Edinburgh Film Festival to host crisis summit

The Edinburgh International Film Festival and Edinburgh College of Art are this week hosting the inaugural Scottish Film Summit in a response to the crisis in Scotland’s film industry. The WGGB are participating in this important event.

The summit will engage all sectors of the film industry, from producers, writers and directors, to facilities companies, location managers and crews, to film educators, archivists, trainers and academics, festivals, distributors and exhibitors. The day will have keynote speakers setting out their views on the issues the Scottish film industry should be considering. Key issues on the agenda are likely to include what needs to allow more home-grown films to be made, how to help the country attract more bid-budget films to shoot on location, and ways to reverse a talent drain of film-makers away from Scotland.

This is an opportunity to present the current views and concerns of the industry, and to look at how to build up the Scottish industry post-Referendum. The event is likely to discuss the case for a new permanent film studio in Scotland to help the country compete with existing facilities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as the impact of the referendum on film-making in Scotland.

According to The Scotsman, the summit has been announced after more than nine months of lobbying from film-makers who warned the industry north of the border was on the brink of disaster because of a lack of support and financial backing from the Scottish Government and arts agency Creative Scotland.

The quango’s chief executive, Janet Archer, will be one of the keynote speakers at the summit, along with Glasgow-born film producer Iain Smith, one of the leading figures involved in an independent group set up last year to campaign for a better deal for the industry.

A damning report into the industry for Creative Scotland found the country was lagging way behind major European rivals when it comes to studio facilities and support for film-makers. It warned that the country did not have enough infrastructure in place to support a successful industry, despite the success of hit films such as The Filth and Sunshine on Leith.

Creative Scotland has won some backing from the industry for appointing its first dedicated director of film, former entertainment lawyer Natalie Usher, and agreeing to up its maximum grant for film productions by 60%, to £500,000.

The Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise are studying a number options for the country’s first full-time film studio, with ministers ring-fencing £2 million for a loan fund to help get the venture off the ground.

Attendees to the summit will receive lunch and tickets for the EIFF Opening night film screening and party.

9am-3.30pm,
18 June Main Lecture Theatre,
ECA Main Building, Lauriston Place,
Edinburgh

Read more in The Scotsman

 

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