‘Scotland needs a dedicated film studio’

SCOTLAND’S film industry is suffering from lack of a national studio.

The director of the Whisky Galore remake has criticised the failure to set up a new film studio in Scotland as “self-defeating and short-sighted”.

Gillies Mackinnon raised concerns that fewer films are now being made north of the border and said a dedicated facility would help boost the industry.

“It has been on the agenda for quite a while and I’m sure it would help matters,” he said this week. “They have a studio in Wales where Dr Who is filmed and the studio in Northern Ireland has got Game Of Thrones.

“But we are not going to get that in Scotland until we provide resources to attract these kind of companies.”

He added: “They now have money in Northern Ireland to do their own films as they have created a very successful service industry for Game Of Thrones.

“We can’t do that because we don’t have a studio – so it does seem very self-defeating and very short-sighted.”