Los Angeles-headquartered Milk & Honey Films has opened a studio facility in the Prague suburb of Letnany, securing two large stages and looking to wrap the acquisition of a third. The complex has been dubbed Milk & Honey Studios Letnany. Plans call for Milk & Honey to purchase contiguous property to accommodate a state-of-the-art live action and digital production destination offering a range of filmmaking services.
Milk & Honey Letnany was formed in the face of a growing shortage of stage space in Europe and the uncertain future of existing studios in Prague. The Czech Republic facility will serve international feature film and commercial production, as well as host Milk & Honey’s own productions.
Milk & Honey bought the first two stages along with surrounding acreage and storage facilities from airplane parts manufacturer Letov. The purchase price was not disclosed. The stages are 102’x313’x35′ and 82’x313’x20′, respectively. The company is in final negotiations for the third stage, which is 102’x 198’x43′. The three stages have been under the functional control of Milk & Honey for the past year, which leased them to producers of The Monkey King and Frank Herbert’s Dune. Milk & Honey Production Services (MHPS), a division of Milk & Honey Films, provided production services for both miniseries.
MHPS, which orchestrates shoots for feature films, TV and commercials, maintains offices in Los Angeles, Prague, Montreal, Mexico City, Rome (through an alliance with Panorama Films) and London. Earlier this year, MHPS handled production services in Prague for director Tim Burton’s first U.S. spot project, a Timex package, out of Fallon, Minneapolis. The job was produced via Los Angeles-based A Band Apart 35mm, which represents Burton for commercials.
In addition to MHPS, Milk & Honey Films also maintains Milk & Honey Pictures, a Los Angeles-based shop that produces creative content for the feature, TV and home video markets. The overall Milk & Honey Films was launched in ’96 by executive producers Howard Woffinden and Tomas Krejci, and partner Greg Gold, who first established himself as a director.
A seasoned studio head will be brought in to operate Milk & Honey Letnany, which is currently being managed by Prague-based Krejci. The company plans to methodically renovate all three stages and to divide one space into an insert stage and production offices. Milk & Honey is in talks to lease portions of the new Letnany facility to vendors that will offer other filmmaking services. The long-term goal is to establish a facility that also provides complete visual effects shooting services, from motion capture and green screen to underwater shooting tanks.
