North East Screen, the regional screen agency, has announced that all 12 local authorities of the North East have signed up to its Filming Friendly Charter, declaring the region officially filming friendly for TV and Film.
With production increasing in the region, thanks in part to the investment and commitment of the BBC and the new North East Screen Industries Partnership (NESIP), the Charter, signed by the chief executive and leader of each local authority and the chief executive of North East Screen, Alison Gwynn, ensures each local authority works closely with North East Screen, assists productions through a designated point of contact and aligns their processes and contacts to facilitate filming across all parts of the North East.
Gayle Woodruffe, operations director of North East Screen said: “We’ve proved that big blockbusters such as Indiana Jones and Dungeons and Dragons are attracted to our region and in 2022 we had a record number of BBC programmes filming in the area but we want to see more – more feature films, more TV dramas, more documentaries, more returning series, more factual programmes. We need to make sure the filming process is as efficient and straight forward as it can be so having the support and readiness of each local council to facilitate and understand the process will help us to achieve this.”
Katie Strachan, film office manager at North East Screen added: “The economic benefits of production companies filming in our region can’t be underestimated. Productions are not only supported by our local authorities and local crew, but they also require a strong network of local businesses and facilities from caterers to couriers, accommodation to security. There are many services that can support the success of a production, and in turn benefit local business. By attracting more productions to the region, we not only want to grow the industry but encourage more businesses to support these productions and add value to our local economy.”
The authorities that have now signed up to the charter include Tees Valley Combined Authority, (representing the authorities of Hartlepool, Stockton-On-Tees, Middlesbrough, Darlington Borough and Redcar and Cleveland), the North of Tyne Combined Authority (representing Northumberland, North Tyneside and Newcastle) and the North East Combined Authority (Durham, Gateshead, Sunderland and South Tyneside.)
