Councils in Hertfordshire have signed a charter to help film companies shoot on location around the county.

Representatives from the film industry and local authorities gathered at Elstree Studios, in Shenley Road, Borehamwood, yesterday to celebrate Hertfordshire’s new Film Friendly Charter.

All ten of Hertfordshire’s district and borough councils signed the charter with Creative England, agreeing to make it easier for filmmakers to shoot productions in the country.

It includes a set of expectations of how each of the country and district boroughs will work with producers.

Creative England estimates that £8.6m was spent in Hertfordshire as a direct result of location filming, with a single film bringing up £42,000 a day into the local economy.

Chairman of Elstree Studios and Hertsmere Council leader, Morris Bright, said: “It’s a win-win situation because if we bring people into Hertfordshire and Borehamwood, we all benefit.

“The profit we make will go to local services. This will help local services, shops and bars who employ local people.

“It’s important we make Hertsmere in particular as film friendly as possible. Everything we can do to our advantage to make people come to us is going to benefit our people.

“We are big players when it comes to location and that brings in a lot of money. It will enable us to stay as versatile as possible.

“We want people to come back.”

Creative England will offer advice on Hertfordshire’s locations, providing links to available film crew and helping arrange any permits required to film. Elstree was once hailed a British Hollywood as it housed four major movie sets – MGM, ATV, Elstree and BBC.

This year, the BBC Elstree Centre celebrated its 100th anniversary and Elstree Studios, in Shenley Road, has been standing tall for nearly 90 years.

Stars to have worked at Elstree include Harrison Ford when working on both the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films and Jack Nicholson in Stanley Kubrick's film of The Shining.

Other notable productions include Murder on the Orient Express, Big Brother and, more recently, Strictly Come Dancing.

Hayley Armstrong, production liaison manager at Creative England, said: “Filming makes a significant contribution to Hertfordshire’s local economy and the county has a long association with some of the biggest names in Film and TV.

“By signing of the Film Friendly Charter, Hertfordshire is giving a clear signal to the industry that the region is film-friendly.

“It also shows a strong commitment to encouraging the facilitation and development of film and television in the county.

“Just last year, we supported 79 productions to film on location in Hertfordshire including 19 feature films, and I look forward to seeing this number rise in the next few years.”

The highest earning film of 2014, Paddington, was filmed in Hertfordshire.

Jonah Coombes, location manager on Paddington, said: “I really relished the opportunity to bring location and studio filming of Paddington to Hertfordshire because there is always such a collaborative, open minded and can-do approach.”