A day at the North Range, our creative workspace

North Range creative workspace

7:00am             The crew for the current studio production arrive on site. They head off to their production office in the Hall and down to the construction workshop to pick up props for the day.

8:30am             The North Range contingent start to arrive – the double doors are thrown wide open, computers are powered up and the three coffee machines kick into life.

9:00am             Abbie from Tatton TV & Film puts the kettle on and issues a loud “Who wants a cuppa?”. Heads pop up above screens, people swing round in their swivel chairs and voices are heard from the far end of our amazing 42m long converted cattle shed. Five teas and two coffees. Luckily we have a colour swatch chart stuck to the kitchen cupboard so everything is made to perfection.

9:15am             All cuppas are delivered. Abbie is exhausted.

10:00am           A location scout arrives for a studio tour with Head of TV & Film, Charlie Greenstein. Visitors to the North Range often step over the threshold with a “Wow, I love your office!”. We try not to grin too smugly but it really is blooming lovely and we sometimes have to pinch ourselves when we reminisce about offices of days gone by.

12:00pm           The first North Ranger gives in to hunger and heads to the kitchen to prepare lunch. In the winter you’ll often find a perfectly crispy jacket potato in the oven which has been cooking for the last hour. Delicious.

1.00pm             The smell of cooking works its way slowly but surely down the building, desk by desk. Noses twitch and the onslaught of lunch preparations commence! Jonathan, photographer, filmmaker and North Range old guard, whips out the tray of flapjacks his partner baked that morning. They survive all of 5 minutes.

1:30pm             Paul, top creative, mega talent and founder of Imagineering arrives with a flourish and an arm full of huge rolled up floorplans, fresh from a meeting in Manchester. With the city centre and also Media City only a 30 minute drive away it’s very easy to dip our toes into urban life.

2:00pm             Rebecca from Wainwright Film & TV services is joined by her colleagues, fresh from a film set in yet another Cheshire forest. They plan their next big creation for Netflix/BBC/Tiger Aspect. Need a crater? They’re your guys. Need to mask houses with a line of trees? Call Wainwrights! We love eavesdropping on their weird and wonderful plans.

2:45pm             The Tatton Events team arrive with some clients to show around the four enormous showgrounds on site. Us North Rangers try to wangle tickets to the upcoming open air cinema event that’s on in a few weeks’ time.

3:32pm             DOG! DOG IN THE OFFICE! Tools down for 2 minutes of cooing over the puppy.

5:00pm             The day starts to wind down. Conversations turn to dinner plans. The phone rings with a new brief for locations on the Tatton TV & Film database. Charlie and Abbie brainstorm before collating a whole host of options for the scout. Tomorrow’s diary is shuffled to accommodate the tour and the procurement of a packet of chocolate hobnobs is planned for it.

5:30pm             The client in the studios sticks her head round the door on the off chance that we can help with supplying a cow for their location shoot next week. For you, we would mooooo-ve mountains! A call is put in to our favourite dairy farmer and we’ll go to see him on Friday.

6:00pm             Time to head off. There’s kids to collect, dinners to rustle up and the latest episode of Years and Years to catch. Lights off. See you tomorrow guys!

Whether you need one desk or many, we’d love you to join us so get in touch if you’d like to visit. We’ll even include you in the tea round! info@tattonlocations.co.uk // 01565 748973