Film Fixer, Northern UK

Local production support for international companies shooting across the northern UK, from one fixer who covers the whole region

If you’re a production company coming into the UK from abroad, London isn’t the only story. The northern half of the country, the regions above the Midlands, gives you world-class variety within a couple of hours’ drive, and far less of the cost, congestion and permit-wrangling that comes with shooting in the capital. What it also needs is someone on the ground who knows the whole area and can run the local side of your shoot. That’s what I do.

I’m Tim Ellis, a fixer based in Manchester, working across the north of the UK. When an overseas production needs to film here, I supply the local crew, equipment, locations, permits, insurance and logistics, the entire practical operation, so your team can fly in and shoot without having to learn a new country first.

What the northern UK gives a production

Two major city hubs. Manchester and Liverpool are both film-friendly cities with experienced crew bases, studios and facilities, and grand architecture that regularly doubles for London, New York and European cities at a fraction of the cost. Recent high-end productions including Peaky Blinders and A Gentleman in Moscow have based themselves in the region. These are the two cities I work in most, each has its own dedicated page.

Epic landscape, an hour or two away. The Lake District’s lakes and fells have stood in for everything from alien planets to fantasy worlds, including a major Mission: Impossible sequence and parts of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The Peak District delivers wild moorland and gritstone edges (seen in Peaky Blinders and House of the Dragon) plus a wealth of stately homes like Chatsworth, the go-to for period productions. North Wales adds mountains, coast and castles. All of it within reach of a Manchester or Liverpool base.

Beaches and coastline, closer than you’d think. The north isn’t all cities and hills, there’s a surprising amount of coast within easy reach. The Sefton coast near Liverpool runs from the wide sands and pine-backed dunes of Formby to Crosby beach, home to Antony Gormley’s cast-iron figures. North of that, the Fylde coast and Blackpool give you classic British seaside, while the Wirral, Lancashire and Cumbrian coasts offer everything from empty estuary flats to dramatic shoreline leading up to the Lakes. Wide and empty, or characterful and built-up, within an hour or two of a city base.

City, industrial, rural, coastal, in one trip. The practical advantage of the north is range. You can shoot gritty urban, grand period, rolling countryside, coastline and dramatic wilderness without relocating the whole production across the country. That’s a logistics win, and logistics is exactly what a fixer exists to handle.

Where I work

I’m based in Manchester and know the city best. Liverpool is my other main patch, I’ve filmed there many times. Beyond the two cities I regularly fix shoots across the wider north: the Lake District and Cumbria, the Peak District, North Wales, the coast, Leeds and Yorkshire, Newcastle and the North East, and the countryside and stately homes of Cheshire and Lancashire. One fixer, one point of contact, across the whole region, rather than you piecing together separate people in each place.

What I handle

Local crew. Vetted, professional crew sourced locally. Because an overseas company can’t easily book UK crew directly, I take on the booking and stand behind payment, which is why crew work with me and turn up.

Equipment. Camera, lighting and grip, sourced locally and ready when you land.

Locations and permits. Scouting and photographing options, securing the locations, and sorting the permits and permissions, including working with the regional film offices that coordinate filming across the north.

UK insurance and risk assessments. Arranging proper local insurance and writing the risk assessment, which many foreign productions don’t produce themselves and which permits and most location hires require.

Catering, transport and logistics. Feeding the crew, local drivers who know the roads, security where it’s needed, and sorting where your team stays and eats off the clock.

Local and cultural knowledge. The part no search engine covers, from regional etiquette to translating the accents and slang a visiting crew won’t follow.

Recent work

I recently fixed a New Balance shoot in Liverpool with Everton’s Tyler Dibling, servicing a French production company and their New York partners, handling everything from scouting eight football pitches to permits, insurance, crew, security and weather cover. https://www.timellis.productions/blog/film-fixer-uk-liverpool I’ve also fixed shoots for brands including Dolce & Gabbana and The Body Shop.

Planning a shoot in the northern UK?

Tell me what you’re producing, where, and when, and I’ll come back with a clear plan and quote.