A project awarded £20,000 last year through Invest in Shropshire’s Additional Restrictions Grant (ARG) funding could generate considerable income for the county.

What was the project?

Film Shropshire was formed by Mark Hooper and Sarah Creighton in 2022. With a background in tourism, they were aware of a well-known statistic that 1 in 5 people travel to destinations that have featured on television programmes. But Shropshire seemed to miss out because it did not have an obvious point of contact for requests like this.

As a result, Film Shropshire was launched following a successful application for grant funding last June. The organisation is now celebrating a very successful first year and is now a recognised ‘one-stop-shop’ for any production company wanting to film in the county.

What did the funding provide?

The grant provided a website which can showcase locations in Shropshire but also allows individuals to register their property as a potential location.

It also encourages professional crew, actors and other suppliers who live in Shropshire to register the services they offer. Consequently, location managers and production companies have a ready-made resource they can access.

The team at Film Shropshire work closely with location managers to further simplify the process for filming in Shropshire by dealing with Shropshire Council in relation to permits and road closures.

Mark comments:

“Everything we do is designed to promote the county as being an easy choice when it comes to picking a location. We are very clear about what we can and cannot offer.  We can’t offer inner city, urban locations but most other types of locations we have in abundance here.

We also discovered that we have a surprising amount of skilled and talented crew who work in the industry living in Shropshire. Previously they had to travel elsewhere in the UK to find work but are delighted that they can now be involved with exciting projects in their home county or even their home town.”

How successful is the project?

In the first year alone Film Shropshire has attracted productions like ‘The Apprentice’, ‘Hunted’, and ‘Man Like Mobeen’, a smaller BBC3 production directed by a Newport-based director. Most recently, and perhaps most notably, scenes for a BBC adaptation of ‘Great Expectations’, directed by leading Director Stephen Knight and featuring leading British actors, was filmed in Shrewsbury.

Future productions coming to the county include the very popular television series ‘The Repair Shop’.

How has the project benefitted the county?

As well as showcasing the county and what it has to offer, production companies basing themselves for short periods in the area can also mean a tremendous boost for the local economy.

Mark comments:

“We estimated that something like Great Expectations -which filmed in Shrewsbury for just three days – generated in the region of £50,000 locally due to the purchase of food, drink and overnight stays in the locale for crew and actors.

The Apprentice generated as much as £10,000 for one day’s filming and even smaller productions can generate £1k – £2k worth of income.  Add to that the exposure for the County and the press interest which has led to tourism pieces in The Times and The Guardian, and that initial grant payment has certainly proved to be a wise investment.”

What does the future hold?

Mark Hooper is very optimistic about the future of Film Shropshire. He says,

“With the number of cable, satellite and TV channels out there, there is a huge beast that needs to be fed with quality content. It means media production is one of the fastest growing industries in the UK.

The UK government is very supportive of this industry and, with the 25% tax break it offers in this country, there were more filming days registered in the UK last year than in America.

With the number of people registering themselves on our website and the level of creative talent in the county, it means we have everything we need right here in Shropshire to allow us take advantage of these opportunities.”

And Film Shropshire want to make sure that the talent-base continues to grow into the future.

Mark comments, “We want to offer work experience to young people so they can experience first -hand what it is like to work at the highest level in the industry. In the past they might have thought that they needed to be based somewhere like London or Manchester to pursue a career like this but now they can do it right here in Shropshire .”

https://www.filmshropshire.co.uk/

About the Funding

The Additional Restrictions Grant Scheme (ARG) was created on June 4^th 2022 and launched on June 10th and saw more than £1.15m distributed to businesses across the county.

Funding of between £10,000 and £25,000 was made available to companies proposing projects that could offer a wider economic benefit to the county by directly supporting other businesses in their post Covid recovery.