First production talks with new Swindon film office already underway
Screen Swindon is hosted by Create Studios
Swindon's new film office is already drawing interest towards the town.
Screen Swindon is based in the Carriage Works in Railway Village and is supported by Swindon Borough Council and Creative England.
The new film office aims to get people from the TV and film, advertising and video game industries to consider Swindon as a production location.
Councillor Marina Strinkovsky, Cabinet Member for Planning and Placemaking, said: “We've already had some interest from people. I am not at liberty to say anymore at this point, no spoilers and but we had we had a launch event at Create Studios who are going to be the host of the film office in Swindon and it was very, very well attended and there was immediately a lot of hubbub and a lot of conversations and a lot of ideas in the room.”
With Swindon lying on the M4, not too far from London, it has a strategic advantage over other places in the South West that have a film office, such as Bristol, Bath, Gloucester and Cornwall.
“Very crudely put, it's less than an hour out of London with like a third of the costs”, added Cllr Strinkovsky.
“We're really in the middle of the country and we have good transport links and we're constantly working to make those even better.
“And we are very, very spoiled for accommodation, for places that a crew can roll up for a three-week shoot and just stay at prices that are very competitive compared to large urban centres, but without needing to drive their trucks up any B-roads because we're right on the motorway.
“So, it would be a very attractive place for people who have short to medium-term projects because of where it is and how easily accessible it is.”
Swindon Borough Council is also hoping that drawing film makers into the town will help bring down unemployment rates.
Tourists, jobs and Jane Austen
“There's a lot of aspects to the film industry and if we position Swindon as the kind of place that has the skills to do that, then that will generate more opportunities for young people in Swindon.
“Both Swindonian young people who we want to stay here and make creative careers here and attract people from outside of Swindon”, Cllr Strinkovsky explained.
“I think either way, it's another way of getting people proud of their town. It doesn't have to be ‘We’re an amazing tourist location’. It can also be ‘We have great jobs’.
“It doesn't always necessarily have to be something really, really big that's come out from outside and somehow put Swindon on the map. We're already on the map. We're the literal centre of the map – you couldn't be more central than us on this island.
“So. I'm leaning more towards those individual experiences that people will have of living in a place that's on the up and up and in a place that has an administration that's really proud of it and is really shouting about the value of it.”
In terms of future projects, Councillor Strinkovsky also has a few ideas.
She laughed: “Obviously, I was angling for a Jane Austen adaptation in Lydiard Park, because why on Earth has there not yet been one? It’s the perfect location!
“Do I think that you could recreate Hobbiton on the Ridgeway? Absolutely! Now, obviously that's been done, so I don't know if we're going to get the profile of New Zealand, but yes, why on Earth not?
“There are entire tours for American tourists who want to see where Game of Thrones was filmed in Ireland, so why not Swindon?”