Rewriting the Rules
How the team behind Think of England made sustainability a creative choice, not a constraint — and based their shoot at Shadowbox Shinfield to make it possible.
The production
Think of England, the forthcoming WWII drama from director Richard Hawkins and producers Poppy and Nick O’Hagan, premieres at Raindance in June 2026 ahead of an October cinema release. The film is set in the past, but the production behind it was anything but old-school. From day one, the team set out to make a period feature with sustainability built in — not bolted on at the end. To make that ambition real, they based the shoot at Shadowbox Shinfield.
Power – a generator-free shoot
Diesel generators are typically one of the most carbon-intensive line items in a film budget — the default when a studio’s grid supply doesn’t meet production demand. Think of England didn’t hire a single one. The entire stage shoot ran on Shinfield’s renewable grid supply that was more than capable of delivering the 26,723.5 kWh used by Think of England, cutting both emissions and budget, and creating a quieter, healthier environment for the crew.
Climate control, built in
Most stages rely on hired-in heaters and air-conditioning units that burn fuel quietly across the duration of a shoot. Shinfield’s stages are thermally insulated, with heating and cooling integrated as standard, so the production didn’t need to bring any of that in. One less line item, one less fuel bill, one less source of emissions — and a comfortable set throughout.
Transport
Transport is typically the single largest portion of a feature film’s carbon footprint. The Think of England team tackled it head-on, treating travel decisions as part of the creative planning rather than an afterthought.
Cast travel
Cast travelled between London and Reading by train for rehearsals. Two German cast members made the longer journey from Berlin by rail, with paid recovery days built into the schedule to make low-carbon long-haul travel a viable alternative to flying.
An all-electric unit fleet
Every unit car on the production was electric, charged on site. With a fleet of EVs running daily transfers, the team genuinely stress-tested the studio’s charging infrastructure — and worked alongside the Shinfield team to identify and act on improvements. The result was a smoother shoot for Think of England and a stronger charging network for the productions that follow.
Waste
For most productions, generating high volumes of waste is treated as an unavoidable cost of doing business. Think of England rejected that premise. Through thoughtful choices — and a willingness to use what was already on the doorstep — waste stopped being inevitable and started being optional.
Zero-waste catering
Crew catering is one of the largest sources of waste on a film: surplus food, single-use containers, disposable cups. The production ate at The Hub, Shinfield’s on-site canteen, which served meals on real plates with reusable cutlery, all washed in-house. No disposables, no specialist waste streams to manage. And because The Hub is already there, there was no need to bring in a mobile catering unit — removing the diesel trucks, gas-powered equipment and associated emissions that typically come with one.
Circular thinking across set, props and supplies
Set construction was delivered by Constructive Creative, recommended through the studio’s local supplier network — a curated list that allows productions to source close to the studio rather than transport crews and materials across the country. Constructive Creative shared the production’s sustainability objectives, choosing materials so that the majority of the build could be reused or recycled at wrap, with as little as possible sent to landfill or incineration.
The same thinking shaped the props and period flattage hired in for the shoot which were returned at wrap. And the production donated its own WWII set pieces back to the supplier for reuse in future productions and historical reenactments. Allowing the materials to live on beyond the film.
Two further opportunities came from the wider network around the studio. A half-day office set was shot at the University of Reading — a Shinfield partner — using a real space rather than building a new one. And another feature based at the studio accepted unused stock, including office supplies, furniture and consumables, to be put to work on their production. Two productions, less waste, no need.
“To have the back-up and the network of Shadowbox was super helpful for us because it meant we didn’t have to spend loads of time trawling through databases. We already had a shortcut to the right people.” – Poppy O’Hagan, Producer.
What’s next?
Think of England achieved a generator-free stage shoot, an all-electric unit fleet, near-zero catering waste and a local supply chain — without compromise to the look, scale or schedule of an ambitious period feature. Shinfield will keep investing in the infrastructure that makes this possible. But the real lesson sits upstream: in the choices a production team makes from day one.
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