LITERATURE & HUMANITIES

Meetings chaired by Peter Rex Valentine unless otherwise stated

Bath as a Film Location

Maggie Ainley

Bath Film Commissioner

20 January 2004

Early history of filming in Bath since 1931

100 major TV and film productions since 1931 include: Ghost Train (1931) Arnold Ridley’s classic filmed at Camerton & Dunkerton colliery. The Titfield Thunderbolt (1952), Ealing Comedy, filmed old branch lines around Freshford, Midford, Monkton Combe. Vanity Fair (1967) BBC TV version starring Susan Hampshire, used Royal Crescent. The Music Lovers (1969) Ken Russell’s film about Tchaikovsky, reputed to have used the Pump Room. Northanger Abbey (1987) First filming of a Jane Austen novel in Bath. A BBCTV version used the Assembly Rooms & No 1 Royal Crescent. The director, Giles Foster, returned to Bath to film Carlton TV’s Bertie & Elizabeth in 2001. House of Eliot (1991-94) was able to use Milsom Street and Jolly’s in the days when shops were shut on Sundays.

1993 saw the launch of the Bath Film Office

With increasing amounts of filming, in 1993 Bath City Council saw the value of having a dedicated office to manage and assist productions and promote the city’s locations. They also recognised the inherent economic and promotional benefits of filming.

What’s a Film Office? In order to attract filming to their areas, cities and states set up film office, or film commission as they were called, to promote their locations and assist the productions, and thus benefit from filming. The most well known is perhaps the New York Film Office, which is part of the Mayor’s Office. As well as marketing the locations, they offered free local information, put forward local businesses, and could liase with all necessary local authority department and the local community. They also monitored the economic impact of filming – and it’s accepted that feature film productions spend about one third of their budget whilst on location, so that’s a lot of benefit for the local economy.

Film Commissions in the UK The first UK film office opened in Liverpool in 1989. The British Film Commission was set up by the government in the early 90’s, in recognition of the strength and value of the British film industry, and the desire to promote the UK to international productions. Under the British FC, a network of regional film commissions began to take shape. The Bath Film Office was an early member of this, followed by the regional SW Film Commission, which was set up in 1995. SW FC has now been subsumed into SW Screen, the regional media agency, with whom we work closely.

The Bath Film Office became a member of the global Association of Film Commissions International, the title only bestowed if the film commissioner has attended the accreditation course. Throughout the world, there are hundreds of film commissions, with more and more countries setting up new ones. There are already 170 in Europe. We all provide the same core service: to promote and assist filming through a free information and liaison service. And all in recognition of the economic and promotional benefits filming brings. There are regional & national screen agencies through the UK, and many London Boroughs have local authority film offices, like Ealing and Greenwich, but there are only 5 city film commissions in the UK: Bath, Bristol which launched last year, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Edinburgh.

Filming 1993-2003 There’s certainly been an increase in filming since the Film Office was set up. In the last ten years, there have been 53 major productions. In addition, there has been a constant flow of documentaries, travel programmes from all over the world, commercials, stills shoots and short films. These are the average annual figures since I started in late 1999: 250 production enquiries; 100 actual productions; 150-200 filming days (sometimes more than one crew a day – 5 is highest)

Annual inward investment figure - £1 million directly into local economy. 95% of productions are smaller scale documentaries like the BBC programme being filmed at the moment: Britain’s Best Buildings is great promotion for the city even though small.

Major dramas from the last 10 years include Persuasion (1994) BBC production used a lot of the locations written into Jane Austen’s novel, including the parade filmed in Bath Street. It is still shown on TV, and we still get enquiries for information about them. Darwin (2000) a drama documentary series about Darwin and his work for the American Broadcaster WGBH, Boston. A variety of locations were used including a night scene in Bath Street. Bertie & Elizabeth (2001), Carlton TV’s 2-hour Jubilee drama about the marriage of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth was all shot in the Bath area. BBC Celebrity Superstars (2002), a special celebrity version of Superstars for Sport Relief, led by Steve Redgrave. They used a number of key locations in Bath & at the University of Bath Sports Village. Vanity Fair (2003), a Hollywood feature film of Thackeray’s novel, to be released this autumn, has sequences filmed in Beauford Square, Great Pulteney Street, and Sydney Place. Bath doubling for London. Three Tenors Concert (2003) A video of the concert which also included a documentary about the city and its history, is to be sold throughout the world, and was recently shown on BBC.

