Dagenham Film Studios 2020 (Everything we know!)

In a monumental (and incredibly exciting) leap forward for the British Film Industry, Barking and Dagenham were given the green light to build ‘Dagenham Film Studios’, the biggest film studio in London – And a new hub for film and video production in London.

To give you a taste of what you can expect, we’ve scoured the web for all of the information we can find!

Here’s everything we know (so far) in numbers!

The new studio will be built on the site of the former Sanofi pharmaceutical factory at the London East Business and Technical Park, on Yewtree Avenue.

The area is famously home to Ford Motor Company, which was the subject of the 2010 Bafta nominated feature film ‘Made in Dagenham’.

Here’s an aerial photo that shows the location:

BIG! Dagenham Film Studios will be the biggest film studio in London.

The new studio complex will occupy a whopping 22 acres of land. The six sound stages will cover 140,000 sq ft – That’s an area the size of 20 football pitches!

The news comes after OMA studios announced the opening of their 139,000 sq ft studio in Enfield, which is reported to have 4 sound stages.

The initial designs, created by London-based architects PRP show what the studios will look like. To say we’re excited would be an understatement!

The architectural mockups show a beautifully lit gold entrance with a stunning ‘Dagenham Studios’ welcome sign that runs the length of the building (which we really hope makes it in to the final budget!). We can’t wait to see what the interior will look like, but if the exterior renders are anything to go by, then we’re all going to be in for a real treat!

Put simply… National and international Film production companies will be spoilt for choice…!

• There will be 6 sound stages, 2 workshops as well as hair & makeup rooms, production offices and dressing rooms.

• Video editors in London will be pleased to hear that there will be a purpose built office for post production.

• The facilities have been designed with sustainability in mind, with designs including ‘green roofs’… Not just green screens!

We suspect there’ll probably be plenty of room for winnebagos, too! Where are my two dozen white roses?!

Perhaps most importantly is the promise of circa 1,200 jobs, which will undoubtably provide a boost to both the local area, the economy and to freelance videographers.

There is no shortage of film and video production companies in the UK. In fact in 2018 alone, there were 14,800 companies operating in the UK according to Statista.

We expect that number to rise, however the effects of Covid 19 will undoubtably have had an affect on the industry as a whole.

Barking and Dagenham are no strangers to the film industry. In 2019, two of the UKs largest box office hits were filmed in the borough – Black Widow by Marvel and Morbius by Sony Pictures.

Marvel’s Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Doctor Strange and Netflix’s Black Mirror were also filmed in Dagenham.

Filming in Dagenham is made possible by Film LBBD led by Lisa Dee.

In 2019, the British Film Industry grew an impressive 17%, with box office revenues totalling £1.25 billion.

Overall, film production in the UK brought in a mammoth £1.95 billion. With the likes of Netflix and YouTube creating more and more content, the industry shows no signs of slowing down.

Add to that a shortage of film studio space overall in the capital and it’s easy to see why Dagenham Film Studios will be a popular choice for national and international video production.

That’s a wrap! Tell us what you think in the comments box below!

 

For news and commentary: Contact Tom Bendix, Managing Director, Social Films via hello@socialfilms.co.uk.