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Avatar and Terminator director James Cameron has backed plans for a new studio scheme west of London ahead of a crucial vote on planning permission for the site expected this month.
In a letter to Buckinghamshire Council sent this month and seen by the Financial Times, Cameron said he saw Marlow Film Studios as a potential UK and European base and training centre for Lightstorm3D, a company he has set up to develop tools and technology for films and entertainment.
In the letter, the 3D advocate predicted that UK film-making capacity would be in “ever-greater demand” as studios embraced such advanced technology, and that the Marlow project was “tailored to the needs of filmed media in the 21st century and beyond”.
“The 22.5 per cent of total global box office the UK delivered in 2023 will grow as a result,” Cameron wrote. “But embracing that opportunity necessitates support and boldness in thinking. The next iteration of screen storytelling requires a purpose-built working space of exceptional quality, and trained professionals.”
The UK is the one of largest sites for film production outside the US, attracting Hollywood studios with skilled workers, significant tax breaks and access to existing large studios around London. Many blockbuster movies — from Star Wars and Indiana Jones to Barbie and Jurassic Park — have been filmed at least in part in the UK.
The Marlow Film Studios development, which has also been backed by other entertainment executives including British director Sam Mendes, still needs to win local planning permission.
The site, next to the A404, is a former quarry but designated as greenbelt land. Buckinghamshire Council will decide on the plans in coming weeks. Councillors were evenly split over the plans when they last voted last year, instead commissioning further analysis of the site.
It has been opposed by environmentalists and greenbelt campaigners, while the studio’s developers argue that it would deliver 4,000 jobs for the area and provide a valuable economic boost.
Many executives say that more studio space will be needed as the UK wins a significant share of new productions in a growing market, given the increasing popularity of streaming services around the world. Other new studios are being planned in Sunderland and on sites near London.
Robert Laycock, chief executive of the development company behind the Buckinghamshire project, said the area under development had been mostly gravel extraction, backfilled with domestic waste. “Greenbelt policy doesn’t discriminate between pristine pastoral land and reclaimed land.”
Laycock — a film maker who is related to the late James Bond author Ian Fleming and helps manage his estate — said that as the film industry recovers after the Hollywood strikes last year, studios would be seeking more production space. He said purpose-built studio space was “still highly constrained” and had not caught up with a fivefold rise in demand over the past decade.
Ministers are keen to encourage the sector, which is a major source of employment for the UK. In the spring Budget, the government announced a tax relief scheme to help film studios meet rising business rates, which increased significantly last year.
Ministers in June last year announced plans for four new research and development facilities to drive the next generation of screen technology and on-set virtual production, with £63mn of industry investment and £75mn from the government.
Culture secretary Lucy Frazer said: “It’s brilliant to see James Cameron — as well as many other leading Hollywood directors — recognise the UK’s technical expertise in film and TV production, which brings in billions for our economy and creates thousands of skilled, well-paid jobs.”
