TV and film industry a bright spot for Scotland
Despite operating under difficult circumstances, Scotland’s film industry kept the cameras rolling last year and the country’s popularity with production companies is set to continue. Isabel Davis, executive director of Screen Scotland, says the past 12 months were the “busiest it’s ever been” for filming, and attributes the industry’s growth in part to improved infrastructure, such as the film and TV studio space now open in Edinburgh’s Port of Leith. “Scotland has always done well with location shooting because it’s such a beautiful country, we’ve got unbelievable architecture, and we’re versatile,” she explained. “But where we’ve struggled is managing to keep productions in Scotland for the rest of the shoot – all of the work that happens in the studio, interior builds for example, has often gone elsewhere. So, having the studio in Leith up and running has been huge. She continued: “There is an insatiable appetite for content, and people want to come and work in Scotland, not only for our locations, but because we have amazing crew and talent.”
With Amazon filming new original series The Rig in Edinburgh, Apple TV + starting production on Tetris: The Movie in Glasgow, and TV series such as Shetland, Guilt and Outlander all returning, Isabel is optimistic for 2021. She said: “We’re excited about 2021, as there’s a huge number of high-end productions coming to Scotland. At a time when so many businesses are in real trouble, we are a growing sector.
“It’s a funny moment to feel almost celebratory as things are incredibly grim, but we’re very pleased to be a bright spot on the horizon for Scotland.”