Amazon’s Prime Video signs record deal to film in Surrey studios for next decade

theguardian.com:

Amazon’s Prime Video team has struck a record-breaking deal to lease space at Shepperton Studios in the company’s first long-term commitment to making TV programmes and films in the UK.

The company’s multimillion-pound deal with Shepperton, home to productions ranging from Alien to Mary Poppins Returns, will see it join its rival Netflix in having an exclusive contract at the Surrey studio as the streaming wars continue to fuel a race for space to ensure that productions can be filmed without delays.

While details of the deal have not been disclosed, it is understood that Amazon’s lease is for well over 10 years – longer than similar deals struck by Netflix and Disney, which has secured space at Pinewood Studios, the parent of Shepperton – which makes it the biggest vote of confidence to date in the UK’s booming £6bn TV and film production industry.

“Shepperton has long been synonymous with top-tier television and movies and we’re proud that it will be home to many [Amazon] Prime Video productions in the years to come,” said Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon Studios, which started filming productions in the UK in 2016 with The Grand Tour, from the ex-Top Gear hosts Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond.

Amazon said that the next two years were expected be its busiest yet for UK-made productions, with Shepperton due to come online in 2023 when an expansion of the site is complete.

The company would not say whether Shepperton would play a major role in the shooting of the eagerly anticipated Lord of the Rings adaptation, after the surprise decision to shift filming of the second series from New Zealand to the UK.

While Bray Film Studios and Bovingdon Airfield have been chosen as initial production facilities when