Is Hollywood Opening New Studios in Toulouse France!?

Over the summer when my family from the South of France visited us in Los Angeles they were so excited to talk about the possible opening of Studios by Hollywood in our city, Toulouse. Of course you take those information with a grain of salt, knowing that someone chewing a gum walking the streets of the city wearing a "I survived King Kong - Universal Studios Hollywood" can create quite some buzz among the natives ;-)

It all started when last year a young architect from my town, Bruno Granja, contacted major studios in Hollywood with the idea to turn Francazal the newly abandoned military airbase into movie studios.

On a more personal note: ironically, I now live in Hollywood California, but I was born in Toulouse France and my family own properties in the very same town where Francazal is located and I also went to school across the street.



Quickly the negotiations between the city and Hollywood studios such as Fox, Métro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount ... became public with words that the first movies may be in action as soon as 2013 making it the largest studios in Europe.

To turn those hangars into working sound stages, 80 millions will be invested, which seems like a lot of money but in Hollywood it's the equivalent of just one movie or a nice single family home in the Hollywood Hills . Francazal has a landing strip which will be a nice amenity for A-listers and their private jets it also has a small city that was built for the army and their families which can be easily turn into VIP living for executives and crews.

One of the strongest point of Francazal is its location, right in the middle of Europe with easy access to some of the most amazing landscapes and medieval cities sprinkled all over the Midi-Pyrénées region, typical villages, mountains, and nearby beaches ... I am not saying this because it is my home but it is truly one of the most amazing places I have ever been to ... I mean look at this:

Pretty right!?

Of course the down side is that France has very strict labor codes, unlike the US or Budapest where Studios are already in action, and that may be negative point for the money making monster (the total movie industry revenue was over $80 billion in 2011). Not to mention the "almost" mandatory strikes ... this adventure should be intéressante!

A suivre ...