Evocative, powerful stories are at the heart of filming and are so often tied into the landscape. For Sense and Sensibility, that landscape includes Devon.
In an article about Sense and Sensibility, Filming in England focused on locations for the film, proving the emotional depth that can be enhance by being in the right place, with the right cast and the right crew. With wonderful words, of course.
And they reached out to the Devon Film Office, as the film-facilitation service for the county, to get our take of working with the Sense and Sensibility production.
Pop over to the Filming in England site to see what we said.
In the meantime, we’ll leave you with the words of South West locations manager Eddy Pearce:
“Scouting has taken me all round the world and there is such privilege in that, but exploring the location gems which lie closer to my home here in the South West will always feel special. I was involved from the very earliest days of production, and Georgia gave a location brief which was beautifully clear, but certainly not restrictive. This gave both the time and opportunity to dig really deep with scouting, concentrating initially on the two key house locations, Norland and Barton Cottage, both of which ended up being shot in the South West.
“Location scouting has changed hugely in recent years and, although online research is part of my process, many of the best locations are still found by poring over maps, getting my car on the road, feet on the ground, and reaching out to both personal and industry contacts.
“Filming in England is often one of my early calls, particularly for the South West where Charlotte Wood has always been hugely supportive and pro-active – sharing what they have in-house alongside contacts and ideas from within their wider network.
“Screen Somerset was also, as always, incredibly helpful, and we had plenty of support from Devon Film Office, Dorset Council, and various departments within both those councils in both scouting and prep for the shoot itself.
“Our location for Norland ended up being a stunningly characterful historic house which had never been previously shot at. Although less than 10 miles from where I live, in an area that I thought I knew like the back of my hand, I had never seen it before. It was very private and hidden, with almost no photos or reference online, and came to me via a friend of lovely local contact. A real lesson in never underestimating the location gems that can be found in the UK when time and tenacity allow!”
