Hollywood on the Wear Sunderland's studio plans more than a 'wild dream'

There's no point in having dreams unless they are wild," says the producer Leo Pearlman when asked to contemplate the dizzying scale of his ambition to create a new Hollywood on the banks of the Wear in Sunderland.

- Mark Brown

"The idea of building one of Europe's biggest film and television studios is, of course, wild, and I almost have to play down the scale of the ambition just so people don't get scared off. But the truth is that 20 soundstages is just the start." 

Pearlman is a managing partner at the production company Fulwell 73, which has offices in Los Angeles, London and Sunderland. The name speaks volumes: Fulwell after the Fulwell Road end of Sunderland's former football ground Roker Park; 73, after the team's stunning 1973 FA Cup final win against Leeds.

Fulwell 73 has five founders Pearlman, Ben Winston, Gabe and Ben Turner and James Corden.

Its roster of productions include the Kardashians and the Friends reunion special.

The Sunderland-born Pearlman is the driving force behind what seems like an impossible dream in the city - however, he says it is realistic and achievable.

There is no reason why Sunderland cannot become the new Atlanta, he tells the Guardian on a freezing December morning.

"If you rewind 20 years, Atlanta was known for music and sport, certainly not for television and film.

There are now more soundstages in Atlanta than anywhere in the US except for California."