thing, step up now, we've done our part."

Councillor Miller said: "If this current government will not unlock it, we currently do not have the finances ourselves to fulfil that but we'll wait for the next government.

"I've got absolutely no doubt at all that we will end up with the money that we need."

The government did not comment on whether it was going to help fund the project directly, but said £135.2m in Levelling Up funding had been allocated in the Sunderland local authority area to date, and said the city was "set to benefit" from further investment from a devolution deal for the North East.