BROADLEY STUDIOS 20TH ANNIVERSARY
By Richard Landy
On September 28, 2024, Broadley Studios will officially celebrate its 20th anniversary. Wow, how time has flown…
To commemorate this special milestone, we are delighted to unveil our rebrand, setting the stage for the next 20 years of creativity and innovation.
For full disclosure there’s actually been a studio at 48 Broadley Terrace since the 80’s and it was famous as Red Bus Records and was opened by landlord and friend Ellis Elias. Back then the studio was more famous for it’s music production, I’ll write more about this and will share some stories and photos from the archives at a later date.
Broadley Beginnings
So, it was actually July 1 2004 that Mark and I first picked up the keys to the Studio and started clearing up after they had been closed for 18 months due to the redevelopment of No 48. I remember it was a total mess and the place had been abandoned and flooded during the redevelopment. We had our hands full to say the least.
It’s interesting to look back and see how much the industry has changed over the last 20 years. There has been nothing short of a Content Revolution over the past two decades and the way we create and distribute what we make is unrecognisable from when I started in the industry in the mid 90’s.
Content Revolution
At the time we took over the studio the big digital switchover had just happened and TV was newly broadcast in 16:9 and no longer in 4:3. We hastily dumped our Beta SP camera for a Digi Beta model and we were away.
Unfortunately, this was the end of film cameras and from that moment on the race was on to create better quality images, smaller cameras at a lower price. It saw a real democratisation of content creation and everyone could afford cameras that produced amazing HD images.
We could also edit those pictures on the new online suites. I still have nightmares about the three machine SVHS edit suite I first learned to use!
Camera Evolution
Over the last 20 years I have owned at least 50-60 different video cameras and the they have all played their part in a really interesting journey. We went from tape to solid state and SD to 6K. I will be elaborating on this in future posts.
The flow of new tech through the studio has been staggering really during my time as MD and we have seen the digital revolution touch all departments and create new improved workflows. We have gone from being a single camera analogue studio to a unique state of the art multicamera broadcast virtual production space. Over the coming months I will also publish our tech journey chronicles.
Anniversary Thank You to Staff and Clients
I have also been blessed with amazing staff over the years and I am super grateful to all the wonderful people I have worked with who have helped me on my journey. Among them there are award winning DOP’s, Producers and Directors. I will be releasing photos from the archives on social media over the year. As and when I find them!
Many of our clients have stayed the same over the years and we still regularly create work for all the major channels, brands and production companies. Most notably the industry has grown so much and there are scores of new production companies, filmmakers, content creators, influencers and brands all with great stories to tell.
We are lucky enough to work with them all. We are blessed with a client list that give us a wonderful array of work.
Among these clients some that we cherish the most are the charities, community projects and individuals on crusades whom we have helped to tell their stories.
Broadley Supports Storytelling
We have created many films for free or with low budgets over the years because we think these stories are worth telling. This remains at the centre of our work ethos and we are always willing to help good causes.
I really am so grateful to everyone who has been here over the years whether you are a client, an employee or one of our trusted networks of suppliers. I have always tried to put the studios at the forefront of tech developments and will continue to do so.
So make sure you check out our latest showcase and studio specs. Or why not take a virtual tour of our studios. And feel free to reach out to us at +442077255858 or email us at [email protected] to discover how we can help you and your project.
I look forward to the future of our industry growing from strength to strength and Broadley Studios remaining a place for
“People with something to say”.