Members Servicing the UK from Outside London

Likely you are reading this in London, where 95% or so of our members are based. We have some members in the rest of the country though and we want to highlight those that specialise in service for London production companies.

They need your support, can offer an excellent service and working with them avoids the quarantine hurdles that come with shooting overseas.

We asked our outside London service company members to provide us with information about their services to pass on to you:

KNOWLEDGE

These UK service companies are working round the clock to ensure they’re on top of evolving regulations and availability. They keep regular communication with preferred private and council locations across the UK – making adapting to national or regional COVID protocols achievable.

As APA members, their following of our Covid Guidelines ensures that everyone is on the same page with no surprises in store when you arrive on set/location. The rule of six and local lockdowns are all only applicable to social situations meaning you can bring crew to location/studios and are not breaking the law.

In reaction to the household ban in Scotland, The Scottish government has confirmed households are classified as ‘workplaces’ for filming productions.

SAME LOOK LESS RISK

Production can still carry on as normal throughout the UK. Government restrictions are on social activity or the hospitality sector, not work generally. Productions in areas in “local lockdown” have continued as normal because the restrictions brought in do not pertain to productions.

Contrast that with shooting overseas: even if you identify a travel corridor (a country on the UK’s exemption list) there is a danger that the country will be removed from the list during the production, and production and crew returning to the UK will have to quarantine for 14 days. You can avoid all of that by shooting in Scotland, Manchester or elsewhere in the UK.

You can cheat UK doubles for key locations such as London, the USA and Europe.

Some have already provided private location doubles with entirely controllable surroundings to avoid public interaction and keep a shoot going amidst low-level lockdown; including regional London doubles for times when London Borough permit or road closure schedules were too challenging and foreign doubles for when traveling abroad hasn’t been possible. Northern city centres are currently quiet, making road closures, stop and holds, and permits easier to obtain.

ACCOMODATION

The fall in travel and tourism means that favourable rates for hotels and accommodation are there for the taking. Whilst the APA shooting guidelines clearly state that there should only be the most necessary of staff on set, we are aware that some clients are still requesting access. With that in mind, shooting in the UK means being able to offer 5-star UK accommodation for significantly reduced rates.

In a time when travel/overnighting can be a concern, service companies are keeping accommodation partners COVID policies on file, ensuring that you and your crew are in a safe and comfortable environment. Some have been putting clients in 5* hotels for £100 per night. Almost all have negotiated flexible cancellation policies.

COMMITMENT TO GOING GREEN

Whilst the membership works on ways to survive and thrive through the pandemic, the issues that held our focus before March aren’t going away and continue to need attention. As one of the founding partners of ADGREEN we are committed to increasing the presence of sustainable behaviours in advertising. There are huge environmental benefits in shooting closer to home.

“Flights are the devil – usually the biggest contributor by far to any international shoot’s carbon footprint. Using road or rail to access locations around the UK, as well as as many local crew as you can, is the best way forward – COVID or no COVID.”

Jo Coombes @ AdGreen

APA Service members are experts at manoeuvring tricky situations, they are there to advise, act as a safe pair of hands and ultimately make your production as smooth as possible in what we all know are testing times.

You can get directly in touch with any of the APA member UK Service Companies by clicking on their names below.

Written with thanks to