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If the start of 1999 saw some uncertainty clouding the future of the historic Bray Film Studios in Berkshire, the latter half of the year looks considerably more optimistic. For the directors of Bray Management Limited, Neville Hendricks and Peter Gray, have only recently been able to confirm that the threat of commercial development has finally been overcome, and have signed a 15 year lease with an option in time to buy the freehold.
All of which means that fans of British film history - and Bray’s own past can boast production of some clas- sic Hammer Films as well as the camp cult favourite The Rocky Horror Picture Show - as well as anyone interested in the future of a confident and thriving domestic film industry, can rest assured that Bray will play its full part.
The good news has already signalled a pro- gramme of investment and restoration, from the cosmetic but essential renovation of Down Place, the administrative heart of the studio, to the pro- jected building of a new sound stage and further facilities beyond that.
“Things are looking good,” agrees studio manag- er Beryl Earl. “We’ve been here since 1990, and we haven’t done much work to the structure of the stu-
dio since we arrived. But now we’ve got a long term future there’s a lot happening. And because we have a five acre site we have room for more stages still.”
Competing against smaller studios such as Ealing and Twickenham, Bray offers a similar person- al service but has other advantages. Not the least of these is the beautiful Thames Valley location that makes it the ‘local’ for so many actors, directors, musicians and technicians.
“I think quite a few live around our area,” Earl adds. “The atmosphere in the studio has been described as cottagey and, although it is quite a small place, we’re in a wonderful location and can use that smallness to concentrate on all our clients and really look after them.
“We’re only geared up here to do television drama and small films really, we don’t have the space to do major fea- tures. But in the past we’ve been able to help out bigger projects by taking the over-spill here. On the new film RKO 281, for example, they basically filmed at Shepperton and then they used one of our stages as a location shoot. The main market we go for is television drama. Commercials come to Bray as well, but if there are any gaps we tend to get promos or music rehearsals.”
One notable rehearsal that took place in this most unlikely of venues was for Live Aid. Who, passing by the unremarkable entrance to the studio, could have imagined that within its walls history was in the making? “I think people go by without noticing we’re here, really. We don’t have problems with being bothered all the time, so I think that was a factor in the Live Aid people choosing us as a place to rehearse. Which is quite nice, because you could see how at some studios it
FOR BRAY
The Original Home Of Horror Celebrates Its 50th Next Year
studio facilities
“We are proud of our past but we can’t live on it.”
BERYL EARL, STUDIO MANAGER
BIG BOOST
BIG BOOST
FOR BRAY
might have been more of a problem.”
continued on page 30
Photo left: Sarah-Jane Varley in The Wildcats Of St Trinians; top: the famous studio entrance; inset: Amanda Redman as as the older Diana Dors in The Blonde Bombshell.
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