Disauthority was set up by three friends in a garden shed and is now one of the key drivers in a plan to make Croydon a UK film hub
“A lot of people think I’m crazy to set up an office in Croydon, and I’m like, why?”
Norwegian-born Marcus Hundsnes is often asked why he chose to base the post-production film company, Disauthority, in Croydon. While the decision still puzzles some in the film industry, Marcus, who launched the company with his two friends from his grandmother’s shed in Wallington before upgrading to office space in Croydon, insists it was “super straightforward”.
From their custom-built visual effects and colour grading facility, lined with high-end equipment and just a short walk from Croydon Town Hall, Marcus said the borough offered something that others didn’t.
Compared to Soho, the traditional home of the UK post-production industry, Croydon is cheap and provides room for the young company to grow where it couldn’t elsewhere.
“One of the main angles we can sell post-production to the industry is that we don’t pass on the Soho rates,” Marcus told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).
“It is almost an inside joke that if you go to any of the big shots in the Soho sphere, most of your fee is going straight to the council because of business rates, and the rent that they are paying is so expensive.”
Starting out with friends Zain Haris and Raiyan Chinoy in his grandmother’s garden shed in Wallington, Disauthority was eventually able to secure office space in Central Croydon with the help of a start-up grant. While the company has just launched a colour-grading suite in Farringdon where it also maintains a small office for client meetings and to stay connected to the “sphere”, Marcus says the “business end” of their operation is firmly based at its Metropolitan House premises on North End in Croydon.
From there, Marcus and Disauthority’s 12 staff members work to add the finishing touches to indie and streamer-ready films with one of their current projects featuring at the Cannes Film Festival. They worked on Ray Panthaki’s drama In Starland, which was selected for the Great 8 showcase at Cannes, highlighting new UK feature films from first-time and emerging filmmakers.
Marcus also has a family connection to Croydon, with his mother being from the area. They’d visit Wallington and Croydon during school holidays to see his grandmother.
“Because I was only ever seeing Croydon through the eyes of being on holiday, Croydon never had anything bad about it,” he told the LDRS.
“The fact that Croydon has such an infamous look to it is enough for people to immediately disapprove of it,” he said. Yet his own lack of prejudice towards the borough and the ease of setting up there made it a perfect place for him to start in the world of post-production.
“Being in Croydon is one of the reasons we were able to grow really quickly,” he said. By using his own construction skills and not having to contend with Central London planning restrictions, Marcus said he has been able to reconfigure the layout of office space to accommodate Disauthority’s growing ambitions.
Yet, this commitment to the “cheap, good, fast” philosophy goes beyond breaking down office walls, as he also builds the computers that allow the VFX and colouring specialists to fine-tune films. He keeps post-production costs down by buying equipment at auction from failed companies, including a cinema-ready projector that would have cost £65,000 new but which he purchased for £10,000.
This thrifty approach is necessary given ongoing challenges in the field, where he says 20 companies have gone bankrupt in the last 18 months. This pressure is further compounded by the legacy of the Hollywood writers’ strike and COVID.
He says the cheap operating costs and rent in Croydon allow Disauthority to stay afloat while others sink. He says the borough also offers benefits to his own staff.
“One member of staff traded an hour-long commute into London for a 15-minute walk into the office in Croydon, for essentially the same job role,” he said.
Zain, a colourist and co-founder of Disauthority, lives in East Croydon just minutes from the company’s offices. He told the LDRS that working outside Central London has made breaking into the notoriously impenetrable industry more achievable.
He also said he was surprised by the strength of Croydon’s arts scene, saying: “Since we have been here we have met a lot of creatives I wouldn’t have known existed here.”
Welcome to Crollywood
While Croydon is full of content creators and artists, Disauthority remains the only post-production company of its size operating in the borough. This is something Marcus, and now Croydon Council, want to change.
Earlier this month, Croydon Council announced the ‘CRO-llywood’ working group to bring together film industry leaders, educators, creative businesses and production professionals to turn the borough’s filming success into jobs, skills, investment and opportunities for local people. The group, of which Marcus is a member, is due to launch in the coming months.
Mayor Jason Perry declared at the time: “We have the locations, the talent, the transport connections and the creative energy.”
He also met with representatives from the British Film Commission to discuss creating a “full pipeline” of roles across the sector – from filmmakers, producers and writers, to editors, camera operators, sound engineers, visual effects artists and production teams.
Croydon already boasts a strong film heritage, including being the birthplace of Lawrence of Arabia director David Lean, as well as its frequent use as a backdrop for a wide range of high-profile films. In 2024, the LDRS spoke to the team that helps bring films like All of Us Strangers to the borough.
Croydon also made headlines earlier this year when Taylor Swift transformed the Whitgift Centre into a 1990s-inspired set piece for her ‘Opalite’ music video.
“The reason why anyone is talking about film in Croydon now is because, of all people, Taylor Swift decided to shoot a music video at the shopping centre,” Marcus told the LDRS.
However, while its appeal to film location scouts has got Croydon on the big screen, Marcus believes more is needed to ensure films are actually made in the borough.
“Productions are coming into the borough and using it as a location, but location isn’t a strong enough reason for films to continue to come here as they can find locations anywhere,” he said.
Regarding the council, Marcus said: “It’s great that they are starting to care about film. My big point to them is by bringing films in, we will be bringing in more money for the borough.”
Beyond the “one-time funding” of grants, Marcus wants to see a tax incentive on eligible spend in post-production in Croydon. He said: “From the moment that exists, we will see an incredible amount of companies down here.”
He added that if enough people in the industry bang the drum for Croydon, others will follow. “The film industry is a herd of sheep — it will only do what the sheep in front of it is doing,” he said. “If no one takes that risk, then nothing is going to happen because the industry is so set in its ways.”
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