Locations

Without doubt, Bath’s 18^th century architecture is the main attraction. We can offer filmmakers truly authentic locations as with Vanity Fair. What attracted the director Mira Nair to Great Pulteney Street was the architecture and scale of the locations. It meant that she could film in 360 degrees and still keep the authenticity. The juxtaposition of the Holburne Museum, Great Pulteney Street and Sydney Place exactly matched the storyline of Becky Sharp’s arrival in London and her subsequent relationship with Lord Steyne. Filming in Bath gave her an enormous canvas to work on and I’m told the shots look absolutely wonderful.

Roman Baths: Very popular even though there are special conditions for filming, and it can only take place outside the public opening hours. Filming is mainly for documentaries but there have been a few major productions:

Pump Room: Popular with Georgian period documentaries, and for travel programmes

Royal Crescent: As one of the icons of Bath, it attracts a lot of documentary and travel filming, but there’s also been a lot of major filming. Recent productions include: Darwin used No 1 Royal Crescent for both exteriors and interiors. Blue Pete: used the Crescent as a backdrop for a whole programme, transmitted live from Royal Victoria Park. Time Team used the Royal Crescent as a grand backdrop to their visit when two Roman burials were discovered besides an unknown Roman road running down from the Crescent. It even appeared in a Bollywood movie Bride and Prejudice last year when an Indian crew filmed in Bath for a day.

The Circus: Was used for two major dramas: Drover’s Gold filled it with cattle; and for A Respectable Trade.

The Guildhall: Has been used a lot: very useful building as it has a lot of different styles and locations. The Council Chamber twice doubled for the Royal Geological Society building in London - Darwin and Granadamedia’s The Dinosaur Hunters. Darwin also used the grand marble staircase. The Alkmaar Room, a former court, has been used by Casualty and also as a Victorian lecture theatre in Darwin. The corridors have doubled for Whitehall. But the strangest request was last autumn when we dealt with a series about the history of UFO sightings in the UK and how the Government handled these. Apparently this took place in a secret domed attic in Whitehall, and the Guildhall dome was almost a copy of it. They did all the dressing.

Bath Abbey: is another key location featured in travel programmes but has also been used for dramas and major productions: The BBC staged a carol concert for their adaptation of Joanna Trollope’s Other People’s Children. The interior doubled for Westminster Abbey in Bertie & Elizabeth for the rehearsal of the Coronation and Princess Elizabeth’s Wedding; and was the subject of Watercolour Challenge in 2000.

We don’t just get requests for Georgian locations. Our location library covers a wide range of styles and types, which make the area even more attractive. As well as the city’s architecture, we have the countryside of North East Somerset which has country houses, villages, farmland, woods, rivers and lakes, as well as the former mining towns of Midsomer Norton and Radstock.

Here are some examples of not so obvious places which have been transformed into film locations: Excelsior Street - Bath’s only brick street was turned into the bombed East End for Bertie & Elizabeth. In the same production Bath Spa University College, Sion Hill Campus became a 50s hospital, opened by the King. Cricket Pavilion was used in a Coca Cola ad in India in 2000, and looked pretty convincing as an Indian café. Aishwarya Rai, former Miss World and now a major superstar, was starring in a major Bollywood movie at Longleat, and Coca Cola wanted to make use of her availability, so we came up with the location. Freshford Mill, the scene from 10 Days To D-Day, filmed last autumn, was supposed to be the bombed French city of Caen – but it’s actually Freshford Mill with a bit of dressing and smoke machines! So it’s rich diversity of locations as well as Bath’s world famous architecture that is one of the key factors in attracting film makers. As well as the city’s architecture, we have the countryside of North East Somerset which has country houses, villages, farmland, woods, rivers, and lakes, as well as the former mining towns of Midsomer Norton and Radstock. We’re on the doorstep of the Cotswolds and Wiltshire, and we also gain when filming takes place there.

Accommodation: Crews based themselves in Bath because of the quantity and quality of accommodation available, and the fact that Bath is a great place to stay. The city has benefited greatly in this way and here are some examples: Chocolat spent a month in Bath in 2000 whilst filming in Wiltshire and Somerset and spent half a million pounds locally. The first and second Harry Potter films spent a week each at Lacock and used 17 hotels in the city.

