Owen Spencer quoted in Property Week on the increase of film and TV studios in the North
2 May 2024
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Owen Spencer, Counsel in our Commercial Real Estate team, has been quoted alongside other industry experts in Property Week’s article discussing the increase of film and TV studios being developed in the North.
The article ‘Northern Hollywoods’ reports that several film and TV studios are set to significantly increase production capacity in the North of the UK, and explores the reasons to drive development in the North.
When most people think about the film and TV industry, their minds turn to Hollywood’s rolling hills or maybe Manhattan’s skyline. Increasingly, however, US production companies, among others, are choosing to shoot in the UK, attracted by a variety of factors including tax breaks and highly skilled production staff.
Owen adds that while living and working in the North has many attractions, being dependent on one studio would not appeal to everyone. “It will be a key challenge for new studios to train and bring forward their own skills pathways,” he says.
The full article, published on 26 April 2024, can be accessed here, behind a paywall.
Podcast host Louise Irvine, and Owen Spencer, Counsel in Forsters’ Studios Group, were joined by Simon Calvert of CBRE to discuss film studio real estate.
The trio peer through the letterbox on the sector and give insights into the latest trends and likely developments in the film studio sector.
Forsters advise SciBite on the renewal of their lease
24 August 2023
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Forsters have provided advise to SciBite Limited on the renewal of their lease at Biodata Innovation Centre, Cambridge.
Part of the FTSE 100 RELX Group plc, SciBite is a developer of a suite of award-winning technology products for major pharmaceutical and life sciences companies.
Glenn Dunn, Head of Forsters’ Corporate Occupiers group, advised SciBite and was assisted by Owen Spencer.
Are film studios about to go Back to the Future? – Owen Spencer writes for EG
21 June 2023
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Commercial Real Estate Counsel and member of our Film and TV Studios group, Owen Spencer, has written for EG on how hiring production space at film studios differs from other real estate sectors.
He goes on to ask, having seen considerable upheaval to studio bookings in the last 5 years and with 44 new studios planned, if more changes are around the corner.
Quiet on set
Spencer explains that the traditional and longstanding way to hire space at a film studio is by hire agreement, “which is, at its heart, a commercial licence, usually signed on standard terms.”
Principal photography is the most expensive phase of film production – this means that space will only be booked for as long as it is needed. There is no subsequent commitment to use the site again and therefore studios are reliant on reputation to secure the next booking.
“The rate card for a sound stage will generate substantial returns for the studio, but the nature of the short-term commitments means there is an ongoing challenge of attracting and securing the next big production. So maintaining a high level of utilisation is a constant aim for studio management.”
Rise of the streamers
Spencer adds that the rise of streaming services over the last few years popularised the “master lease agreement” (MLA). Essentially a multi-year lease and thus by no means a groundbreaking real estate concept, it creates a long-term financial commitment to the studio.
These services, wanting to make their own content, need to also secure studio space. This emphasised an “undersupply of studio space in the UK [and so] the race for space was on.”
Race for space
With multiple MLAs now signed, many of the UK’s studios are now tied up in terms of upcoming lease agreements. “The sector has responded”, Spencer adds, “with there reportedly being 11.2m sq ft of space in the pipeline.”
What is yet to be seen is whether this increase in studio space will result in the fall-off in popularity of the MLA. “Could the projected increase in capacity mean that productions will go back to the future, comfortable to operate under the old studio hire agreement model?”
“However, very little of the new pipeline space has yet come online. While many of the proposed operators suggest their operations will not need MLAs to flourish, it is likely to require a certain kind of funder or investor to speculatively develop a film studio with a business model built around studio hire agreements alone. This may give hope to both operators and productions that there are one or two more big MLA deals left to do.”
This article was originally published in EG on 16 June 2023 and can be read here (behind their paywall).
Developments in the UK film and TV sector – Owen Spencer speaks to Property Week
2 May 2023
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Commercial Real Estate Counsel and member of the Film & TV Studios group, Owen Spencer, has spoken to Property Week about how the last 12 months have seen a change from the rapid rise in film and TV studio space, which the industry had enjoyed throughout the five years prior.
Property Week report that the last year has seen “a number of films due to be produced in the UK, including the next instalment of Star Wars, delayed, and industry giants Disney and Netflix have both reported falls in profits, potentially affecting future productions.”
This has provoked questions as to how much further studio development will take place, especially as a record ยฃ6.27bn was spent by film and TV companies last year; much of it going towards an additional 1.1m sq ft of stage space that has been developed since 2021.
Does this extra capacity, then, mean that the market is likely to cool?
Spencer, whose clients include Netflix, Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures, comments that it is more a case that the market has matured, rather than reached saturation point.
He notes that after the likes of Disney and Universal started striking long-term deals with established studios such as Pinewood and Elstree from 2019, their owners were able to create secure incomes and studio space became even more scarce as a result.
