Film Office for Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and the Scottish Borders
Film Office for Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and the Scottish Borders
Filming in the Edinburgh City Region
"As a filmmaker with 30 years experience shooting all over the world, this is the single most gratifying experience I have had of shooting outside of America."
Guillermo del Toro, on filming Frankenstein in Edinburgh, 2024
"I’ve filmed in most of the world’s great cities which makes coming home here all the better. To me, Edinburgh seems to have been built as a film set."
Sean Connery
Why should you film in the Edinburgh city region?
Here are just a few reasons:
- A breathtaking array of locations dating from the medieval to the contemporary. Edinburgh can also boast a unique geology which invades the city providing rural settings right in the heart of its urban centre, while East Lothian and the Scottish Borders offer picturesque villages, churches, sandy beaches, spectacular mansions and historic castles, and Midlothian offers stunning woodlands, historic mining landscapes and stunning stately homes only a stone's throw from the city.
- A highly skilled crew base across all departments - 25% of Scotland's crew base live in the Edinburgh city region.
- Dedicated film studio FirstStage Studios with over 90,000 square feet of flexibly configured, blacked-out, part soundproofed shooting space, up to 82 feet/25m high, and circa 35,000 square feet of workshops.
- Co-operation from the council across all service departments. The City of Edinburgh Council and East Lothian Council signed up to new Film Charters in 2023 respectively, confirming their commitment to facilitating filmmakers.
- Filmmakers do not need a permit to film on public streets unless filming is going to cause an obstruction.
- Excellent transport links. Edinburgh Airport, only 8 miles from the city centre, flies to more destinations than any other Scottish airport. Waverley Station, in the heart of the city, provides high speed rail links across the UK.
- During the summer, the hours of daylight are among the longest in Europe and the quality of light is spectacular all year round.
- Dedicated film office support for productions. We guarantee a response to filmmaker requests within 24 hours (Mon-Fri).
- Film Edinburgh offers recce support for feature films and TV dramas.
This section of the website is dedicated to answering your questions about filming in the south east of Scotland. If you can't find what you're looking for, contact us.