Seeing Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie walking down Deptford High Street may seem unlikely but two men want to see it happen. RICHARD SIMCOX reports on the latest step in the town's transformation into a centre for the arts...

AT THE height of Hollywood's influence, the movie moguls who ran the studios had the ability to make or break a career on a whim.

Now their power has waned but the studios are still forces to be reckoned with.

To be a small fish in the huge pond of the movie world could be, at best, daunting and, at worst, infuriating.

But one small enterprise is hoping to break into this closed sphere from its unlikely home on a Deptford trading estate.

Studio facility Access, which opened a month ago, has already welcomed its first crew, a production company called Maverick making a short film about blind dancers for Channel 4.

Based on Faircharm Trading Estate, the 1,200sq ft facility is run by art gallery director Alex Chappel and photography expert Joel Cantor.

Mr Chappel, 27, who studied film-making at university, said: "We were actually looking to set up a photography studio when we saw this place and realised we could do something different.

"We want to make art. That is what we are all about but if it takes off then all the better.

"Our first shoot went very well but it was extremely tiring because we were there all day and there was a lot of standing around.

"But it's been marvellous. We didn't expect to have clients running around so early on.

"We've just had a record company in looking for a space to do a pop video. They wouldn't say the name of their band but did say it was well-known."

His partner, Mr Cantor, 31, previously helped to run a make-over studio in London but was itching to do something more creative.

Similarly-minded entrepreneurs have flocked to Faircharm in recent years.

The estate now plays host to several production companies, including a special effects outfit called Complete Fabrication which has done photographic effects for several Financial Times television adverts.

Mr Chappel says this influx of creative talent into south east London is because areas such as Soho and Shoreditch, where there has been a recent boom in artistic enterprises, are becoming too expensive.

He added: "Deptford is absolutely brilliant.

"It has the space and I think we'll see the same happen here as in Shoreditch.

"We'll certainly be working very closely with our colleagues on the estate and we might have to rename it Faircharm Studios."

July 6, 2001 14:50

Richard Simcox