Now, with many major film and TV companies having studio deals in place, the market has changed, but Spencer adds: “Some big studios don’t have long-term commitments in the UK, so it’s not necessarily the case that there aren’t more big deals to be done, but we’ve moved into a different phase.”
One strategy employed by studios as a response to the scarcity in available studio space, was the trend of converting industrial warehouses into studios.
Spencer says yields will vary depending on location but adds that there are additional benefits to striking such deals with film companies.
“The other thing that’s attractive about doing a film-studio conversion from a landlord’s point of view is that it might be quite nice to have an international corporation on your books as opposed to a small logistics operator.”
This article was first published in Property Week on 26 April 2023 and is available to read in full here, behind their paywall.
Now that the sale of Channel 4 is off, what does that mean for its property strategy? – Owen Spencer speaks for React News
10 January 2023
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Commercial Real Estate Senior Associate and member of our Film & TV Studios Group, Owen Spencer, has written for React News on the ongoing ownership saga surrounding Channel 4, and how staying in public ownership – in addition the departure from its role as “publisher-broadcaster” – may result in greater investment in regional production facilities.
In an unexpected change to the Media Bill Channel 4 will for the first time be able to make and own original content itself. “This is a key plank in the strategy to move the broadcaster away from its resilience on advertising revenue: by allowing it to monetise its content.”
With the specifics of these new freedoms yet to be finalised, Channel 4 will be keen to understand this new remit as any money spent on Channel 4 original content instead of on independently produced content “is a conflict of interest that will need to be managed.”
The broadcaster is also to double its regional headcount from 300 to 600 by 2025. While some of these jobs will be based at existing sites, reference to jobs being created ‘potentially elsewhere’ will catch the eye of the property agents.
Any plan to employ staff at new regional sites is in line with the ‘Levelling Up’ agenda, however the government may be missing a trick when it comes to growing the regional studios sector, since the broadcaster’s regional programme-making quota remains unchanged.
“If there are 300 extra jobs going North, does this mean a corresponding reduction in the numbers employed in its recently refitted London office?”
If this is the case, alongside a new statutory duty on the corporation’s board for financial sustainability, the potential sale of its London office – a ยฃ100m asset – will be an option. Such a shift would give Channel 4 the chance to become a “national champion” by helping catalyse the dispersal of skilled crews around the country.
This article was originally published by React News on 9 January 2023 and is available here in full (behind their paywall).
Lights, Camera, Action! Film Studios Demand Creating Massive UK Opportunity – Owen Spencer writes for CoStar
5 January 2023
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Commercial Real Estate Senior Associate and member of our Film & TV Studios Group, Owen Spencer, has written for CoStar about how both the government and real estate industry should be alive to a major opportunity which could drive the ‘Levelling Up’ agenda.
With the film and television industry set to require an extra 6 million square feet of space by 2026, Spencer writes how the continued development of sites around London and the M25 may not be possible due to greenbelt protection. As such, the industry could be forced to look to new locations across the country.
What this growth industry also needs is additional crew – all trained and highly skilled. Currently, studio workers tend to live and work around the South East – where the largest studios are located.
The 2023 revaluation list for commercial buildings increased business rates for film studios. Spencer questions if this may also favour regional studios with a lower cost base.
Spencer suggests there is scope for the government to drive its much-publicised ‘Levelling Up’ agenda off the back of the industry’s dispersal across the country by facilitating the training of studio professionals outside of the South East.
He concludes by writing: “While there are many challenges, there is an opportunity for the government to place the UK’s expertise in the studio sector centre stage in its levelling up agenda and give the regions a starring role in this growth industry.”
This article was first published on 4 January 2023 by CoStar and can be read here in full (behind their paywall).
Forsters advise Evolution Markets on relocation within the City
7 November 2022
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Forsters have advised Evolution Markets Limited on the acquisition and legal aspects of the fit out of their 38 Threadneedle Street headquarters in the City.
Evolution Markets provides strategic financial and industry-leading transactional services to participants in global environmental and energy markets and is recognised as a leader in green markets.
Glenn Dunn, Head of Forsters’ Corporate Occupiers group, advised Evolution Markets and was assisted by Owen Spencer and Charlotte Mashhoudy.
The Occupier View: On leaving Mayfair for Marylebone – Glenn Dunn speaks to EG
28 September 2022
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There was a moment – a fleeting, blink-and-you-missed-it moment – in which Forsters could have become a fully remote business. No offices. Zoom and Teams screens only.
This article was originally published by EG on 10 August 2022 and is also available here (behind their paywall).
Head of Corporate Occupiers, Glenn Dunn, says he breathed “a huge sigh of relief” when partners showed “next to no support” for the idea. After all, it would have ended his own project to find Forsters a new headquarters in no uncertain terms. But the fact that the option was discussed, even briefly, shows just how open Corporate Occupiers are becoming to change as they map out their post-pandemic real estate needs.
