Creative England Expands Its Presence

Creative England is expanding its presence in the East of England, adding two new posts that will be based at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire.
The jobs will focus on delivering a locations and production support service for the region, bolstering Creative England’s aim to offer a single, streamlined service to production companies and crew across all English regions outside London.
The East of England locations database previously operated as Film Link, providing a local service from its Elstree base covering the East of England area. Current owners, Exemplas (part of the University of Hertfordshire Group), have reached an agreement with Creative England and Elstree Studios to relinquish ownership of Film Link, which will be seamlessly folded in to Creative England’s growing national database from today.
The agreement will allow Creative England and Elstree Studios to joint fund the two new posts, which will continue to be based at Elstree. The Production Liaison Manager and Production Liaison Coordinator will deliver a locations and production support service for the local region, and will be linked to and supported by Creative England’s national resource database. Users of the database will not experience any disruption.
Creative England's remit is to support productions shooting in the English regions as well as improve the conditions for filmmaking to increase inward investment production into the nation. To that end, it is working with local authorities, facilities companies, crew and locations to provide an unparalleled source of essential contacts and information for the whole of England outside of London.
Kaye Elliott, Creative England’s Head of Location and Production Services, said: "Exemplas and Film Link have provided a fantastic service for the local area and I’m pleased that we’ll be able to build on their work by delivering this essential service to productions shooting in the East, as well as continuing to develop the database. We are looking forward to continuing their work in supporting productions at Elstree and Leavesden, and independent productions shooting on location in the region."
Roger Morris, Managing Director of Elstree Studios, said: "Saving the location service for the East of England was of paramount importance. With Exemplas we helped save the service when it was first put in jeopardy by the demise of Screen East. Our partnership now with Creative England will secure the on-going location service for the whole region for both film and TV production."
Adam Wood, Projects Director Exemplas, said: "We are delighted that the East of England will continue to benefit from an excellent locations service that will enhance its position as the home of creative industries. We are especially pleased that the service will be based at Elstree, and that strong linkages with film and TV studios will be maintained."
(LB/GK)