Everything Needed Under One Roof at Simulacra!

I'd been nominated for the task of finding a film studios in London! 

Thanks team for leaving me with the research here, I wasn’t sure where to start other than a simple Google search. 

Generally speaking, everything is available in London so I thought I could definitely find a film studio, but I had a long list of criteria to fill, the obvious constraints of budget, size and height, whether or not we’d also need to hire equipment, transportation and therefore location all needed to be considered and squashed into a not huge budget.

So where do you start if you need to shoot a music video, (in our case) a short film or a fashion promo or even social content?

One thing I noticed is many photography and film studios seem to be located in East London, but if you’re a photographer or filmmaker in South London, there’s a bit of a shortage, especially in our price bracket.

I actually searched on Google Maps and came up with Simulacra Studio based in Sydenham SE26. They’ve been running 17 years and recently moved into the area with 2 new photo and film studios, with a fair sized infinity cove,  ideal for filming the scene I needed.

They had a lot of really handy materials available, in particular scenic flats with windows and doors, which I was going to get manufactured elsewhere, but they were able to repaint and supply exactly what I needed, so no need for van hiring or external materials and labour cost - phew!

They even erected them for me so when we rolled in with everything in the morning we were ready to dress the set, erect our lighting and shoot.

It’s worth mentioning they also supply lighting, so had we been stuck for anything they would have likely been able to cover it for us.

Location wise as well as being in exactly the right side of London for our own needs they’re right opposite a business park with a B&Q and Screwfix, so when we realised we needed a few last minute extras it was literally a 5 minute run over the road and back. 

The Simulacra team were happy to let us use some of their cool furniture and props such as plants, shelves, cool lamps and a sofa too, which we ended up integrating to the final set. Having all of this available really took the pressure off, we came in with a few unanswered questions of exactly what we were doing (we’re a student project) but their team were super helpful and filled in the gaps for us. 

We also pre ordered crew catering via their suppliers and got a great deal on hot lunches for all tastes which included veggie and plant based options as well as one gluten free (there's always one right?!)

I'd really like to come back and shoot another project in the near future, overall I was delighted to find a great Film studios London which supported student projects and budgets.