Action at last: plan for film studio in Scotland
‘Approval in principle’ for long-awaited development
SCOTLAND is in line for its first film studio after decades of calls for one.
The Herald on Sunday has learned t that Creative Scotland, which has a new screen body, Screen Scotland, is shortly to put a private-public proposition, with a specific site in mind, out to tender.
The plan received an “approval in principle” from Fiona Hyslop, the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, on July 18, and a “prospective landlord” is in commercial discussions.
The news has emerged on the weekend that the latest blockbuster filmed in Scotland – Outlaw King starring Chris Pine – had its premiere. A new studio would enable the country to attract a raft of similar projects, for both big and small screen.
Scotland has always been in big demand as a great place to shoot a film. But, despite repeated attempts, the facilities to do more than that – to turn basic moving images into a complete movie – have not been available. However, all that could at last be about to change
WHAT do Wales, Northern Ireland, England, and even Yorkshire and Bristol have, which Scotland is lacking?
Not mountains of course, or ruined castles, or buildings replete with Victorian elegance or urban grit. Not even film crew or directors, screen writers or location experts.
No, the answer – as it has been for decades – is film studios: several sturdy, capacious, weather-resistant, flexible film studios, ideal for both visiting Hollywood blockbusters, for making long-form dramas for online streaming platforms, for crafting indigenous movies or recording TV dramas.
As one prominent MSP, culture committee convener Joan McAlpine, lamented earlier this year, the call for a film studio for Scotland has been made, and not answered, since the 1940s.
Scotland, at present, needs not just one, but several. Nearly all industry experts agree, with one lobbying group saying it is now “more urgent than ever”. The screen industries, boosted by tax cuts, are a proven boon for the UK economy, and Scotland too.
The British Film Institute (BFI) said last week that the UK film and TV industry generated a record £7.9 billion in 2016, helped by Government tax reliefs.
But any industry needs premises: Scotland, apart from some industrial spaces which can be used temporarily, only has one full-time studio: the Wardpark Studios at Cumbernauld with its four sound stages. However, that is used solely for the successful time-travel romantic drama Outlander, and likely will be for the next two or three years, with little availability for anything else.
In comparison, Wales now has several studios, including a Pinewood extension that could have been in Scotland, as has Northern Ireland.
Yorkshire has a studio, and last week the need for Scotland to compete with other parts of the UK was underlined when Steven Knight, the Birmingham-born screenwriter, film director and creator of Peaky Blinders, revealed plans to open a six-stage TV and film studio complex in the Midlands city.
The 20-acre site, called Mercian Studios, will be located near Birmingham airport and include six sound stages.
Scotland, by contrast, seems to have, when faced with the prospect of building film studios – Wardpark aside – been gripped by a case of soundstage-fright. Various plans, from prospective studios in the Highlands to plans for the outskirts of Edinburgh, have risen and fallen like apparitions.
But is this situation about to change? It could be. It is understood the outline of a publicprivate solution could be unveiled before Christmas.
The Herald on Sunday has learned that Creative Scotland, which has a new screen body, Screen Scotland, is shortly to put a private-public studio proposition, with a specific site in mind, to tender to interested companies.
This will be a different proposition from 2015, when the body and Scottish Enterprise put several suggested business cases out to tender, with little success.
The plan received an “approval in principle” from Fiona Hyslop, the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, on July 18, and a “prospective landlord” is in commercial discussions.
Now Screen Scotland is to recruit a project manager to “drive the next steps” in the plan.
Where this studio might be is not known, but the 2014 EKOS consultancy’s report into the potential for film studio in Scotland, for Scottish Enterprise, suggested a site in the central belt with good transport links.
Iain Munro, the interim chief executive of Creative Scotland, says that the new studio plan – still largely under wraps – could be a “step change” for the screen industry north of the border, and boost the already £95 million the screen industries bring to the country.
He says that, in combination with the new Screen Scotland unit, “permanent, sustainable
studio facilities are a particular focus”. Munro said: “There is already studio provision in Scotland, but Screen Scotland recognises, in order to deliver that ambition, and the step change for growth in the sector, a studio remains a central proposition.
“We shouldn’t overlook that there are other facilities in play, but this central proposition is the fact we’ve been working on a technical business case ... in order to deliver this central priority.
“We are doing our due diligence – the important thing is that we are at an advanced stage, and are about to embark on the next stage.”
The next stage is putting the idea out to tender, and Munro said “we understand that for some time, there’s been a real desire for Scotland to take up this opportunity, and the potential for this sector is huge, and there is so much more than we can do.”
He added: “Once we go to tender, that will be about securing an operator for a facility, and that is quite an exciting new stage.”
Munro does not think Scotland is starting from a “blank piece of paper” in Scotland, with Wardpark and other facilities that can be used on temporary basis.
He added: “We have Outlander here, production growth is up, but this significant studio is a game-changing element that will be key to that development in the next five years.
“It’s a real priority, I cannot impress that enough.”
Producers, film-makers and location experts all agree a large-scale studio complex is needed in Scotland.
At present, big productions come to Scotland for its natural beauty, its castles and mountains and beaches, its urban elegance and city-scape toughness, but rarely stay for their whole shoot: there is no ready-made studio space to hold them and keep them for long periods.
Game Of Thrones, the hugely successful television fantasy drama, famously considered Scotland as a home, but was lured
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