- Scottish Screen

made in scotland
From The Magdalene Sisters to Sweet Sixteen, from The Last King of Scotland to Doomsday and from
Stone of Destiny to Red Road, our creative talent and businesses lead the way in storytelling on the big
screen for global audiences.
Writers, directors, producers, actors, composers – Scotland produces the best. