Introduction

I normally update this page each January – this is the 2025 update with a few tweaks in February.

 

The increase in film stages continues – but the US strikes and the cutbacks in content budgets by the HETV streamers badly affected the industry in 2023 and 2024.

 

Since this website was launched in 2006 there have been many changes.  2020 and 2021 were of course years of huge disruption but despite the industry having to cope with Covid restrictions and many productions being postponed or cancelled, ways were found to work around the problem.  By the end of 2020 most TV and film studios were coping well with the restrictions and were almost as busy as ever.  The upward trend built throughout 2021 and into 2022, despite the various waves of infection.

 

However, just when the industry seemed to be back on its feet, there were two significant disputes that, although being US based, affected many studios in the UK.  The Writers’ Guild of America went on strike between May and September 2023, and the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) were on strike between July and November.

Almost every film studio in the UK was affected by this.  The larger ones such as Pinewood, Shepperton and Leavesden were described to me as ‘ghost towns.’  This sadly affected thousands of freelancers who rely upon what until then had been regular well-paid employment.  I gather that some are unlikely to return to the industry, having found new jobs. 

From 2023, increasing inflation and interest rates across Britain, Europe and the US also caused major rethinks in production budgets and schedules by all the producers of television content.  This inevitably affected the demand on studio space.

 

Unfortunately, the slump in film and TV production lasted through 2023 and into 2024.  According to Sky News and BECTU, during the strikes 74% of freelancers were out of work but early in 2024 68% were still unemployed.  Disappointingly, work remained comparatively slow in the summer of 2024.  Many freelancers were saying that their diaries were still empty for the coming months.  

In July 2024, a poll of 2,375 workers by BECTU indicated that nearly four out of 10 (38%) film and TV workers planned to leave the sector within five years, up marginally from its February 2024 survey (37% ) and a major jump from its September 2023 poll (24%).  These are very disturbing statistics.  The figures are growing despite indications that work has begun to pick up since the start of the commissioning slowdown, ad revenue downturn and US strikes the previous year.  In fact, more than half (52%) of the UK’s screen workforce remained out of work in July.

 

Unfortunately, there are a number of commentators who think that the boom days are over.  An article in economicsobservatory.com published in January 2025 was typically pessimistic.  Read it here:   Why is the UK film and television sector struggling? – Economics Observatory

 

They point out the following:

 

During the post-pandemic boom, streaming giants like Amazon and Netflix bought up long leases at UK studio spaces such as Pinewood. These block bookings ‘stoked demand for space’, raising costs and squeezing smaller film-makers (Croft, 2024).

But shortly after this spending spree, many firms, including Disney, Warner Bros and Comcast (another American media giant), began ‘slashing their content budgets’. This was partly because high levels of inflation in Europe, the UK and the United States were squeezing household budgets, with many people choosing to reduce spending on luxuries, including cancelling entertainment subscriptions – known as ‘cutting the cord’.

 

However, perhaps there are now glimmers of recovery.  In September 2024, the editor of Cinematography World wrote the following:  ‘With Amazon’s recent purchase of Bray Studios in the UK, a substantial spending pledge by Disney, plus positive word amongst industry leaders we’re close to, business is slowly picking up.  For anyone thinking the opposite, the message is… there is hope!’

In February 2025 the BFI issued a report that was relatively optimistic.  See more on this a little lower in this section.

 

 

Despite the slowdown in production, 2023 and 2024 saw studios specialising in film and high-end television (HETV) based in and to the west of London continue to expand.  Since 2016, around 197 sound stages have opened, are under construction or planned to open by 2026.  A number have also recently opened or are planned around the rest of the UK too but nothing like this amount.

Just let that extraordinary figure sink in.  If you’re wondering how it can possibly be that many, here’s how:  Pinewood 35, Shepperton 17, WB Leavesden 16, Longcross 16, Eastbrook Dagenham 12, Shinfield 18, Sky Elstree 12, Ealing 1, Elstree Studios 2, Bray 4, Arborfield 3, Bovingdon 5, Troubadour Meridian Water 6, Troubadour Brent Cross 1, Perfume Works 1, Wharf Studios 6, Garden Studios 5, West London 4, OMA:One 4, OMA:X 6, OMA:V 3, London North 5, Apple Symmetry 4, Winnersh 1, RD Studios 5, Farnborough 2, Wycombe 1, The Story Works 2.  (NB – Pinewood will now be building fewer than the originally planned 21 stages in the coming years.)

Shinfield Studios were completed in the spring of 2024.  Eastbrook Dagenham opened in January 2025.  4 new sound stages opened at West London Film Studios in the summer of 2024.  The 10 new stages at WB Leavesden began to be built in 2024.  The new stage at Ealing was also under construction in 2024 and will open in 2025.

 

Not included above but proposed or awaiting planning permission in Jan ’25 were also the following:

 

Gillette Factory 6, Sky Elstree North 10, Marlow 18, Holyport 15 and Hertswood 21. Holyport Studios was refused permission in March 2024, Elstree North was refused in May 2024 and Marlow was also refused in May 2024.  Gillette was due to submit a planning application in September 2024 but I can find no info on this.  Holyport Studios went to appeal in November 2024 and as of January ’25 a decision had not been made.  Elstree and Marlow have appealed their decisions and each is going to a public enquiry early in 2025.

So if Gillette, Elstree North, Holyport and Marlow go ahead, by 2028 London could have around 250 new sound stages, including the ones that have opened since 2016.  These of course in addition to those many that have existed for much longer at studios like Pinewood, Shepperton, Leavesden, Longcross etc.

 

There are unfortunately exceptions to this expansion – in February 2025 Pinewood announced that the plans to build 21 new stages on land south of their studios were being modified.  They will now include a data centre and the number of stages will be reduced to 5.  Winnersh Studios were taken into administration in April 2024.  Sunset Studios, due to open in Waltham Cross with 22 stages, have had their construction put on hold.  The project has officially not been abandoned but I have heard rumours that it is unlikely to proceed.  Wycombe Studios (with 1 stage) are now under new ownership and their proposed development will not be happening but some less ambitious expansion may occur.

Bray Studios are now owned by Amazon Prime and the status of their planned expansion of 5 more stages, workshops and offices is unclear but 2 temporary stages were erected in 2024.  HOP Studios in Bedfordshire had their planning application for 22 sound stages and supporting facilities passed in 2023 but in January 2025 it was announced that the project would not be going ahead.  There has been no news about Hertswood Studios in Borehamwood since 2021.  They have yet to apply for permission and that proposal also seems unlikely to happen.

 

So, in summary, there are several schemes that were proposed a few years ago that now seem unlikely to go ahead.  However, there is still enormous enthusiasm for one or two such as Elstree North and Marlow and I expect those to open within the next few years. 

My guess is that no more major proposals will be forthcoming.  The film and high-end TV industry will probably settle down to exist – indeed, hopefully thrive – with the facilities it has available.  If more facilities are needed for a particular project then rapid-build temporary stages can be erected to cope with demand, provided by companies like Acorn Structures and Serious Stages.  Sadly, Stage 50 were taken into administration in April 2024.

 

It is worth noting that although tax incentives are targeted to help the UK film industry, the revaluation of business rates that took effect in England and Wales on the 1st April 2023 became a significant new cost for studios.  2023 into 2024 also saw a large increase in interest rates and construction costs due to inflation.  These unwelcome changes probably prevented some proposed studio developments from being realised.  In his March 2024 Budget, Jeremy Hunt announced a 40% reduction on business rates for film studios, to last for 10 years.  This was confirmed by the new Labour government the following October but unfortunately, it did not come into effect until 17th February 2025.  Better late than never.  This is a welcome change but insufficient to cover the overall increase and construction costs still remain high.

 

 

It is hard to make simple comparisons between the facilities offered in Hollywood with those around London.  However, as far as I can determine, there are currently about 335 sound stages in greater Los Angeles but many of these are relatively small.  This figure also includes stages being used to make multicamera television shows.  According to Internet searches, the total square footage of all these stages is about 4.7 million.  In 2024 the main 6 Hollywood studios (Paramount, Universal, Warners, MGM, Fox, Sunset) had a total of 144 sound stages.  In January 2025 the London area had about 250 sound stages totalling about 5.2 million sq ft.  As mentioned above, many more stages totalling 3.6 million sq. ft are in development.

 

 

How is the film and HETV industry doing?

 

Despite the setbacks in 2023 and 2024, the film and high-end TV drama industry remains vital to the British economy.  Tax incentives were first introduced in 2007 and have helped to attract billions of pounds in inward investment money from the US streamers and studios, reaching record levels in 2022.  These incentives were improved further in the March 2024 Budget.

In 2023 inward investment and co-production spend on film and high-end television in the UK was £3.3bn.  That year was disappointing due to the US actors and writers strikes.  2024 remained slow to recover to the previous level of activity but 2025 is predicted to return to growth.  For that reason it is worth looking at the statistics for 2022.

A record £6.3bn was spent on film and HETV production in the UK in 2022, up 11.1% on 2021.  According to figures published in February 2023 by the BFI’s Research and Statistics Unit, film and high-end production was up £1.8bn on 2019, the last full pre-pandemic year.

Inward investment films and HETV delivered a record £5.4bn, representing 86% of the combined production spend.  In 2021 the spend was £5.1bn. 

220 films went into production in the UK in 2022, 11 more than was reported for 2021.  One hundred of these were local UK productions.

