FIRST OFF . . .

There’s been another offer made for Elstree Studios, Britain’s largest film lot, and the new suitors want to keep the studio operational. The Shield Group, a publicly held property firm, has teamed up with the Samuelson Group and the British Film and Television Producers Assn. to offer British financier Peter Earl and his Tranwood Earl bank 31 million (about $53.7 million) to take Elstree and its 28-acre back lot off Earl’s hands. Earl paid 20 million (about $34 million) to Cannon Films Inc. in June for the Elstree property in suburban London. Earl has said he plans to develop the entire 28 acres, but the Shield-Samuelson consortium wants to keep Elstree going as a film studio and develop only its unused back lot--about 13 acres of what is regarded as prime real estate. A meeting between the two parties is expected to take place today. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Greater London officials are saying privately that they favor any deal that would keep Elstree working as a studio--an idea also strongly favored by American film makers such as Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.