FACILITIES FRIDAY: HOW TO MEET A PRODUCTION’S NEEDS

Following their recent move into The Depot to our studio tenants there, we recently sat down with Rich, Ian and Sharon, some of the team behind Supply2Location Group – the UK’s largest supplier of on-location services supporting all aspects of film and TV work.

“Our job is to get all the support kit in place so that everybody can make the film -from marquees to make-up mirrors, tables to toilets”, Supply2Location are there behind the scenes to supply everything a production needs to work.

With humble beginnings in the world of film and TV as a little store on the outskirts of Pinewood Studios, Supply2Location has since developed into a one stop shop for production. It’s “the shopping fairy” for crew members Sharon says, with her original role in the locations department made much easier by Supply2Location’s ability to meet a production’s vast requirements.

“You have to recognise an opportunity when you’re in this kind of business” Ian says – no situation more evident than when The Batman filmed in the region in 2020. On-the ground supplying dozens of bowsers, generators, tower lights and more to production on the cusp of the world shutting down, the team adapted to the times and turned their attention to what the industry needed to re-start. They carved out a niche, creating personal solar panel sinks for use on-set, soon shipping hundreds around the country as the industry slowly re-emerged and supplied The Batman once production began in Liverpool in Autumn 2020.

Currently providing support to the props and construction teams for the upcoming series of This City is Ours, Supply2Location have worked on everything from The 51st State to Hollyoaks to Fantastic Beasts, their extensive presence in this region’s film and tv industry already stretches across two decades. So, what draws a national company like Supply2Location to set up shop in our region? “The Architecture! It’s got really, really amazing buildings” Rich says. Its range says Sharon, “we’ve shot it as Russia, America, Gotham… and it’s got real space to accommodate, with plenty of room for Unit Bases, transport vehicles, all the things that actually facilitate production”.

“One of the things when you’re filming is that you have problems to solve with locations – a location manager might need a 1930s cafe in the morning, 2 o’clock in the afternoon they’ll need to shoot Gotham city and at 5 o’clock it’s got to be Paris – and you can do all that in a day in Liverpool” Ian says. “You can be around this city quickly and with full support from such a nimble and capable film office who know the layout and what help you need, you really can make that kind of day happen in Liverpool”.