Scotland's creative talent must be given opportunities and support

The National

12 hours ago

As we marvel at the recent social media posts of Matt Damon discovering the wonders of Buckie, as in Thistle FC, on location in Morayshire filming The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan's upcoming action fantasy epic, it must be tempting to see such visiting productions as a sign that Scotland's screen sectors are flourishing. In reality, there's almost no connection or correlation.
Originating outside Scotland, these movie shoots create very few jobs here. The pre- and post-production work is all done elsewhere. The main body of the film crew flies in, bringing their kit with them. Hotel rates are heavily negotiated, breakfasts and lunches supplied by productions, minimising location spend. What about jobs for local screen talent?
My web of film and TV contacts tells me eight locals have been hired as special effects technicians on Spidey 4. A few more are working in the costume department and driving cast and crew to and from the set. Most Scots hired are low-paid location marshals who stop the public from walking into shot or being injured. The majority of those hired aren't film and TV professionals. With the exception of a few well-placed, and timed pyrotechnics, no-one working in a creative role based in Scotland has been hired. No producers, directors, cinematographers, heads of departments, etc. So, what are the benefits?
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Glasgow City Council says visiting productions generated £33 million for the city's economy last year. How do they know? After all, movie studios don't divulge their budget details. The Council's Film Office relies on a daily estimate for out-of-London productions developed by Creative England. All movies aren't created equal money-wise, so it's essentially guesswork, and what's missing from the equation is that filmmakers based in Glasgow – and elsewhere in Scotland – don't see a penny of this bonanza in direct support.
John Swinney was right to say recently that 'more needs to be done to increase the number of Scots benefitting from Scotland's screen industry', yet much of the support on offer here is being awarded to screen talent based elsewhere.
Let me put it another way – Scotland does not make feature films. When was the last time you went to see a film in the cinema made by screen talent based in Scotland? The Outrun, released last autumn, perhaps? Filmed in Orkney and London, it's based on the bestselling memoir by Amy Liptrot, who is Scottish. But it's a real stretch of the imagination to claim it's a Scottish film. The director and screenwriter, Nora Fingscheidt, is German. The Swiss-born cinematographer, Yunus Roy Imer, is based in Berlin and London. The film's star, Saoirse Ronan, is Irish. Her husband, Jack Lowden, attached as a producer, is Scottish. Boom! It received Screen Scotland funding.
In the world of feature documentaries, Still Pushing Pineapples, which opened the prestigious Sheffield DocFest in June, was made by a director based in the north east of England. A producer based in Scotland was attached. Boom! It received Screen Scotland funding.
Meanwhile, we have nothing like Screen Ireland's Perspectives scheme, which is currently funding the development of 31 feature film projects that can be produced with budgets of £655,000 to £830,000 and which will be fully financed and/or cash flowed by the Irish screen agency. With this backing, these productions may then be able to raise more funding elsewhere.
It's a financial – AKA political – decision. Screen Scotland has a budget of approximately £10 million. Screen Ireland's is £35.5m and in October last year, it even received a 3.3% funding increase. Around the same time, Creative (Screen) Scotland's spending was frozen. There's little help from the UK Government, either. It's already ruled out a cultural contribution levy on streamers that most European countries have in place to fund homegrown productions.
There are some notable exceptions but, on closer viewing, the big picture invariably reveals another story. Streamer productions Department Q, Outlander and its prequel Blood Of My Blood have all received Screen Scotland funding and, over multiple series, sustained more jobs and senior roles here than one-off visiting film or TV shoots. But this 'inward investment' is nothing compared to the subscription riches Netflix et al squirrel out of the country thanks to tax loopholes.
Screen Scotland is supporting several new BBC dramas. Currently in production, they've all done a far better job of hiring senior Scottish talent. That said, two of the production companies involved are HQ-ed in London, which means they're the ones who will end up benefitting the most from this public investment, owning and therefore
being able to exploit the intellectual property rights.
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This includes The Traitors, a BBC network Scottish commission, shot in Ross and Cromarty, made by a London HQ-ed production company which has hired almost no Scottish screen talent to work on successive series. A handful more Scots were employed on the latest series, but mainly in 'trainee' roles paid for by Screen Scotland.
BBC Scotland refuses to focus its support on genuinely Scottish production companies.
What's more, looking at the BBC's 2024/25 annual accounts, while licence fee income from Scotland rose by 5% to £311m, its network spend in Scotland decreased by 23% and increased by 12% in England. This disparity is alarming, not least because the BBC has pledged to direct more network money to Scotland. The picture is unclear. Clarification is needed.
Films like Spider-Man 4 and TV series like The Traitors create an illusion, not the artifice on the screen, but the myth that somehow, Scotland's screen sectors are flourishing. They aren't.
Ultimately, filming at locations in Scotland, or with a bare minimum, box-ticking amount of Scottish screen talent, doesn't make movies and TV programmes Scottish.
Productions originating in Scotland should be a priority for Scottish public funding. More investment and opportunity is required. If only we had superheroes with the powers to make this happen.