Taking Centre Stage: The UK Film & Television Studio Market 2022

The UK has c. 6 million sq ft of general stage facilities in the UK, with supply insufficient to keep pace with the rising demand for new content.

The dynamics of the UK film and TV industry are undergoing extraordinary changes, buoyed by the rapid growth in demand for original content from broadcasters, studios and streaming services as well as continued demand for feature film content.

While online streaming services had been booming long before the Covid-19 pandemic began, production in the industry underwent a temporary pause in March 2020 before readjusting in mid-2020, with increasing consumer demand during lockdowns resulting in production levels now soaring to unprecedented new heights. Employment in the creative sector is rising and key metrics such as production spend, streaming revenue and inward investment are all reaching new records.

The UK has for many years proved extremely popular as a base for screen production, underpinned by a combination of key market fundamentals including generous tax incentives, a highly skilled workforce and talent base, its world-class production facilities, and not least its indigenous natural landscape and scenery.

From a real estate perspective, the sector is suffering from an increasing shortage of purpose-built studio space, leading to surging rents and rising capital values. As a result, the market is seeing a growing number of new investors and existing landlords looking to take advantage of the robust occupier market, evidenced by a wealth of capital now flowing into the studio sector.

The growing occupier market presents a range of opportunities for the property sector. Not only for investors and developers of purpose-built production facilities but also for the industrial and logistics sector, where large warehouses may be used to house production sets and smaller units may be demanded by supporting industries such as prop makers, lighting suppliers and other companies working in parallel to the industry.

10 key findings:

1. Supply of film studios insufficient to meet current demand driving upward pressure on rents
2. Increasing shortage of skilled crew
3. Major streaming platforms continuing to invest in British production and making long term commitments
4. London and South East remains focus for production, with 60% of current stock
5. Studio space landscape expected to evolve considerably outside M25
6. An estimated 63,000 screen industry jobs to be created by 2025
7. Industrial space is being converted and adapted to satisfy space requirements
8. More demand expected for large-scale, high-quality production facilities
9. Feature film and HETV production spend has almost doubled in last years to £5.64 billion. If growth continues we expect this to reach £11.16 billion by 2026
10. We predict an additional 6 million sq ft of space will be needed by 2026

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