Leavesden

So, uh, so...

But, um, I mean, we b- built the entire, uh, the entire house on the backlot at, at Leavesden.

Mm.

So, um, but I mean, that was kind of f- fascinating.

But the European tax credits are really having an effect on the making of films that would have traditionally been filmed in the US.

For example, the Barbie film was filmed mainly in... at some studios in Leavesden in the UK, and the Dune films have all used the studio in Budapest as their primary production hub.

And it's not just the UK and Hungary.

There are film tax credits across so many European countries now, including in France, where they've also recently seen a big increase in inbound international production.

The first adventure I had on the Potter campaign was I was being a former editor, as I mentioned.

I was sent to Leavesden where the film was about two or three months into production at the time.

So I basically went to Leavesden to create a piece for our consumer products division and for our promotional partner, which was Coca-Cola.

So I tried my best to tell the story in this five minute piece using music from John Williams' films uh there was no music at the time john had been hired to uh to score the film and so i i basically found some amazing music for harry potter and of of all things the home alone soundtrack um and some various other uh chris columbus john williams um collaborations but oddly home alone worked extremely well it was kind of had this magical fun style to it.

And I found some music cues that just worked exceptionally well for that.

And I remember very vividly, it was kind of like the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy in her black and white Kansas bedroom lands when the tornado lands her down in a in Munchkin land.

And I re I just remember very vividly opening the door of my dingy editing room to this unbelievable scene of color and lights and activity and this incredibly important movie being made, you know, to all of a sudden open this door and come into this world where, um, Magic was happening literally and figuratively.

So anyway, from the, uh, from the chilly cold of my, um, my avid room in Leavesden, I came back to Warner Brothers and started working on the consumer, um, campaign for Harry Potter.

Uh, we went up higher with the house.

So it was really basically the entire exterior on the back lot at Leavesden, you know, the Warner Brothers studio in London and to see it with the, this enormous garden of real, all real plants.

And this perfect replica, it was, it was a dream come true.

You know, it really was, it's a cliche, but it really was a dream come true and surreal at the same time and very emotional when Sandy and I walked on the set to see the rooms on the set because we, you know, we didn't do the whole interior design.

The first adventure I had on the Potter campaign was I was being a former editor, as I mentioned.

I was sent to Leavesden, where the film was about two or three months into production at the time.

So I basically went to Leavesden to create a piece for our consumer products division and for our promotional partner, which was Coca-Cola.

So I tried my best to tell the story in this five-minute piece using music from John Williams' music.

There was no music at the time.

And I remember very vividly, it was kind of like the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy in her black and white Kansas bedroom lands when the tornado lands her down in a in Munchkin land.

And I re I just remember very vividly opening the door of my dingy editing room to this unbelievable scene of color and lights and activity and this incredibly important movie being made, you know, to all of a sudden open this door and come into this world where, um, Magic was happening literally and figuratively.

So anyway, from the, uh, from the chilly cold of my, um, my avid room in Leavesden, I came back to Warner Brothers and started working on the consumer, um, campaign for Harry Potter and it started with teasers.

It's, uh, yeah, it's pretty epic.

Where do they film that? So we were mainly in Leavesden, uh, out the Warner Brothers lot.

Oh yeah.

North London.

So I also can't act in third person.

And everybody who was involved in it all along the way, from the books to the games to the making of the tour at Leavesden to the theme parks, passion everywhere.

is at the heart of it.

I feel that if I like it, if I'm passionate, if it's true to me, then others will embrace it the same way.

That it is not real and that it hasn't been here for hundreds of years.

I think what the documentary was so brilliant at sort of showing us was the legacy of filmmaking.

I mean, especially in and around Leavesden.

But the fact that you have craftspeople who are parents on the first film, their children are now working on the TV series.