English staff to be imported for boom in Scots film-making

While the UK film industry suffers from a second year of recession, Scotland is bucking the trend with a record number of movies due to be made north of the Border by Christmas - so many that producers are having to import camera crews from England.

After a quiet summer, six films are about to go into production. Jonny Lee Miller, Bob Hoskins, Shirley Henderson, Robbie Coltrane, Dougray Scott, James Cosmo and Kevin McKidd will all be on location in Scotland this winter.

The rush of activity comes after a quiet summer but a busy start to the year, when at least five films, including the Ewan McGregor feature, Young Adam, all used Scotland as their principal location.

The picture in Scotland is in stark contrast to the rest of the UK. The British Isles as a whole hosted 38 new films in the first three quarters of this year, compared to 62 in 2001, according to industry weekly Screen International. The collapse this year centres on home-financed productions, while in 2001, the UK industry suffered a 57% slump in inward investment from overseas productions.

Among the films about to begin shooting in Scotland is Bum's Rush, Dougray Scott's long-awaited flick about a group of slackers who think they have found gold in the Highlands. The cast includes Kevin McKidd and Denis Lawson. Scott will produce rather than star in the movie, which will be made in the heart of whisky country, near Grantown-on-Spey.

Peter Broughan's first film since Rob Roy, The Flying Scotsman, the story of champion cyclist Graeme Obree, goes into production in Ayr next month. Bob Hoskins has just agreed to star alongside Jonny Lee Miller, who will play Obree, and Shirley Henderson is signed up for the female lead.

In Glasgow, the Scottish Bafta winner May Miles Thomas will step behind the camera again to direct Solid Air, a thriller about asbestos poisoning on the Clyde.

Also about to go into production is the children's feature, Greyfriars Bobby, the story of the faithful terrier last transferred to the screen by Disney in 1961.

Norman Stone, who directed the original television version of the CS Lewis story, Shadowlands, will be filming his modern day passion play, Mandancin', in Glasgow.

Finally, Dornoch will provide the setting for an adaptation of Rosamunde Pilcher's novel, Winter Solstice, in which a disparate group of characters take refuge in a Scottish estate.

None of the productions will have budgets much more than (pounds) 3 million but, added to the raft of films made in the spring and a very busy year for television drama, they will attract around (pounds) 20m of outside investment into the country.

The figure pales in comparison with 1995, when more than (pounds) 60m was spent on making Rob Roy and Braveheart, but Scottish Screen location manager Kevin Cowl said the good news is that the film industry is now bringing a reliable (pounds) 20m into Scotland each year.

"We are seeing consolidation now of a higher level of spending," he claimed. "In the early to mid-1990s, the amount of money that movies, television productions and commercials were attracting into Scotland could fluctuate from (pounds) 10m to (pounds) 20m. What we are seeing is a fairly steady level of production of probably (pounds) 20m a year."

Commercials provide the bread and butter living for film crews, with an average of one a week being made in Scotland.

The busiest year to date in terms of the number of movies made was 1999, when 11 films were produced, including Beautiful Creatures, House Of Mirth and Women Talking Dirty. But the sheer weight of television production taking place in 2002 means camera crews have been busier than ever before. BBC Scotland series such as Monarch Of The Glen, 2000 Acres Of Sky and Rockface are just winding up, and STV has produced several instalments of Taggart this year so far. Also made in Glasgow was the yet-to-be-screened Robot Wars-style show Mechanoids. The second series of Channel 4 sitcom The Book Group is currently in production, as is a big BBC political period drama called The Key, now filming in Dumbarton. And Robbie Coltrane is preparing to return to the small screen in ITV's The Plan Man, a two- part drama about a lawyer who designs the perfect crime.

James Cosmo has a part in no less than three of the forthcoming films. He will play a gangland boss in both Mandancin' and Bum's Rush, and an ageing biker/garage owner/wise man in Solid Air.

Despite the need for studio space and crews, it emerged last week that Cosmo and Eurythmics star Dave Stewart's plan to build a Highland film studio and school near Inverness could be delayed until spring.

Work on the greenfield site overlooking the city was due to start in September, but the process of purchasing the land has taken longer than expected.

Roy Davis, project manager for the studio, said: "We are buying from one source but the problem has been getting all the legal entities in place which has taken a rather long time. We are looking to get the whole thing signed off and agreed within the next couple of weeks."

However, building work may have to wait until 2003, as it has already snowed in Inverness and no major work can take place if the ground is frozen.

"We may have to wait for better weather in the spring," said Davis.

The delay is already proving expensive. It has meant the loss of one feature, which was due to begin shooting this winter, and Davis will have to persuade two others, including the story of the Findhorn Foundation, Garden Of Angels, to change their schedules.

Cosmo said the current shortage of film crews showed there was a clear need for the studio and its school.

"People are having difficulty crewing," he said. They are having to get crews up from England. It does show it would be good if we could increase the skills base."

Copyright 2002
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