Crew & Services: Another key factor is the strength of the local media industry centred about Bristol and Bath. Bristol is the media capital of the SW, with the BBC network centre and years of experience servicing drama series like Casualty. The Film Office has details of the full range of production crew and services based in this area. This can make the difference to a production’s decision to film down here. Crew costs are cheaper than in London and the production don’t have to pay overnights. Bertie & Elizabeth is a good example of how strong the local media industry is – 34 of the 78 strong crew came from the Bath-Bristol area.

Film-friendly policy: The final factor in attracting productions to Bath & North East Somerset is the Council’s film-friendly policy, which is delivered via the Film Office. What does film-friendliness mean? Basically, it’s about balancing the needs of a film crew with those of the local community and the council, and maximising the benefits of filming to the local economy. Bath & North East Somerset has an excellent reputation for being film-friendly. In Tomorrow’s Tourism, published by the DCMS in 1998, the Bath Film Office was used as a model for local authority handling of film, and as a result of the experience here, the Film Office is now involved in film-friendliness training for other SW local authorities.

What’s involved in setting up filming – what do we actually do?

Locations: It starts with a location enquiry. Our key contact is the location manager if it’s drama and the researcher or co-ordinator for the smaller productions. Sometimes they know exactly where they want to film i.e. the Roman Baths, so it’s just a case of giving them the contact details. With dramas, we’ll work from a description of what they want to portray and the action involved. We then try to match this from our location library. This can be challenge but it’s very rewarding when we get it right i.e. the Chocolat story.

Permissions: Once they have an idea of where they want to film, they deal directly with the location to check whether it’ll work practically and has the right look. They also need to know if they can get all their big vehicles nearby, so parking and access is an important factor in choosing locations. If they want to film in the streets or in a public place, we put them in touch with Highways Department and the police who give permission. Our job is just to liase and inform. If it’s a complicated scene, site meetings will take place to see work out whether their plans are possible and what the impact will be on the local community. In the case of Vanity Fair, there were many meetings with different departments and organisations because it was such major filming. But this was exceptional – the bulk of filming is small scale and very manageable.

Local crew and services: At the start of the enquiry, we make sure the production know the range of crew and services available, and find out if they have any specific needs. This includes local services such as transport, i.e. taxis, minibuses and coaches. We then put forward all the contacts we have in that category and the production make the decision as to whom they use.

Accommodation: We flag up the range of accommodation in the area. As well as the Bath Tourism Guide, we have a list of hotels and guesthouses, which offer favourable rates to film crews.

Sorting out the practicalities of filming: Once they’ve got the locations, the permissions and consulted the local community, we help them organise the practical aspects of the filming. As 95% of filming is small scale, the majority of it is pretty straightforward to organise. With the major productions, it’s a very complex and highly organised operation. It has to be because it’s a very costly business. Productions have finite budgets and they simply can’t afford not to stick to their schedule. So major filming is run like a military campaign. Even with my experience in TV, watching the big set pieces in VF was a revelation in terms of organisation. We help to organise: Unit Base: Film makers need a big car park to park unit vehicles, make-up & costume wagons, location catering and dining buses, portaloos (know as honey wagons in the trade), prop trucks, production offices, green rooms for the artists. They also need to park what we call the essential vehicles near to the actual locations. All this is done through Parking Services. Extras: Bath has good local extras agencies, and we can help organise local casting sessions to involve local people. Costume & Make-up base: Vanity Fair’s 300 extras on one day were costumed and made up in the Pavilion. Horses and carriages: Bath has a good supply of horse and carriages, and on Vanity Fair, there had to be somewhere for the horses to be kept when not filming. Set-building: they’ll need to get licences to put up scaffolding for sets in the street. They’ll also need carpenters, painters, etc and we give them the local contacts. We can also point them in the right direction for all sorts of equipment suppliers.

The Film Office’s role is to put them in touch with whatever council department they need and provide as much local information as possible.

The Benefits of having a Film Office

To the filmmaker: It saves them time and money. These days budgets are less than they used to be and preparation time is cut back. So we can provide a lot of local information & local contacts that would take a long time to acquire themselves, and they may miss something vital even then. i.e. the Lovejoy story. Filming is by its nature stressful, and we can reduce some of that stress by cutting down some of the unknowns and providing short cuts to the right people.

