AudioMedia - December 2008 - (Page 28) Group Absolutely nothing is standing still at The Pinewood Group. Teddington, Shepperton, and Pinewood are moving as one to secure a healthy future for an original media city… PAUL MAC talks to Robin O’Donoghue. Pinewood’s he Pinewood Studios Group is currently made up of three separate sites – Teddington Studios, Shepperton Studios, and Pinewood Studios. All three have extensive independent media-based histories – with Teddington’s stretching back over a century from the very beginnings of film production. It wasn’t until that they became a trio under the Pinewood Studios Group umbrella, and now enjoy increasing co-operation, collaboration, and market share. With an eye to the future, the ‘Project Pinewood’ scheme is in an ongoing public consultation and design phase – facades of world city-scapes combined with a large residential/business premises development might mean that a media-type could live in New Orleans, go to work in Amsterdam, and stop on the way back for a beer in a Tudor market place. Between them the three studio sites currently offer sound stages, ten television studios, possibly the best water filming facilities in Europe, comprehensive post production facilities (including ten theatres and two ADR/ Foley suites), over independent companies (most directly servicing the film and TV industries) and many acres of back-lot for set construction. I met up with the Pinewood Group’s Head of Post Production Sound, Robin O’Donoghue, himself a Re-Recording Mixer with more high-profile credits than seems fair for a single lifetime. He is now responsible for the audio post team, the ongoing development of audio post services in the group, and is an active advocate of T Hug A Production Network both what the Pinewood Group can offer prospective clients, and what the UK film and televisual industries can offer the world. We began by discussing the ‘group deal’ and the importance of flexibility in its success. “In the early days it was still very much separate pockets,” he explained. “Slowly, certainly in the last three years, there’s been much more cross-fertilisation. I have six high profile mixers and, like myself, a mixer likes their own room and their own support staff. But in the modern environment it’s much harder to do that… “…Often the first thing chosen nowadays by a Producer or Director is where they want to mix. Initially, is it London, or out at Pinewood or Shepperton – then is it Pinewood or Shepperton? Where can we fit them in?” For example, a client might be offered the Korda Theatre [Shepperton] – a top-spec mixing room. If that is outside the budget, O’Donoghue can offer Theatre at Shepperton. He can then offer a choice from a long roster of respected Re-Recording Mixers (Mike Dowson, Ian Tapp, Brendan Nicolson, Richard Pryke, Richard Street, Paul Govey). “Now, say, they are in Theatre at Shepperton with Paul Govey,” continues O’Donoghue. “We supply the effects mixers and the support team of mix techs and runners… Maybe as they come up to the mix, the Korda Theatre’s empty. I’m quite happy to upgrade them.” There are many other options open to O’Donoghue The G roup Deal > 28 AUDIO MEDIA DECEMBER 2008
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