A Scottish film chief said the industry could be “at the dawn of a golden age” at a major event held in Inverness last night.
John Archer, chairman of Independent Producers Scotland, was a keynote speaker at the Innovatefilm event in the city’s Eden Court Theatre.
He said that extra investment in TV production next year will create an “increase in location filming” in the Highlands and provide benefits all over Scotland.
Recent blockbuster productions such King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Steven Spielberg’s The Big Friendly Giant were filmed in locations including Skye, Shieldaig, Applecross, the Outer Hebrides and Orkney.
In his address to a full house last night, Mr Archer said the Scottish film industry is “poised on the edge of great things” in the wake of “years of underfunding.”
He added: “All this television work feeds in to supporting the craft skills, crews, writers, producers and directors that we need for film. In total this is an injection of almost an extra £40million a year into Scottish production. It’s the shot in the arm our production businesses have long needed.”
Creative Scotland is also considering that their film unit double its budget to £20million a year to support the growth of the Scottish screen industry.
Mr Archer, also managing director of Glasgow-based Hopscotch Films, added: “The value of incoming productions has increased by £30million a year over the past decade. Later this month a new shared services project will be launched, financed jointly by Creative Scotland and Scottish Enterprise, to focus Scottish production businesses on growth. Prospects for the future look better than ever.
“If we can get this right, it should be the dawn of a new golden age.”
One of the panel members last night was Lindsay McGee, producer of a short film called Hula which was filmed in the Dornie area, close to Eilean Donan Castle.
The film features former Taggart star Blythe Duff in the lead role of a divorced woman in her early 50s, whose daughter leaves home, but feels liberated after turning the spare room into a guest room and meeting inspiring people.
It was written and directed by local woman Robin Haig – along with writers Claire Nicol and Mandy Lee – who won the BAFTA Scotland new talent award for Hula.
Last night’s event was part of the XpoNorth creative industries programme and VisitScotland’s Innovatethenation talk series.
