Duncan Heath, co-chairman of the UK’s Independent Talent Group, is part of a trio of media executives to have submitted a formal planning application to build a film and TV studio on the Isle of Wight, the island off of the south coast of England.
Medina Studios is the brainchild of Heath, David Godfrey, former director of international operations at Pinewood and Neil Blewett, director of film and TV communications technology company Datasat Media.
Heath has had a home on the island for over 50 years.
The trio are are partnering with UK event and film construction specialist Serious Stages, whose clients include Glastonbury music festival, which has an estimated cost of £20m.
Plans for Medina Studios to be built on banks of the Medina River in East Cowes were first floated in 2022, with the project aiming to construct four sound stages totalling 70,000ft2, with production support space including workshops and office facilities.
A planning application was put in on August 2 of this year, with permission to be decided by the end of September. The team behind Medina Studios aims to go out to industry for funding once planning permission has been apporved, with hopes for the studios to be active in 2025.
“The facilities at Medina Studios will provide the key to unlock a treasure trove of cinematic potential,” read a proposal outlining the plans.
”Medina Studios will not only function as weather cover to support the production schedule but can also draw upon a plethora of unused locations, on its doorstep, ready to support a multitude of scripted content.”
”There aren’t just beautiful beaches, cliff tops and far-reaching views. There are Victorian streets, there are prisons, there is pretty much everything you could want, and everything you could want is within 30 minutes,” Blewett told Screen, who also pointed towards the proximity to the island for Hampshire-based crew as being advantageous.
The local council purchased the site in 2018, on what was the former Kingstone Marine Park, which has been vacant for over a decade.
Victoria & Abdul and TV series The Beast Must Die have shot across the Isle of Wight.
Originally published at https://www.screendaily.com/news/duncan-heath-backed-isle-of-wight-studio-submits-planning-application/5196114.article
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