Crown Works to be 'Pallywood' of the north and a gamechanger says city leader
“In ten years time I envisage this site as being the ‘Pallywood’ of television and film production in the north and a real gamechanger for a our city”
The words of Sunderland City Council leader Michael Mordey after confirmation that construction of phase one of the new Crown Works Film Studios will begin in July 2026 with the initial film studios set to open at the end of 2027.
Yesterday (March 9) the North East mayor Kim McGuinness announced £38.5m of new funding for what was described as Phase One of the development, in addition to £25m of funding as part of the Devolution Deal which established the North East mayor.
Phase One will see the creation of a 125,000 sq ft film studio including a new build facility and refurbishment of the Doxford Printworks building. Once complete, the facility will be capable of hosting live events and gameshows, as well as blockbuster films and TV projects.
Cllr Mordey said: “It’s really exciting to be here today and I’m over the noon to announce the start of this development which in time could become as significant as when Nissan arrived in Sunderland all those years ago.
“This funding represents a clear backing from the North East mayor and phase one alone will create around 350 jobs. It’s not just the actors, make-up artists, and cameramen, but also those additional jobs in things like catering and the construction workers creating the sets.
“This development is going to create the largest television and film studios in the North of England and is a major boost for our city’s economy.
“It’s going to be a real gamechanger and open up a complete new industry for our young people.”
Whilst the completion of the facility in Pallion on the banks of the Wear will create one of the largest film studios in the North of the UK, the current investment remains a long way short of the of the £450m original estimated cost of creating what was planned to be the largest film studios in Europe.
A phased approach is now being taken after the studios’ main backers, financiers Cain International, pulled out of the development in June (2025).
However, with phase one now being funded by public rather than private money, both the City Council leader and North East mayor Kim McGuinness are confident this will just be the start of a much bigger development.
Cllr Mordey said: “This initial modest investment is a significant gamble which I’m extremely confident will lead in time to a bigger development.
“Film production in the region is up by 130% in the last three years. There’s clearly a demand, and once phase one is complete and proves to be a success I’m confident it will act as a catalyst bringing in private investment for further development.
“Once these studios are fully booked it will prove our business case to move on with phases two and three.
“It’s the same situation as the Riverside development. We built the initial Beam building and when developers saw what was happening, they came in with additional investment.
“This whole site is still earmarked for the film studios and so there’s massive scope for expansion.
“In ten years time I want to see Crown Works as the not just the biggest film studios in the north, but in the whole country.”
It’s a sentiment shared by the region’s mayor, Kim McGuinness who said: “As a region and city we already know we can do it (put on TV and film productions), all we need is the infrastructure, which is what this phase one development will provide.
“Film and television companies are now going to have a studio space and we know this will lead to more investment because there is space to grow.
“We want to bring some of the biggest television and film productions here to the city of Sunderland and the North East.
“We’re going to deliver this film studios by the end of 2027 with room to grow as demand increases - the sky really is the limit.
“We know we can do this better than almost anywhere else in the country. The film industry has the potential to create thousands of sustainable jobs and in ten years time I want to see the studios as one of the biggest employers in our region.
“People working in the creative industries will no longer have to travel to other parts of the country to achieve their goals.
“We love seeing our region on television and in films and this will be great to see, because we deserve it.”
Whilst there may still be some disappointment that private backers have not yet been found to fund the original plans, Cllr Mordey also feels there is some merit in taking a phased approach.
He said: “We have looked at other film studios in places like Belfast and talked to people in the industry and their advice is that if we went and built 18 studios in one go you would end up with a lot of them standing empty, and so we have listened and learned from what they have said.”