TWO of Scotland’s most respected post-production studios have formed a partnership combining their “creative firepower” as they aim to showcase the country’s “world-class” TV and Drama industry.
What began as an informal collaboration between Savalas Post and BSQUARED has now become a new partnership in delivering both picture and sound for some of the biggest household names in TV and Drama.
The creative teams at both Glasgow-based studios had previously worked together on multiple projects, including Vigil, Shetland, Guilt, Crime, and Murder Is Easy.
They decided that it was an “obvious” decision the pair should join forces due to their creative relationship, which just “clicked”.
“We really feel both companies attitude's to the creative process are aligned. We have a close connection and shared ideas on how things should be done, so that's why this makes sense,” Savalas’s managing director Kahl Henderson told The National.
Savalas and BSQUARED have already got a myriad of projects in the pipeline for the future, although they remain tight-lipped about what they may be due to strict embargoes.
However, the pair did announce that they are currently collaborating on Coldwater, a six-part psychological thriller starring Andrew Lincoln, best known for playing Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead series, for ITV and Sister Pictures and will air later this year on ITV and ITVX.
Founded in 1998, Savalas is known in the industry for their world-class sound production offering an array of services which include re-recording dialogue, sound design and Foley, the process which recreates everyday sounds in a bid to create more realistic and immersive scenes.
Based in Glasgow’s Film City, a dedicated space for TV and film firms, the multi-award-winning studio has worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including productions like Star Wars and Pixar’s animated classic Brave.
Savalas started as a music company, providing musical scores and theme tunes for TV shows, but Henderson said the firm quickly started branching out into other audio work within the industry.
“Quite quickly we realised that we needed some more meat on the bones as a company,” he said. “It's kind of hard to feed four mouths just as composers.”
A stalwart of Scotland’s off-screen industry, Savalas has decided to balance their audio expertise with visual specialists BSQUARED.
Despite only being established last year, founders Colin Brown and Jon Bruce have more than 30 years' worth of experience between them, with the pair starting their own studio last year.
Brown said: “We recognised that there was a massive opportunity to develop the market for colour grading and finishing.The industry has really evolved in Scotland over the last eight years.
“Up until about 2017, drama grading and finishing were predominantly being handled in London. It was a slow process to develop the necessary skills, build the right teams, and secure clients who trusted us to deliver high-quality work that could compete with London’s established post-production facilities.”
Bruce explained that there have been more opportunities open with more productions that film in Scotland, looking to keep post-production services in the country as well.
Bruce said: “The industry has changed, and with that, so has the perception of what can be achieved in Scotland.
“We've had the real pleasure to work on some amazing projects, all of which have benefited from staying in Scotland and I think there's an understanding now that the talent exceeds expectation.”
Bruce added: “Now we have found a lot more productions that want the full post production up here and that's great, but there's still a lot of work to be done.”
Savalas’s chief operating officer, Alan Geddes, shared Bruce’s sentiments as he said productions like Shetland have helped people in the industry hone their skills, adding "the way to retain and grow that talent base is to encourage more production companies to come and post in Scotland.”
Geddes said: “We've got the talent here that can easily match talent from anywhere.”
Henderson added: “Scotland is genuinely world-class. That's not just a buzzword.”
Both studios agree that for Scotland to have a strong film and TV industry, it needs to offer all aspects of what a project needs from the start, right to the end, which includes audio and visual post-production.
Henderson said: “If you look at Creative Scotland and Screen Scotland, they want a strong film industry, and that has to be a complete film industry, a complete TV industry.
“That means we have to do everything, from scripts all the way through to the delivery of the final thing. If we can't do all of that in Scotland, then we don't have a complete industry.
He added: “And post production, obviously from our point of view, is a massive part of that.”