The £4.3bn UK spend on HETV production was the second-highest on record, down 3% on 2021’s £4.4bn.  (2021 saw many projects in production that had been postponed from 2020 due to the pandemic.)  This figure was up 88% on 2019’s pre-pandemic £2.3bn.

In 2022, 195 HETV productions began principal photography, of which 55% were inward investment, 41% were local UK projects and 4% were co-productions.

 

However, let us not forget that the story in 2023 and 2024 was not good.  A January 2024 report from Broadcast Intelligence’s Programming Index revealed a 26% dip in TV programming across the board between 2022 and 2023.  They logged 1,301 programme announcements across the UK and US in 2023, a huge fall from 1,748 shows in 2022.  Of the 1,301 programmes logged by the Programme Index, 777 (59%) came out of the UK, with 256 from the US and 290 from international SVoDs (this adds up to more than 1,301 because co-productions between US and UK broadcasters are counted in both categories).  All show a drop from 2022.

 

The BFI issued a report in February 2025 that was far more upbeat about 2024 than perhaps many people expected.  It showed that inward investment and co-production in the UK on film and HETV was £4.8bn in 2024, up 43% on 2023 figures and making up 86% of the total spend.

The total spend on film and high-end television production in the UK was £5.6bn in 2024, a 31% increase on 2023 and ahead of 2019 pre-covid production spend.  (2022 was the best year so far, with £6.3bn).

Film production hit £2.1bn, an increase of 56% on 2023; HETV production was nearly £3.4bn, an increase of 20% on 2023 and still third highest annual spend since tax relief was introduced in 2013.

UK domestic film production spend was £186m, a 24% increase on 2023 and 9% of the total spend on film; UK domestic HETV production spend was £598m, 17% of total HETV production, and a 22% decrease on 2023.  That is a worrying statistic and indicates the tough times the BBC, Sky, ITV and Channel 4 are experiencing.

 

So do we really need even more stages?

 

According to a report published in 2022 by Knight Frank, the UK at that point had around 6 million sq ft of production space.  60% of this was in London and the South East.  Total production spend was forecast to double over the following 5 years so they thought it was reasonable that this would mean an additional 6 million sq ft was required by 2026 if the sector was to keep pace with growing demand.

In October 2023 Knight Frank published an updated report.  By then the UK had nearly 7 million sq ft of stage space with 71% in London and the South East. 

According to the report, Netflix is the third-highest spender on content in the UK, after Sky and the BBC.   All three, along with ITV and Channel 4, have been suffering from reduced revenue.  It is anticipated that the days of rapid increase in content spend are over.  However, the streaming platforms and film companies will continue to increase spending, albeit at a lower rate than the past few years.  In fact, despite 2023 being a terrible year for the whole industry, Netflix was again the biggest commissioner of content amongst the streamers, with 93 programmes announced in 2023.  Almost the same as the 94 they ordered in 2022.  (According to Broadcast Intelligence’s Programming Index).

Although the report acknowledged that the rate of increase in film and HETV spending was not as high as it had been, it did predict that total production spend would reach £8.7 billion by 2028. The additional £2.4 billion in spending between now and then would need around 2.6 million sq ft of additional studio space.  This is what they describe as a ‘centrist’ view, so the actual figure could be somewhat higher or lower.  In other words, those film studios currently proposed and being constructed are still needed.

 

According to the 2023 Knight Frank report:

 

‘Our analysis of the current development pipeline indicates that there is 3.8 million sq ft of planned stages across the top 11 developments, though just 852,000 sq ft of this space is currently under construction.  In addition to these top 11 developments, other, smaller schemes are either planned or underway, which will bolster these numbers.  However, based on demand projections, the amount of space currently under construction is likely to be insufficient to support the anticipated growth in the coming years.’

 

Despite the evidence above, some people suggest that we are planning to build too many new sound stages and some will be forced to close.  While the long-term demand remains from US feature film companies and Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ and the rest of the streamers – as well as the BBC, ITV, Sky, Channel 4 etc – then the industry will continue to look extremely healthy.  Of course, this partly depends on whether the government continues to offer attractive tax breaks to production companies.  Other countries are expanding their facilities too so it is vital that the UK does not slip behind.  Some years ago many films were made in Eastern Europe because it became financially attractive to do so and this could easily happen again if the UK government takes its eye off the ball. 

Fortunately, the current government does seem to be aware of the importance of supporting the industry.  However, pressure must be maintained on them in future years to ensure that the UK remains competitive in a world market.

 

 

Of course, the biggest challenge facing the industry is supplying sufficient well-trained, talented crew in all departments.  In June 2022 a Screenskills report predicted that the High-End TV industry would be worth £7.7bn by 2025, requiring between 15,130 and 20,770 extra crew to meet demand.  With Brexit preventing the easy movement of experienced people from mainland Europe, really good quality training of local people is absolutely essential to maintaining the high reputation of the UK film and TV industry. 

