A British studio to rival Hollywood? (HWT)

By Liza Foreman

A group of young British filmmakers is launching a studio in the north of England which they hope will give Britain its own version of a Hollywood major.

Backed by private equity and with the help of their local council, which has given them a large chunk of land to develop into a fully-fledged film studio, the group of five behind Sheringham Studios were doing the rounds at this week's AFM.

The company, which is run by Lee Murphy, Luke Openshaw, Richard Wood, Holly Ives, and Phillip Tatton is building a state-of-the-art facility for film, video game, SFX, animation and sound production in the countryside of Staffordshire, England, using the land provided by the city and funds from their backer, Peter Coates, the owner of Bet 365 and premiership soccer club, Stoke City.

"The facility is set to incorporate sound stages, audio suites, special make-up FX workshops and recording studios in the image of WETA, Warner Bros and Lucas Film. Britain needs its own equivalent of a major Hollywood studio," said Murphy. "We don't have that."

Meanwhile, the group was also accompanying its first film to Santa Monica, "Money Kills," directed by Murphy. Openshaw produced from his own script. The picture is being distributed at the AFM by Fabrication Films.

Saying that it beat out The Weinstein Co and Miramax to the rights, after several years haggling with the author, Sheringham Studios has also acquired the novel "The Damage is Done" written by Warren Fellows, and published by Pan Macmillan, which will be one of a number of upcoming projects.

As well as the prison drama, "The Damage is Done," and the short film "The Craftsman," based on a short story by Stuart Neville, Sheringham Studios is in pre-production on several yet to be announced features covering a unique dystopian science fiction epic, a cold case detective psycho-thriller and an globe-trotting action adventure.