Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately 18 miles (29 km) west of central London.[3][4]
This article is about the film studios in Britain. For other Pinewood Studios, see Pinewood Group.Pinewood Studios
The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to television programmes, commercials, and pop promos, including the James Bond and Carry On film franchises.
Project Pinewood[edit]
In November 2007, Pinewood announced a £200m expansion plan, known as Project Pinewood.[32] If would have included replicas of streetscapes and zones replicating locations from the UK, Europe and the USA. Planned zones include a college campus, Amsterdam, modern European housing, Venice, Lake Como, Paris, an Amphitheatre, Prague, West coast American housing, warehousing and downtown New York sets, Chicago, Vienna, a castle, a UK canal, Chinatown and a London street market built.[33] In addition it will also be used as residential housing, with the proposed creative community, expected to be in the region of 2000 and 2250, being integrated with the film locations.[33] Following consultations with the local community the plans changed to reflect the community's opinions and suggestions. However, the planning application was rejected by South Bucks District Council in October 2009, following a opposition campaign by local residents, who formed a "Stop Project Pinewood" group.
Pinewood appealed against the decision and a public inquiry commenced on 5 April 2011[34] and on 20 January 2012, it was announced that the appeal had been turned down.[35] On 15 May 2013, local councillors in South Buckinghamshire rejected a pared down version of the expansion plans. The Chief Executive of the studios, Ivan Dunleavy, said he expected to appeal against the latest decision to the Secretary of State, Eric Pickles, who rejected the previous application, a year earlier.[36] On 19 June 2014 it was reported that Pinewood Studios had received approval to go ahead with the multimillion-pound expansion plans which would see it rival Hollywood film sets.[37]
Enter the Pitch[edit]
Pinewood Studios is one of the sponsors for the short film competition "Enter the Pitch," also known as the Pitch, which launched in 2009. The Pitch is an online short film pitching competition that invites film makers to submit a project that takes inspiration from any story, character, or theme in the Bible.[38] The top ten finalists are invited to Pinewood Studios, where they pitch their film to a panel of industry professionals. The person giving the best pitch wins an apprenticeship with industry professionals and is mentored on how to turn their pitch into a short film.
The inaugural Pitch winner was Simeon Lumgair's Derelict (2009);[39] the most recent as of 2020 was Oneikeh Campbell's Five Thousand Stars (2020).[40]