In June, Forsters confirmed a move to Lazari Investments’ 22 Baker Street, W1. It’s not as radical as going remote, but the relocation still has its surprises. It puts the 500-person firm in Marylebone, leaving its Mayfair home of more than two decades, and it was the only building from a lengthy list of viewings that was not a multi-let. For Dunn, the letting is the culmination of lessons learnt throughout the pandemic.
Early bird
Forsters moved to its current headquarters at 31 Hill Street, W1, in 2005. In the years since, a growing headcount has pushed the firm to take on other offices, at 22 Hill Street, Berkeley Square House and Canary Wharf’s South Quay Plaza. Those have more than doubled its space to 50,000 sq ft, from 23,000 sq ft.
Dunn started looking at options for a move back in 2019. “Every well-advised business will do a stay-versus-go analysis, look at its existing buildings and ask whether, with capital investment, staying put is the right thing – like Slaughter and May, for example,” Dunn says. “But we knew that these buildings were operationally becoming more of a challenge for us, and we were across four sites. We see ourselves as one family and we wanted to be back under one roof, as we were when we moved into this building.”
The lease break at 31 Hill Street wasn’t due until the first quarter of 2023, but Dunn knew that would come around sooner than he and colleagues thought. “The one thing that I learned from my years of acting for occupiers is that the early bird catches the worm,” he says. “You don’t want to leave your search too late because it closes down your options.”
No sooner had the board discussed potential locations and picked CBRE as its adviser, Covid-19 hit. The firm weighed a pause in the search, perhaps with a short-term lease renewal at Hill Street. But Dunn was adamant that the hunt should continue.
“It was clear when you looked at the development pipeline that grade-A stock was going to become a challenge,” he says. “The number of developments starts during Covid really tailed off. Having appointed CBRE to advise us, their predictions – which turned out to be pretty accurate in terms of the huge uptake that was going to come in 2021 – were that there was not going to be the stock available to meet demand.”
Location was a big factor. Forsters’ description of itself on its website is a “Mayfair law firm”. But as the team started to view possible new homes, Dunn knew it had to be open to looking elsewhere and hunted from Paddington in the west to Farringdon in the east.
“We had been considering how much of the brand was tied to Mayfair and how much of it was tied to a differential of not being in the City,” he says. “The advice from CBRE was if you’re going to do an HQ relocation, you have to do a pan-London search because you might just see something that was off of your radar. Moves like Kingsley Napley going to Shoreditch are examples of people thinking outside the box and getting the right building in locations that are not necessarily known for law firms.”
Ahead of the curve
The firm ended up looking at between 12 and 15 buildings, Dunn said – none of which were in Mayfair. All were multi-lets, until an off-market opportunity to take 22 Baker Street appeared. The chance for the firm to have its “own front door and control of reception” was immediately appealing, he adds, and an existing relationship with Lazari helped to swing the deal.
The deal isn’t a downsize – Forsters’ 15-year lease is for 50,000 sq ft, equalling its four existing offices. But that wasn’t always taken for granted – the pandemic shifted how Forsters viewed its requirements in two distinct ways, Dunn says.
“The first one was, how much space did we need?” he says. “That was a difficult question to answer. You’re looking into the crystal ball and you’re trying to work out what growth there might be. Every business has to go through that exercise. You don’t want to end up with extra space that you don’t need on day one.
“The other part of the equation has been the layout of the physical space. So whereas a lot of law firms still are cellular or hybrid, we largely went to open plan back in 2013. We were probably ahead of the curve there because we saw the benefits of people learning by hearing others around them and trying to break down that traditional, cellular, siloed environment. We’ve always been quite economic in terms of how we view space.”
22 Baker Street will undergo a refurbishment once Japanese technology group Fujitsu moves to Lazari’s upcoming Lantern scheme in Euston. Forsters will then move in late next year.
“What we really wanted was something that demonstrated the character of the firm,” Dunn says. “We didn’t want a glass box, something that was ultra-modern. We wanted something with a period feel. But at the same time, we wanted something that has more modern amenities. And that has been a big driver in terms of the accommodation that that we will get at 22 Baker Street.”
Forsters advise Gulf International Bank on HQ letting and sub-lease
2 April 2022
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Forsters have advised Gulf International Bank (UK) Limited on the acquisition and legal aspects of the fit out of their 1 Curzon Street headquarters and subsequently on a sub-lease of part to an international investment bank.
GIB is a leading pan-GCC universal bank offering a diverse range of financial products and services and bespoke banking solutions to a wide customer base.
Glenn Dunn, Head of Forsters’ Corporate Occupiers group, advised GIB and was assisted by Owen Spencer, Richard Spring and Bethan Richards.