The Bottle Yard - open for business

by SWS on 09-Nov-10 11:54

BRISTOL - 9 November 2010: The South West’s largest dedicated film and television production facility, The Bottle Yard, is now fully open for business in South Bristol. The first feature to film at the former bottling factory is shooting now, marking its true transformation into a full time facility for film and television production.

The Bottle Yard is a 300,000 square foot dedicated production facility just 15 minutes from Bristol City Centre in Hengrove. The site, which operated for more than 50 years as a former winery and bottling plant, will now aim to provide a new home for UK film and television production in the South West as well as attracting major overseas productions of all sizes.

The Bottle Yard is a partnership initiative supported by South West Regional Development Agency, and Bristol City Council, managed and promoted by South West Screen. The committed partnership approach behind the initiative has brought the empty warehouse back to life, enabling it to offer a variety of adaptable internal build spaces, workshop areas, production offices, private roadways, storage and locations.

Alastair Siddons’s The Dark Half, the first of three films to be made under South West Screen’s iFeatures digital filmmaking scheme, is the first film to shoot at the new facility, marking the completion of the first feature to be made at the site. The space has also so far accommodated the BBC school drama Excluded, as well as the BBC’s Five Daughters, which last month won Best UK Feature at the annual Raindance Festival in London, and went on to pick up the Prix Europa in Berlin.

As well as further enhancing the city’s growing reputation as a leading media hub outside of London, there is also potential to work with local partners to offer placements, training, and industry links to education, including film related apprenticeships in specialist grades of skilled new labour.

Kip Meek, Chairman of South West Screen, says: “The Bottle Yard is a real asset to the South West’s offering for film and television. It is providing space at a time when there is real demand from both domestic and international productions, it will create jobs for our local workforce and generate valuable economic benefit for our industry. This is particularly good news following Casualty and Being Human’s decisions to move out of Bristol. We are in dialogue with a number of high profile productions, both from home and overseas, that are interested in shooting at The Bottle Yard, and we look forward to linking them up to the vast array of expert technical skills that the South West has to offer.”

Ian Thompson, Area Director for the South West RDA, says: “The Bottle Yard illustrates the difference that we continue to make to benefit places and communities, investing along with business and local partners to stimulate economic recovery in the UK.  Working with Bristol City Council and South West Screen we’ve found an innovative use for a publically-owned asset to attract private sector investment to an area that was deeply affected by the recession.  The RDA has been very pleased to have been able to support the Council and South West Screen to set up The Bottle Yard and bring this opportunity about.”

Leader of Bristol City Council, Barbara Janke, said “The Bottle Yard is important for the city in many ways. It will bring enterprise and employment opportunities to this corner of south Bristol and enhances our reputation for supporting a strong and vibrant creative industry. Bristol has an expansive skills base in TV and film, so the Council is keen to work with our partners to ensure activity here is supported. We need to keep reviving our industrial spaces to ensure we stay competitive and I look forward to hearing about the new productions attracted to Bristol over the coming years.”

The UK Film Council’s British Film Commissioner Colin Brown, said: “The UK Film Council’s British Film Commissioner Colin Brown, said: “Given its strong track-record of drama production and reputation in digital innovation in visual media, Bristol is well-positioned to become a vibrant and thriving regional filmmaking centre. Inward investment in the UK is running high with a production spend of £780 million in the first nine months of this year. In such a climate, space on the sheer scale of The Bottle Yard with its proximity to London and good accessibility, is incredibly valuable and in real demand. This new facility represents a significant addition to what the UK can offer international producers.”

Last year South West Screen registered more than 1.600 filming days in the South West and approximately £62 million inward investment brought into the area by film and television production. Bristol is home to major TV productions including C4’s Skins, BBC’s Casualty and Mistresses. Feature films that have shot in the South West recently include Steven Spielberg’s upcoming War Horse, Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go, Stephen Frears’s Tamara Drewe and Richard Curtis’s The Boat That Rocked.

To find out more, visit www.thebottleyard.com.

Tagged:SWS Press Release, Bottle Yard, iFeatures