After announcing the move from Whiteladies Road to Edgecumbe Hall this past November, The Farm worked with Scrub, the post-production department of HHB, to outfit their new facility. Now Farmton Abbey, as the site has been dubbed, is prepared to take on the growing regional production commissions for the latest audio formats.
“Bristol has a great heritage as a creative hub, known worldwide for its natural history work, and over the last decade seeing an increase in entertainment and strong factual output”, states Duncan Armstrong, Managing Director of The Farm in Bristol. “We saw opening Edgecumbe Hall as an opportunity to bring innovation and excitement to the established Bristol TV Sector.”
The Farm’s desire to grow Bristol comes at a period of growth both regionally and across the post-production industry. Current political and regulatory pressure to have work commissioned outside of London has helped to grow regional creative hubs like Bristol, Cardiff, and Manchester. There is also a growing amount of work available due to the content demands of SVoD providers. SVoD refers to subscription video on demand and providers like Netflix and Amazon which have been consistently producing more original content year over year.
While the industry grows, so do pressures stemming from shortened production timelines, as well as new format demands. “At Scrub, we appreciate the pressures post-production facilities face and understand the technologies needed to get the work done”, comments Nikki Pascoe, Head of Sales at Scrub. “Working closely with manufacturers, we provide facilities with the latest technology built to meet their needs, supporting current and potential, future workflows.”
Farmton Abbey has been outfitted with the latest from Avid including a brand new S6 console built to meet The Farm’s specific configuration requests. With immersive sound formats becoming normalized and required by SVoD providers, Scrub worked closely with Duncan and his team to ensure the new facility could handle ever more demanding delivery requirements set forth by modern distribution platforms.
Set up and ready to go, the future looks bright for Farmton Abbey and the Farm Group as a whole, especially with the news that The Farm recently joined forces with LA-based post and VFX firm Picture Shop. Excited with the latest changes in the company the team at Edgecumbe Hall look forward to producing even more content in the most modern facility with 19th century walls.