Northern Ireland’s film industry has received a major boost with news of plans to develop a new £25 million virtual production studio complex in Belfast.
Studio Ulster is being developed by Ulster University in partnership with Belfast Harbour, alongside Northern Ireland Screen, and is designed to attract more production companies to locate their projects in Northern Ireland. Construction begins this month and the building is expected to be completed by early 2024.
Based in Giant’s Park, Studio Ulster will create a 57,000 square feet building, housing two large-scale virtual production stages with in-camera visual effects stage, a motion capture stage, a 3D scanning stage for full body, facial and object scanning and a smart stage with virtual production technologies to support research.
The Department for the Economy said it will support It will support 461 direct and indirect jobs in the screen sector. The funding for Studio Ulster comes through the Belfast Region City Deal.
Richard Williams, who heads up Northern Ireland Screen, said Studio Ulster will help develop the rapidly growing virtual production sector in the region.
“Virtual production has really shaken up the screen industries and Studio Ulster will be transformative for our industry here in Northern Ireland,” he said. “Providing state-of-the-art production, studio and R&D facilities will help considerably in ensuring that Northern Ireland retains its position as a global leader in international screen production.
“Virtual production will also help create a much more sustainable industry. The training and skills development opportunities Studio Ulster offers will expand the capacity of the talent pipeline, to meet clearly expressed industry needs. It is wonderful to see education and industry across the public and private sectors joining forces to bring such an innovative project to life.”
Joe O’Neill, Chief Executive of Belfast Harbour, said the development will help put Northern Ireland’s media industry on the map.
“We are excited to be working with our partners to deliver this significant investment for the Northern Ireland film industry, which underlines our ongoing ambition to be a major economic hub for the region and create the largest European media hub outside of London,” he said. “The UK market for film and content production has continued to strengthen and this project will serve to further increase Northern Ireland’s global competitiveness in the creative industries sector and help to attract leading production companies to both the traditional stages and the virtual production facility.”
Professor Paul Bartholomew, Vice-Chancellor of Ulster University, said the facility will help it develop the skills of students to meet the demand of the ever-growing industry.
“The unique academia and industry, public and private sector partnership approach underpinning Studio Ulster is unprecedented and to realise our collective ambition, we must have a pipeline of graduates who are equipped with the skills and knowledge to specialise in creatively-led, technologically-driven production, and research and development,” he said. “For many years we have been responding to industry reports of skills requirements and shortages through the Ulster Screen Academy, offering students innovative film and broadcast, animation, games and immersive technologies courses to help deliver the much-needed skilled workforce to drive the screen industries forward.”
