“Game-Changing” Creative Project Given Green Light With Plans For Major Sussex Film Studio

Wednesday, 20 April 2022 08:00

By Dominic Kureen @WriteOnDom

A project seeking to bring investment and skilled jobs to the region between Chichester and Brighton has been given funding.

Coast to Capital has approved an application for £97,700 from the Coastal West Sussex Partnership, in collaboration with Adur and Worthing Councils, Wired Sussex and the University of Chichester, for the Coastal Creative Technologies project.

The announcement comes amid a significant shortage of large-scale, high-quality film studio facilities in the UK, with demand far outstripping supply.

The project will build the business case for developing a large-scale film studio complex with an integrated Centre for Research, Training and Innovation.

The project will also include a CreaTech (Creative Technologies) Open Innovation Network to support existing businesses, as well as a skills and training programme to ensure local people can take advantage of employment opportunities – ranging from animation to set building.

To meet its aims, the project will require around £100 million in investment, with the initial phase including a detailed business plan to generate interest from investors.

Caroline Wood, Director of the Coastal West Sussex Partnership, said:

“This is an ambitious project that will put Coastal West Sussex on the global map for film production and creative technology, growing our creative sector into a strong identity for our region.

"It’s incredibly exciting to have received funding for the first stage.”

The UK’s creative industries contribute more than £115.9 billion to the economy annually and employ more than 2.1 million people.

Official business register data suggests that in 2020 there were approximately 1,475 creative industry businesses in the Coastal West Sussex region, with an additional 2,985 in Brighton and Hove.

It is estimated the UK is missing out on nearly a billion pounds’ worth of production expenditure each year and that by 2026, 30,000 new high skilled creative/tech jobs will need to be filled.