High-end TV and film production spend in the English regions hit £1.8bn between 2017 and 2019, according to Creative England.
The report – titled Powering Economic Growth & Opportunity Across the Regions – examines how demand for content is affecting the English regions outside of London.
The report says that high-end TV production has grown particularly fast in the English regions.
In 2017 high-end TV production spend came to £158m across the English regions and surpassed £530m in 2019 – over a quarter of the UK total.
The North West was a particular magnet for high-end TV production, attracting £407.7m of spend between 2017 and 2019, followed by the South West (£185.4m) and Yorkshire & The Humber (£154.5m).
However, the figures demonstrate that London and the surrounding area continues to capture the lion’s share of spend. Metro London attracted £3.14bn of high-end TV production spend in the period. Creative England defines Metro London as including Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Surrey, counties that are home to many of the UK’s major studios.
For film, the South East (excluding Buckinghamshire & Surrey) attracted the most production spend between 2017 and 2019 at £469.2m. Yorkshire & The Humber followed with £114.2m of production spend, ahead of the South West (£111.8m) and East of England (£65.7m).
By comparison, Metro London drew £5.12bn of film production spend in the same period.
The report also details the employment generated by production. HETV supported 5,565 full time equivalent jobs (FTEs) in the North West and 2,422 in the South West. Film supported 3,952 FTEs in the South East – excluding Buckinghamshire and Surrey – and 2,528 in the North West.
Creative England said that television production’s estimated spend of £22,000 per day and a major feature film spend of around £42,000 helps to support local businesses such as caterers, security, taxi firms, hotels, restaurants and coffee shops.
During 2021, Creative England’s Filming in England team and Film Office partners supported over 200 feature films and high-end TV productions to film on location, such as Mission: Impossible 7, Indiana Jones 5, Without Sin and season 5 of The Crown.
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