To the council: By acting as co-ordinator, the Film Office takes pressure off the key departments by fielding all enquiries, and only involving them when absolutely necessary, thus saving their time. Through the Code of Practice, we also act as managers of film in terms of checking the right permissions have been obtained and Health & Safety issues have been addressed.

The local community: We check that local consultation is undertaken and act as go-betweens and trouble-shooters for residents, sorting out any problems with the film crew. We try to ensure that key locations are on the whole happy for filming to take place again.

The Benefits of filming

Economic value: We monitor location spends through a special form and are able to build up the annual total which on average is around £1 million. It’s generally accepted that a multiplier effect of 2 can be applied to this figure as the money works its way through the local economy.

Promotional value and film & TV tourism: All filming has onscreen promotional value and until recently it was hard to put an actual value on it. Last summer we carried out an valuation exercise on the BBC Breakfast coverage from the Roman Baths and the New Spa. 5 35 minutes programmes on subjects all about Bath amounted to the equivalent of £3 million pounds of advertising at GMV rates.

Travel programmes - free advertising: The value is easy to see with travel programmes. When The Holiday Programme was broadcast three years ago, the TIC handled an extra 1500 calls during the following week. Both the Royal Crescent Hotel and the Bath Spa Hotel were featured in Holiday Programmes and both said the phones starting to ring the minute the programme finished. Film & TV tourism is well recognised through the world now and in the UK, a number of tourism maps have been produced – Visit Britain with Vanity Fair, SWT one – the Bath area had 17 entries, and even a Bollywood one. Working with Tourism, we’re now planning to launch a locations map for the Bath area to coincide with the release of Vanity Fair. Some areas run tourism campaigns and trails on the back of film & TV drams. Bergerac was of enormous value to Jersey, N Yorkshire has Herriot Country, Heartland for Heartbeat, the village of Arncliffe is famous because of Emmerdale Farm. In the West Country West Somerset did a visit trail for Land Girls. And in 2000 South West Tourism was chosen to do a pilot Film & TV tourism strategy.

Particular locations are well documented as benefiting from Filming. Saltram House near Plymouth saw its visitor numbers leap from 49,000 to 59,000 in the year of Sense and Sensibility’s release and the figures stayed higher for some time. Lyme Park in Cheshire, scene of Mr Darcy’s famous lake scene in Pride and Prejudice, saw a rise of 178% in its visitors. Closer to home, last year Dyrham Park saw a 25^th increase in visitor after the BBC’s Servants series. And as I said earlier, we still get enquiries about the Persuasion locations 10 years after the film was made.

The Pulteney Street scene in Vanity Fair scene has 300 extras and all 17 carriages. The film is due for release in the autumn, and we are planning to capitalise on the global exposure of the film with our own film trail and tourism marketing. Given the experience of other film locations, Bath stands to gain a lot of publicity from this excellent film.

Maggie Ainley

Discussion

Although light, this was a popular session and a good start to the year. The convenor introduced the discussion by confirming from his own experience, the speaker’s assurance that everything is always done to minimise inconvenience to the public when filming in Bath, and that when Vanity Fair was filmed in Great Pulteney Street, the Holburne Museum and Sydney Place the personnel management, by production and location managers was excellent and well in advance of the actual filming. Although minor complaints were made, the event drew such large crowds around Great Poultney Street and the Holburne Museum that police had to hold them back. The whole experience gave an incite into the huge logistical organisation involved in the filming circus. All parts of the buildings, which were altered for the film, were returned to their original state. Alternative parking provided. The Victorian lantern street lamps that residents particularly liked were left in some places as a memento.

Questions included:

What about modern locations in Bath or derelict areas suitable for film locations?’ The speaker said these had been used as well, and showed the only brick buildings in Bath in Excelsior Street, an area behind the station used in Bertie and Elizabeth as a bombsite visit. Also Freshford Mill as the bombed French city of Caen.

Bob Draper extolled the site values of the BRLSI itself including the basement.

Location fees were questioned, running into thousands with an historical country house such as Longleate and 2-3,000 for Bath Period houses. The speaker emphasised the financial advantages to local employment, services, shops and Tourism through the publicity. The anticipated com-plaints and negative comments did not materialise.

Peter Valentine