2023 and 2024 have, however, been a disastrous period for thousands of freelancers.  The amount of work available was a fraction of what had become normal.  This surfeit of available talent will hopefully be short-lived so maintaining an effectively supply of well-trained people will once again become an issue.

Definitions:

 

There is understandable confusion about the difference between a studio and a stage.  In the movie world a ‘studio’ can mean a company that makes feature films (Universal, Disney etc) or it can mean a site with a number of large rooms in which films are made.  The site is usually referred to in the plural – thus ‘Pinewood Studios.’  However, each large room is not commonly referred to as a studio but is called a ‘stage’ and if it is soundproofed it is more accurately called a ‘sound stage’.  Confusingly, in the television world a studio is what the large room itself is called. 

A site containing several television studios is, I suppose, referred to as a ‘studio centre’.  Thus, Television Centre now has three ‘studios’ but Shepperton Studios has thirty-one ‘sound stages’.

To be really picky, one should refer to a show being made IN a television studio and ON a sound stage.

 

Even more bafflingly, ITV Productions changed its name to ‘ITV Studios’ several years ago, followed in 2016 by the BBC’s in-house programme-making department, which is now called ‘BBC Studios’.  ‘BBC Studios’ do not own any actual studios.  (I know – that’s completely bonkers but true.)   They are free to make their shows wherever they wish – which for a number of years used to include ITV’s own TV studios, which were called The London Studios.  Sadly, these no longer exist so ITV now make many of their programmes in the BBC studios at Television Centre.  I do hope you are keeping up with all this. 

The BBC’s TV studios in London are run by a company called BBC Studioworks – and they often hire their studios out to programmes that are being made not only for ITV but also for Channel 4 or Sky.  Confused?  I’ve hardly started.

 

I have defined a television studio as one with a flat lino or resin floor upon which camera dollies can move freely without using tracks.  It will also have a control gallery suite with all the necessary electronics and communications but not necessarily its own cameras.  One or two studios prefer to hire these in on a day to day basis. 

The studio will in most cases have a lighting grid with monopoles (sometimes called telescopes) or motorised bars (sometimes called hoists or ‘boats’) enabling fast pre-rigging and easy changes to the rig on the day.

 

A great deal of television drama is shot using a single digital camera and interiors are frequently shot on sound stages.  Within the remit of this website, this does not make such stages ‘television studios’ – they still remain sound stages.  I hope this makes some sort of sense as a sound stage is a far more basic and simple space than a television studio.  A sound stage is in essence a soundproofed large room with a power supply available for lighting, and a simple but very strong overhead grid – usually steel ‘runway’ beams several feet apart – although many stages converted from industrial premises don’t even have this.  The floor may be wooden or concrete but certainly not smooth enough to run a camera dolly along without tracks.

Having said the above, I have included film studios as television drama is so important to our economy as well as our culture – especially with the rise of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+ and other streamers in recent years.

 

Incidentally – I do on occasions refer to an OB ‘scanner’.  This is industry jargon for an outside broadcast control vehicle, which contains production control, sound control and vision control for several cameras.  However, it is a term that is hardly used any more – most people now refer to these vehicles as OB ‘trucks’.

 

 

Measuring studios:

 

Film stages are usually measured in feet and square feet, possibly due to the historic influence of the US film industry.  A film stage is basically an empty box, in which sets are built and  then lit.  The position of the set within the space is not absolutely critical – unless it will only just fit or has to line up with things like a tank in the floor or variations in the grid height.

TV studios work differently.  The lighting rig is put in before the set is built.  The lighting director will have designed the rig, working from scale drawings given to him or her by the set designer.  It is therefore essential that the set is built in the studio exactly where the LD expects it to be. 

To assist the scene crew, most TV studios have footage markings along each wall.  In some newer studios these are in metres or half metres but most older studios have markings in ‘metric feet.’  This curious measurement was invented by the BBC in the 1960s and is an ingenious way of enabling scenery to be built using metric measurements whilst retaining the concept of ‘feet.’  Each metric foot is 30cm long.   You may recall your old school ruler having 12 inches on one side and 30cm on the other.

An old BBC ruler indicating 300mm metric feet.

 

TV studio sizes are still almost always measured in feet and square feet.  Confusingly, the gross size of a studio is usually stated in actual square feet but length and width are usually measured in ‘metric feet.’  This is because most TV studios have a clearly marked fire lane running around the outside of the working area.  This is normally about 4 feet (1.2m) wide.  The working area is measured in metric feet – so might be 90 x 70 (a very useful size.)  In fact, a studio marked as being 90 metric feet long is actually only about 88ft 6 inches. But let’s not worry ourselves over that.