Building back the North East film and TV industry

Bamburgh Castle features in the opening sequence of the latest Indiana Jones film

From Ken Loach to Indiana Jones, documentary to daytime, the north-east of England's film and television industry is undergoing a renaissance.

The area has provided the backdrop for several TV shows and Hollywood films in recent years, as new studios have sprung up with more in the planning.

Behind the glitz, the plan is to nurture new generations of homegrown talent and attract big budget productions so local crews are not forced to leave the area to find work.

A leading player in this project is Goldfinch, a Bafta and Oscar-winning independent film company founded by Geordie producer Kirsty Bell a decade ago.

"Our ambition was 100% to come back here eventually to help build and sustain a fully-fledged independent film industry up here," she said.

"I don't want to have to go back down to London to do that. I want to stay here.

"What we are trying to create is a legacy of film-making in the North East to go alongside everything that has been done from Get Carter and thereafter."

Producer Kirsty Bell wants film-making talent to stay in the North East

Goldfinch has made four movies in the region in 12 months, the most recent being A Mother For an Hour starring Frances Barber and Laura Whitmore.

It was filmed in Newcastle, Hartlepool and the surrounding areas in November and was the first time London-based producer Ben Charles Edwards had filmed in the region.

"To me as a film-maker it feels slightly more untouched up here," he said.

"We have shows like Vera and so on, but from my experience as a film-maker, the last 10 years I have never shot up here. It's an exciting prospect. It is something new."

London-based producer Ben Charles Edwards says he has built strong relationships with local crews

The producer adds: "Film-making is a very hard venture at the best of times, especially when you are thinking 'wow, I am going to go to an entirely new part of the country and set up there'.

"But I think the surprise for us was how easy that was. The relationships we have made with local crew up here are far better than I thought they could be.

"We have now worked with the same crew on the last four films so those relationships have strengthened, so to be honest I am not really sure why we didn't think of doing this sooner, but I am glad we did."

Director Ken Loach has become a fixture in the region

It is a sentiment already echoed by the director Ken Loach, who made his last three films in the North East.

He chose Tyneside for I, Daniel Blake and Sorry We Missed You, and then County Durham for his swansong The Old Oak, which was released in September 2023.

While the locations, workforce and welcome in this part of the world are second to none, everyone agrees what the industry really needs is the right infrastructure.

Currently the only large-scale production facility is the region is The Northern Studios in Hartlepool, which officially opened in March 2023.

Ms Bell has told the BBC that Goldfinch is close to signing a deal for its own, purpose-built studio in Northumberland.

"We have several investors that are very interested in the site and being our partners in it, that we are hoping to close with in the very near future," she said.

"We are very excited about it. It has been a long time coming this project. And it would just be amazing."

I, Daniel Blake film was filmed in the North East in 2016

Meanwhile, Fulwell 73 and Cain International submitted their planning application for a studio complex on the banks of the Wear in Sunderland just ahead of the autumn budget.

But they need the government to back them or it might not happen, according to Leo Pearlman from production company Fulwell 73 which has offices in Los Angeles, London and Sunderland.

"While we are putting in the £450m into the infrastructure and building of this project, we need government support while we build up the skills and the crew base in the region," he said.

"We need that support to make that project work."

Gayle Woodruffe said there has never been a better time to work in television

The BBC, which has joined forces with a local authority alliance, has said it is committed to spending £25m on commissioned content in the region over five years.

And Gayle Woodruffe, operations director of North East Screen, the region's screen development agency, says the film and TV industry in the North East is now a very different landscape.

"There has never been a better time to work in television than right now," she said.

"For anyone out there who is thinking about a career in film and television and perhaps had thought 'no, not for me, not in the North East', all of that is changing."