FFS: How much did it cost Take That to shoot a music video at UCL?

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Welcome to FFS: For Freedom’s Sake, a regular investigations instalment where we tell you everything you really didn’t think you needed to know about where UCL’s money goes, through the power of Freedom of Information requests. Get Ready For It – after lots of Patience waiting Up All Night on a late FOI request, Gerard Westhoff can reveal the answer to the question on nobody’s lips.

Take That are everybody’s mum’s favourite boyband. But did you know that at the end of last year they filmed a music video at UCL? The song Get Ready for It, from the soundtrack to the spy action-comedy hit Kingsmen, has a video consisting of the band performing on the iconic Portico, with a backdrop of images from the film.

UCL has a rich history of being used as a filming location. Director and UCL alumnus Christopher Nolan has made a habit of shooting scenes for his movies here, making no campus tour complete without the smug boast of Inception shooting in the main library. However, bar UCLU Film Soc’s Coldplay spoof Bello, there is a distinct lack of popular music videos shot here – with the closest before Gary Barlow and co. being when Girls Aloud graced the Portico steps for a KitKat advert back in 2008.

So how much does it cost to film a music video in UCL’s quad?

Well, for Take That’s shoot UCL charged a cool £3500 plus VAT. That could have bought the band 466 copies of Robbie Williams’ (who re-joined the band for an album and tour in 2010 but unfortunately he wasn’t Back for Good) latest self-released album, Under the Radar Volume 1.

Imagine walking out of the library on the night of 14th December 2014 and stumbling across Take That performing in the quad – wouldn’t that have just been the Greatest Day? Well, consider being a campus security guard; an additional £648 was spent on staff to cover the shoot. I bet it was a night they’ll Never Forget.

So if you’re in a band and searching for a nice iconic location for you to Shine in your next music video, you need to stop and ask yourself the question: How Deep Is Your Love of UCL? Probably not deep enough to shell out £3,500 in location fees.