London

This film was to be filmed entirely in London, so we had an initial scouting period looking for about 20 locations and then the industry strikes happened. Which put the project on hold for about 10 weeks. When it restarted a refinance had also taken place and suddenly London was too expensive for the production, eventually they relocated all the interiors and some exteriors to Bristol and I was left with about 6 exteriors to film in iconic London.
 
Our director did want one major interior…. The Natural History Museum. The tricky thing was in his script he wanted the actors to find a stuffed Ostrich in the museum. They do have an ostrich in the museum but behind glass on a corridor and our director wanted it to be somewhere more prominent! The museum is film friendly with filming taking place out of hours and we could be there all night if necessary, but the Ostrich relocation was a problem. They don’t allow stuffed animals from outside the collection to come into the building in case it brings in bugs which could infest the other stuffed animals….. unless we could freeze it for 48hrs killing any infectious bugs!
 
Well, who has a freezer that large…. The Natural History Museum. So, I asked. If the bird came from a known supplier – which it did. The NMM were happy for it to be dropped off three days in advance for a freeze and thaw, they also installed it for on the bridge in the Hintz Hall as soon as the front doors closed to the public. As soon as the last member of public left, our collection of trucks and vans entered the forecourt to off load with lighting having to swiftly install and light this huge space. With a minute by minute timetable planned and managed by ALM Imogen Forbes the camera was rolling an hour or later.
 
The film also took us to Leadenhall Market, Greenwich Park, Little Venice, St Dunstan’s in the East and The Windmill Club.

London, Stirling, Lincolnshire & Norfolk