ASK & DISCUSS
INDEXWhere is the cheapest town as far as office rental (for film)?
9 years, 9 months ago - Vasco de Sousa
I'm looking in the UK, Brussels, Northern France, maybe even Spain and Portugal, anywhere with a significant English speaking (multicultural) population.
We'd like an office near locations (castle towers, rooms, perhaps studio), for January to April 2016.
I don't have a lot of money, and rather than asking people to work for free, I want to save on the location expenses (especially the office rental.)
Here are places I've considered: Yorkshire, the Midlands, Brussels, North Wales, Normandy.
Films in the future will include Shakespeare and corporate films, as well as original "art films" and historical and comedy subjects. The next film will be a Shakespeare production, hoping to find actors local to the location who look Middle Eastern, and I need people with excellent English.
We need space to do auditions and rehearsal, and a central meeting point near filming locations.
Aberystwyth, so far, is too expensive. There are also landlords who raise their price when they hear I do media, and that annoys me, so I'm not using them.
We may raise more money as time goes on, but I want this to go to improving production values and not to be spent on office space.
I've considered Ukraine and North Africa (really) but I'm not sure there are enough local actors who can speak English with understandable accents. A local native-level-English-speaking acting pool is vital.
Thanks.
please email replies to:
vasco *dot* desousa *at* ptara *dot* com
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9 years, 9 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin
If you need a pool of decent English-speaking actors, you need to be somewhere where English is the first language, and with a tradition of theatre/performance so there are acting schools and coaches. I think that's going to narrow it down somewhat.
Maybe South Africa is a bit cheaper than AUS/NZ, but there's a lot more to the UK than just Aberystwyth! How about somewhere nearby Stratford, always dripping in aspiring actors, every cafe is staffed with them. Or Birmingham, which had low rents, has lots of cultural development spaces, several universities, tons of facilities, etc? Manchester/Salford is relatively inexpensive and has the BBC, with all that attracts.
Look at communal officers if you want to save money, they're sort of startup facilities where you'll doubtless meet another huge number of creatives each with similar ideas. The one local to me is http://www.theguildhub.co.uk/en, but they're all over.
Basically, the further you move from the cities, the more you limit your talent pool, limit your resources available, increase your travel costs, have to contend with accommodating and feeding anyone who travels to you, etc. These are not insignificant amounts!
Response from 9 years, 9 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin SHOW
9 years, 9 months ago - Philip Quinton
Check out TMC Artists Studios in Clapham, London. You can join for £2 a month and have a permanent workspace in London for £100 per month, or £6 a day for part-timers. www.tmcartists.com
There is a lounge and a kitchen for hospitality (free to use), there is a large church hall space for auditions and rehearsals (though it is a communal space so you'd have to check for availability at any given time), there is a recording studio and edit station, free Wi-Fi, and the other members include (among others) actors, film makers, designers, film crew and post-production creatives. You could not only have your office there but find people to help make your films at discounted members' rates. I (for example) am a sound recordist and post-production sound designer.
It also functions as an agency and is absolutely ideal for networking.
There is a launch party on Saturday 28th November 2015. Look for TMC Artists on Facebook or go to tmcartists.com.
Response from 9 years, 9 months ago - Philip Quinton SHOW
9 years, 9 months ago - Joel Wilson
The Midlands specifically Birmingham is cheap and close to great locations and of course close to Stratford and plenty of talented Shakespearen actors.
I shot this medieval film here in the Midlands https://vimeo.com/123265995 and the furthest we had to travel location-wise was 40min.
Response from 9 years, 9 months ago - Joel Wilson SHOW