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NewsNewsletter September 2026Sent to members on the 4th September 2026
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Compuhire — the screen magicians supporting crew members
We would like to say a big thank you to our partner Compuhire, who are supporting Filmbase again this year. Having Compuhire's backing helps us to continue to support crew, while keeping our membership as affordable as possible. Many of you already know Compuhire well, as a long-established industry supplier and your go-to company for any scene involving a screen — and what is shown on that screen. 
If you enjoyed the incredible screen graphics in Project Hail Mary, then you'll have seen what Compuhire can do. Their cutting edge motion graphics capabilities are also on show in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and in Fantastic Four, Superman, and Tron Ares, to name just a few. As befits their name, Compuhire has a huge range of modern and period computer props (+ smartphones and more) to hire. Whatever you want to show on the screens of those props, the company's creative arm, Studio C Design, can craft bespoke, state-of-the-art visual effects for you. And on-set, Compuhire's team is there to ensure playback is smooth and synched. Meet the experienced Compuhire team and some of the incredible screen graphics they've been responsible for in our article here!
Where's the Work? Ireland, Spain and the US Chase Productions
A Filmbase member working in Ireland contacted us recently to tell us that the Northern Ireland and Irish Film industry is booming at the moment. Spend in Ireland specifically has jumped around 50% since 2023, with studios now booked up for years. EU funding and competitive tax incentives have made Ireland popular with international productions of all budgets, scripted and unscripted. Ireland also has some fantastic locations for period productions. Spain is also very busy and enticing studios with tax breaks. The Beatles was recently in Barcelona and Tangled in Alicante. We heard of one production declaring a saving of over $30m from their $70m+ budget by going to Spain rather than the UK. In the US, Trump is now backing a US federal tax incentive which we watch with interest! In the UK, despite a recent BFI report showing that total spend hasn't dropped that much in the first half of 2026 compared to 2025 (6%), the total production count from June to January (155) is still low compared to 2022 when we saw 700 productions for the whole year. Many crew members have found 2026 another tough year. We'll send out another crew survey soon to see how you are doing. If you haven't yet caught our latest productions list, you can find it here and you can download the latest BFI stats on that page too. Note: the BFI stats include a figure stating 74 films starting shooting between January and June this year — this includes micro-budgets above £500,000, many of which slip under the radar for most crew.
A Discussion with Supervising Art Director and Production Designer Tom BrownSponsored by Palmbrokers We have almost 100 people registered for our next webinar, with Supervising Art Director and Production Designer Tom Brown. We'll be asking Tom about his 40-year career, what he looks for when crewing up, and why he thinks traditional hand drafting still matters alongside Rhino and Vectorworks. Sign up via our homepage or link below. Free for Filmbase members, £10 for non-members. Sponsored by Palmbrokers.
Crew Catch-UpsWe're launching a series of regular, informal catch-ups for Filmbase members — some over Zoom, some in person, and we'll be travelling around the UK to meet up with as many of you as possible! Drop in for a coffee, meet other crew, no agenda required. Our first one will be on Saturday 26 Sept, as we take part in the Race Around London. Hope to see you there!
Crew training coursesSome upcoming training courses that caught our eye…
A huge thanks to all our corporate partners for 2026/27 — Compuhire, Data Repropgrahics and Palmbrokers — whose support helps us keep Filmbase membership fees as affordable as possible.
| Upcoming webinars
Have you got more questions about your membership? Or some questions about the industry and how it all works? Have a look at the FAQs. Or drop us an email on info@filmbase.uk |
