Scottish Enterprise announce private sector bid for film studio in Scotland
A new proposal has been received by Scottish Enterprise (on behalf of the FSDG) from a private sector developer to provide film studio infrastructure.
Scottish Enterprise Technology, Engineering and Creative Industries Director, David Smith, said: “We are pleased to have received this proposal, especially as our initial assessment suggests that it exceeds the specification laid out in the original Development Brief. This means that if successful Scotland would have one of the highest soundstages in the UK and crucially would represent good value to the public purse.
“We are working towards completing due diligence and agreeing heads of terms with the developer within the next 8 weeks, at which point we will provide a further update. Achieving this date is dependent on an acceptable deal being reached with the developer.
“We will continue to work alongside the Scottish Government and Creative Scotland to deliver effective support for the screen sector in Scotland, and this news in addition to yesterday’s funding boost is very encouraging.”
In 2013-14 the Scottish public sector invested £21.6 million in the screen sector. This is an increase of over 30% since 2007-08. Support has been rising over the past years and Creative Scotland is providing much more support than Screen Scotland did.
SG announced two new funding streams. Firstly a £2 million Tax Credit Loan Fund which will provide a loan facility to qualifying productions in Scotland to fund the use UK film, animation and high-end TV Tax Credits earlier, which will assist producers in completing the finance of their projects and move them towards production.
Secondly, a £1 million Screen Sector Skills Fund which will provide training and skills development opportunities for people already involved in the sector and young people considering a career in screen.
Creative Scotland runs a Film Location Service which promotes Scotland nationally and internationally as a place to produce film and TV and has had substantial recent success in securing mobile productions, using studio space in Cumbernauld, Dumbarton and Bathgate amongst others. This service has been successful in helping bring large scale productions such as World War Z, Skyfall, Under The Skin and Outlander to Scotland in recent years.