Brighton post facility The Edit is to double in size as it seeks to capitalise on an influx of indies bringing work to the city.

Founder Dave Austin said demand is so great that Brighton could become a regional production hub on the scale of Bristol or Cardiff.

“Traditionally, indies would go to places like Bristol or Manchester to tick their regional spend, but I believe Brighton can compete on the same scale,” said Austin.

“There’s already a huge pool of TV talent here, many of whom are commuting to London.”

Outposts of Blast! Films and Blink Films have joined long established local producers Lambent Productions and Warner Bros-owned Ricochet in recent months. Others indies in town include Factory Films, Back2Back Productions, Seventh Art and creative agency Be The Fox.

“There’s a real buzz about the place as a result of more high-quality series being produced here. It really highlights the depth of local professional talent,” added Austin.

The Edit currently runs five Avid offlines on Nexis shared storage, a Blackmagic Design Resolve grading suite, Pro Tools audio and a QC department. Austin is planning to open another five suites by the end of the year.

He said: “We need to double in size because we’ve been turned down for jobs on the basis we were not big enough to accommodate a safety net of edit suites, if schedules over-ran. We want to build a shared-storage backbone capable of handling larger TV series, and that means moving to larger premises.”

Rock star required

Austin also aims to offer equity in the business to local talent in exchange for investment. “We’re talking about a facility that goes head-to-head with any decent Soho facility,” he said. “It would mean taking on a rock star colourist.”

He believes crowd-funding part of the finance could work because many local freelancers “share a vested interest” in a larger full-service house that would help

make Brighton even more attractive to producers as a regional base.

Austin intends to develop a  database of local editors, directors and production staff, which already numbers several hundred, as a free online resource to raise the city’s profile. “If a large Soho facility moves in, it will benefit everyone since it will cement

Brighton’s reputation,” he said.

The Edit recently housed the offline edit for Only The Best Productions’ BBC1 single Rio Ferdinand: Being Mum And Dad (pictured).

The company also did final post on Remarkable TV’s 15-part Animal Park and is working on Blink’s 1x 60’ The Truth About Stress (both BBC1).

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