Europe urged to boost long-term filming appeal
Europe’s creative sectors have been urged to step up their appeal to international productions, in order to avoid losing business to other parts of the world.
By Nick Goundry 3 Dec 2018
Europe’s creative sectors have been urged to step up their appeal to international productions, in order to avoid losing business to other parts of the world.
London-based creative industries consultancy Olsberg SPI addressed delegates at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival to urge European countries to continue developing production infrastructure and to reiterate the importance of filming incentive support, according to a Screen report.
Olsberg asserted that European countries can do more to secure a larger market share of the current production boom being fuelled in part by Amazon, Netflix, Facebook and Apple.
“We are facing the expectation here in Europe and the rest of the world that whatever we think the production market size is now, it is going to be very much bigger in the future,” said Jonathan Olsberg, chairman of Oslberg SPI, at the festival event. “That has implications regarding capacity.”
Related to Olsberg’s comments is the ongoing issue of studio availability in Europe’s production hubs, which is usually a major deciding factor for big-budget films and TV shows when they choose where in the world to use as a base.
Netflix recently announced a production hub for Madrid and is thought to be planning to eventually co-ordinate its European operations from London, where production space is at a premium. Like many other cities around the world, studios in and around London are engaged in long-term expansion plans, while unoccupied warehouse spaces are frequently made available as short-term production facilities.
Olsberg also pointed out there are around 100 incentive programmes available around the world, including around 60 across Europe and the US.
“This is a really fast moving landscape,” Olsberg added. “We’ve noticed that, within this year really there has been an acceleration in use of incentives and there is an acceleration in modification and re-tooling of incentives.”
Efforts are also underway in parts of northern Europe and Scandinavia to pursue greater collaboration between neighbouring countries. Olsberg revealed that Estonia, Finland and Latvia are considering a joint filming incentive programme through their existing ‘North Star Alliance.’ Indeed, plans remain underway to open a film studio complex in Estonia – known as Tallinn Film Wonderland – by mid-2020.
Image: FreeImages.com/Andrew Rigby/Elvis Santana
Olsberg asserted that European countries can do more to secure a larger market share of the current production boom being fuelled in part by Amazon, Netflix, Facebook and Apple.
“We are facing the expectation here in Europe and the rest of the world that whatever we think the production market size is now, it is going to be very much bigger in the future,” said Jonathan Olsberg, chairman of Oslberg SPI, at the festival event. “That has implications regarding capacity.”
Related to Olsberg’s comments is the ongoing issue of studio availability in Europe’s production hubs, which is usually a major deciding factor for big-budget films and TV shows when they choose where in the world to use as a base.
Netflix recently announced a production hub for Madrid and is thought to be planning to eventually co-ordinate its European operations from London, where production space is at a premium. Like many other cities around the world, studios in and around London are engaged in long-term expansion plans, while unoccupied warehouse spaces are frequently made available as short-term production facilities.
Olsberg also pointed out there are around 100 incentive programmes available around the world, including around 60 across Europe and the US.
“This is a really fast moving landscape,” Olsberg added. “We’ve noticed that, within this year really there has been an acceleration in use of incentives and there is an acceleration in modification and re-tooling of incentives.”
Efforts are also underway in parts of northern Europe and Scandinavia to pursue greater collaboration between neighbouring countries. Olsberg revealed that Estonia, Finland and Latvia are considering a joint filming incentive programme through their existing ‘North Star Alliance.’ Indeed, plans remain underway to open a film studio complex in Estonia – known as Tallinn Film Wonderland – by mid-2020.
Image: FreeImages.com/Andrew Rigby/Elvis Santana
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