Pinewood Studios is leaving its Cardiff site
THE Pinewood Group is leaving Wales. The studios will leave the Cardiff site after serving notice to the Welsh Government.
The agreement, which covered the sales and marketing of the studio, as well as the studio operation and management services, will come to an end on March 31, 2020.
The studio will remain branded and operated as a Pinewood facility until then and it will have no impact on productions shooting at the studio.
The second series of Sky One’s A Discovery of Witches and the HBObacked Industry are currently using the site. Both are productions from the company Bad Wolf.
A spokeswoman for Bad Wolf said the series will wrap at the end of 2019.
“Our current production slate will not be affected by any changes to the management arrangements at the Welsh Government’s Wentloog studios,” she said.
“Bad Wolf’s base and main focus remains Wolf Studios Wales.”
Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism, Lord Elis-Thomas, said: “We have worked closely with Pinewood throughout their time in Wales and utilised the company’s industry knowledge to get the best economic outcomes for Wales and make it a thriving and established location for film-makers.
“Pinewood leaves Wales to concentrate on its own growth plans at Shepperton at a time when all three studios in south-east Wales, including Wentloog, are operating at full capacity, with productions such as His Dark Materials and Brave New World.
“We are proud of our association with Pinewood and over the last five years our vibrant creative industry has seen film and TV productions funded by Welsh Government – including those made by Pinewood and Bad Wolf – spending in excess of £100m in Wales, creating over 2,000 full-time equivalent job years here and benefiting local supply chains and hundreds of businesses.”
A report was released in February this year outlining the “catalogue of errors“surrounding the deal between the Welsh Government and Pinewood. It lacked detail, ignored potential conflicts of interest, and saw the government spend £6m on a building which had a leaking roof without even carrying out a structural survey, according to the report.
When Welsh Government officials spoke to Pinewood about setting up the studio, they also created a £30m investment budget, to be made available over a period of five years for investment in film and TV development, production and distribution.
The fund was to be operated by Pinewood Film Advisors (Wales) Ltd on behalf of the Welsh Government.
The original business plan said the fund would generate £90m in Wales, but the Welsh Government admitted that it knew early on those estimates were “going to be difficult to achieve”.
In terms of the original target of £90m, the Welsh Government has received just £18m.
Welsh Government director general for economy, skills and natural resources Andrew Slade had previously told the culture, Welsh language and communications committee that £15m of the funding associated with the media investment budget had been invested.
The Welsh Government has a quantified Welsh spend of just over £18m, but that does not take into account money which will be recuperated from a number of productions, some of which have barely started production.
But Mr Slade admitted the final figure “won’t look like £90m.”
In March it was announced that the studios were to be used by the
Cardiff-based production company Bad Wolf.
The Welsh Government entered into a Stage Agreement with Wolf Studios Wales – the studio facility operated by the production company – to rent the entire vacant space at Pinewood for the next 12 months, with the option to enter into a further two-year agreement.
Bad Wolf has been using the site to shoot the second season of the Sky series A Discovery of Witches as well as its new series Industry, being made for HBO and set in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, at the studios.
The deal with Wolf Studios Wales included improvements to the studio infrastructure.
Paul Golding, chairman of Pinewood Group Limited, said: “The last decade has seen the value of film and television production in Wales more than double.
“Wales now has a robust and mature market, with the three main studios in Cardiff currently running at capacity.
“Our decision will enable us to concentrate on our growth plans, including our extensive expansion at Pinewood and Shepperton Studios.”
Pinewood said over the summer that it would pull out of studios in Malaysia and Atlanta and the group’s future plans include the expansion of its Shepperton Studios, to become the second-largest studio in the world, as well as the completion of new stages at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire.
The group is also exploring expansion in other international markets.