Filming Advice & Supervision
Historic venues make great film and TV locations, and filming can provide venues with valuable income and publicity.
Spencer & Fry understands the restrictions of the historic properties, as well as the needs of a production crew. Working in partnership with venue staff and location managers, we negotiate ways of making sure the shoot is a rewarding experience for all and doesn’t damage historically important interiors and objects.
Film productions include: Transformers: The Last Knight, Victoria and Abdul, Crooked House Wonder Womanand Phantom Thread.
TV productions include: The Crown(Netflix), Royal Recipes (BBC), Taboo(BBC), Action Team(ITV), and Trust(FX).
With filming in the UK on the rise, so too is the requirement for unique locations to stage a wide range of film and TV productions. As part of this, the demand for historic venues remains high and can be an attractive proposition for locations to help generate valuable publicity and revenue.
However, getting involved in any production can seem a daunting prospect for many locations, who can be concerned about what’s involved and specifically how to manage the needs of a film crew against potential associated risks.
This is where Spencer & Fry step in. Our Team of ten highly knowledgeable preventive conservators based across the UK, all have extensive experience providing filming advice and supervision in historic locations. We bring invaluable expertise and reassurance to all parties, mitigating risk for the location whilst also providing pragmatic advice and solutions to yield maximum creative result for the production.
Frequently the cost of filming supervision is covered by the production itself, but we can be employed by organisations and locations like National Trust and Hatfield House or by the production company direct. In any scenario we operate as a key liaison to all parties, advising in the planning phase, installing protection, assisting through prep, supervising the filming itself and finally overseeing strike.
The scale of our organisation means we have the ability to tailor our team according to requirements whether that be single or multiple team members, on some or all phases and in one or multiple locations. To date Spencer & Fry have been involved in more than 70 film and high-end TV productions, many with large scale and complex requirements.
Some of the titles we have worked on include:
Film productions:
Napoleon, The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin, Queen Charlotte, Wonka, Downton Abbey, Downtown Abbey: A New Era, The Flash, The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, Transformers: The School for Good and Evil, My Policeman, Operation Mincemeat, Persuasion, The Last Knight, Wonder Woman, Victoria & Abdul, Cruella, Crooked House, The Current War, Phantom Thread, Christopher Robin, Slaughterhouse Rulez, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, Mary Queen Of Scots, Stan & Ollie, The King, The Secret Garden, Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, Misbehaviour, The Old Guard, Cinderella and Rebecca.
TV productions:
The Diplomat, Renegade Nell, Mary & George, Bridgerton, The Crown, The Buccaneers, A Thousand Blows, Endeavour, A Gentleman in Moscow, The Sandman, Murder is Easy, Outlander, Famous Five, Secret Invasion, Alex Rider, Dodger, Horrible Histories, The Witcher, Call the Midwife, Poldark, Killing Eve, Gentleman Jack, Taboo, Royal Recipes, Trust, Action Team, Harlots, Black Mirror, Vanity Fair, The Amazing Race, The Spanish Princess, Wild Bill, The New Pope, Sanditon, Endeavour, The Third Day, Truth Seekers, Alex Rider, Strike: Lethal White, Cursed, The Great, The Windsors, The Nevers, Britannia, A Christmas Carol, The Witcher, Watchmen, The Pursuit Of Love, Anne Boleyn, Pennyworth, The Serpent and The Girlfriend Experience.
To see more about our involvement, take a look at Our Work.
Whether you are an historic site looking to host a filming project or a production company requiring expert heritage support, we’d be delighted to talk to you about how we can help. Get in touch by emailing us on info@spencerandfry.com
“Working with Spencer and Fry has transformed the way we operate filming within our historic buildings. Their presence, their experience and their confidence with film crews allows us to offer those filming with us the opportunity to achieve more complicated shots as well as reassuring our own conservation teams that the activity is safe for both the fabric of the buildings and the collections stored within them. It has allowed us a greater dialogue with film crews and we don’t do any large-scale filming without them!”