ScopeMedia StudiosBook
Studio B under neutral white light showing the curved cove and the wall-mounted backdrop roll bar

Hire · SE5 9HW, South London · from £40 · open 7 days

A quiet room, the same light, out by lunch.

Online news video wants the same few things every time: a quiet room, a look the audience recognises and an expert who can be in and out inside the hour. Studio B is sound treated and blackout capable, so the room's sound and light stay under your control through the day, and the Podcast Room does the seated guest by the hour. What a hire studio is not is a news gallery: there is no live link here, and this page is built around that.

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Straight answers

What does news video studio hire london cost at Scope?
Studio B starts at £120. Podcast Room starts at £40. Studio A starts at £160. Set-up and pack-down are inside your booked time.
Is a hire studio a news studio?
No. Scope is a small stage in South London: a sound-treated room within a room, a podcast room and a 1,200 sq ft cove studio. It is not a news gallery or an outside-broadcast facility and has no live link. It suits recorded expert interviews, explainers and pieces to camera; live production needs a broadcast facility.
Can we do a live broadcast or a live two-way from the studio?
Not as a service: a live broadcast needs a gallery and an uplink, and Scope has neither. There is high-speed Wi-Fi throughout the building but connection speeds are not published, and bring your own encoder unless we confirm otherwise. If a streamed discussion is the aim, email us the platform and the bitrate and we will confirm in writing what the building can support.
How do we keep the look consistent across a week of interviews?
Use the same room, black out the daylight and write the set-up down. Studio B is blackout capable, so write down the backdrop position and the wash setting. Photograph the frame on day one, note the chair and camera positions and bring the note back each time.
How fast can a news interview be turned around from the studio?
That depends on your edit, not the room. What the room can do is remove the causes of delay: the sound is clean as recorded, the light is yours to hold constant, Studio B has an edit and playback area for reviewing the take, and the Workshop's ten iMac workstations give an editor seats on site. Book the edit seats alongside the shoot if the piece has to go out the same day.
Where do contributors wait, and can nervous contributors be put at ease?
The building has a client lounge, a kitchen and a dressing and prep room, so a contributor can wait away from the set, and Studio B has make-up and styling zones. Consent, fairness and right of reply are editorial matters for the programme; the room's job is to let a contributor sit down somewhere quiet. Minors must be supervised.
Can a newsroom use the Podcast Room for audio-led programmes?
Yes. It is acoustically treated and camera-ready, with professional microphones and audio interfaces in the room, at a flat £40 an hour: one hour or eight at the same rate. It suits a seated host-and-guest format, a reaction interview or a podcast edition.

More in the full FAQ.

How it works

  1. 01Fix the look onceChoose the backdrop and the wash in Studio B, photograph the frame and write down the chair and camera positions. With the daylight blacked out the light is the light you rigged, so the same set-up comes back next week as it was today.
  2. 02Book the guest slots as a blockStudio B is £120 for two hours, £220 for a half day and £420 for a full day; the Podcast Room is a flat £40 an hour. Rig before the first guest and pack down after the last, inside the booked time, and leave room between guests for the room to reset.
  3. 03Quote the lightsLights are charged separately in every room but the DJ room — please enquire about our lights and we will quote for what your shoot needs.
  4. 04Know what you are bringingA hire studio is the room, not a newsroom. Scope is not a broadcast gallery and has no live link. No in-house kit list is published, so if the programme needs vision mixing, talkback or autocue, plan to bring or source it and ask what is on site. The team can source and manage crew and kit — camera, lighting, sound — and quote for it; none of it is priced on this site.

The rooms for it

Studio B dressed with a pink sofa on the white cyclorama under a fresnel light
Studio BSound treated as a room within a room and blackout capable, so the expert's answer comes back usable as recorded and the light at the end of the day matches the start. An adjustable backdrop system and a colour-washable cyclorama give the programme its own look, and the edit and playback area lets the producer check the take before the next guest sits down.From £120Check Studio B availability
The podcast room: four microphone booms around bouclé seating, under an arc lamp
Podcast RoomAcoustically treated and camera-ready, with professional microphones and audio interfaces in the room, at a flat £40 an hour: the efficient room for a seated guest, a reaction interview or an audio-led programme.From £40Check Podcast Room availability
Studio A during a live shoot, seen wide across the white infinity cove with softboxes either side
Studio A1,200 sq ft with full blackout curtains and a white drive-in cove, for the piece that needs a set, a wider frame or a second camera position. It is not sound treated, so it is the room for a visual or a stand-up, not for the quiet interview.From £160Check Studio A availability

In the building with every booking

  • Kitchen
  • Dressing and prep room
  • Client lounge
  • High-speed Wi-Fi
  • Parking

In every room but one, lights are charged separately from the room rate, so please enquire about our lights and we will quote for what your shoot needs. The exception is the DJ room, where the professional film lighting is rigged in the room and included in the rate.

Anything not listed — ceiling heights, cove dimensions, power, capacities — is on request rather than guessed at. Ask us and you will get an exact answer.

Worth reading first

Shooting News and Current Affairs Video in a Hire StudioExpert contributors, sound, eyelines, room for graphics and same-day turnaround for news video in a hire studio, and plainly what a hire studio is not.How to Film an Interview in a Studio: Sound First, Then Everything ElseHow to film an interview in a studio: sound first, then soft light that holds all day, a second camera on the right side of the line and a schedule that fits.Multi-camera Interview Set-ups in a StudioMulti-camera interview set-ups in a studio: one, two or three cameras, matching lenses, the 180-degree line, lighting two angles, lav and boom, timecode.Sound for Video in a Studio: Sync, Wild Tracks and ADRSound for video in a studio: sync sound in a treated room, planning dialogue around an untreated one, wild tracks, room tone, ADR and voiceover in the booth.Studio Portrait Lighting: Setups and Patterns ExplainedStudio portrait lighting is three lights at most, usually one. Key, fill and rim, one- to three-light setups, and the classic patterns from loop to split.Planning a Studio Shoot Day: From Call Sheet to WrapPlanning a studio shoot day: a running order for a half day and a full day with set-up and pack-down inside the block, the call sheet, lunch and the strike.

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