Pyramids movie studio is in its Prime
Amazon to invest £50m in shows filmed there
A West Lothian movie studio is set to benefit from a £50 million investment from Amazon to create three new TV shows.
Amazon says more than 750 jobs have been created due to three shows – The Rig, Anansi Boys, and season 2 of Good Omens – all of which went into production over the last year.
Pyramids Studios, located at Bathgate’s Pyramids Business Park, is one of two studios set to benefit from the investment from Amazon. The other studio is located in Leith. The site is based at the former Motorola production plant, and just last month finished filming the second series of Good Omens, starring Bathgate-born David Tennant.
Other projects filmed at the site in Bathgate include Trainspotting 2 from Sony Pictures, and Outlaw King from Netflix.
Both The Rig and Anansi Boys were filmed in Leith, whereas Good Omens was filmed in Bathgate.
Neil Gaiman has also reportedly been working on-site with director Douglas Mackinnon at the West Lothian studio.
Other occupiers of the site that may use the area for filming in the near future include ITV, Baillie Gifford, and Plexus.
All three shows will be premiering on the Amazon Prime streaming service.
Georgia Brown, director of European originals for Amazon Studios, told the Scottish Affairs Committee at the House of Commons: “Over the last 12 months we have contributed directly over £50m into the creative industries.
“That is across three shows that we are very proud to have shot and been currently shooting up there.
“Within that investment we are very proud we have created over 750 jobs; 60 per cent of those have been Scottish, and we have actually created 60 traineeships directly into those productions.”
The Pyramids business park in Bathgate was sold by Ashfield Land towards the end of 2021 for a total of £2m to private equity company London & Regional, with the aim being to develop the site into a platform for film and TV production.
Ashfield Land acquired the land in 2016 and has carried out a programme of active asset management and investment – resulting in a complete turnaround of the former mobile phone production plant. Pyramids Studios currently
only has one stage, albeit it is 64,000 square feet and 30 feet tall, but the developer has plans to significantly
expand and develop its production facilities.