Boost for Scotland's film & TV sector

In its Programme for Government, Scottish Government announced further investment of £10M into Scotland’s film and TV sector, bringing investment to £20M next year. This comes on the back of the announcement that in January 2018 the National Film and Televison School is opening a base at BBC Scotland’s studios at Pacific Quay and Dumbarton, with a focus on delivering training not provided elsewhere including production accounting, script editing and factual development.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said:
“We live in a golden age of film and TV production. Over the next decade, the opportunities for attracting investment to Scotland will be considerable. We have already increased support for the screen sector, and last month I was delighted to announce that the National Film and Television School is setting up a base in Glasgow – the first of its kind outside of London.

“But I can announce today that we will go further and do what those working in the sector have asked of us – in next year’s budget we will provide an additional £10 million to bring screen development, production and growth funding to £20 million a year.”

The funding announcement is terrific news for filming in Scotland. Coupled with the recent announcement of the National Film Training School setting up at the BBC’s production facilities in Glasgow, this is two big steps forward. Hopefully the next step will be the development of further film studio provision in Scotland and particularly here in the south east of Scotland.

2017 has already been a huge year for filming in Edinburgh already and every day we’re amazed at the productions coming through. Having this funding in place will set us up for even more opportunities for both the indigenous international screen productions, and it’s exciting to see where it will take Edinburgh.

Creative Scotland announced this week that 2016 production spend was up 30% on the previous year, reaching £69.4M in total. Since 2007, spend has increased more than 200%.

Natalie Usher, Director of Screen at Creative Scotland said:
“The continued growth in production spend is testament to our world class talent, crews, facilities and award-winning locations. It also demonstrates the impact of continued support from Scottish Government and the National Lottery through Creative Scotland’s funding alongside the UK’s Film and TV tax reliefs.”

Good news all round. Here's to the continued growth of the Scottish screen industries.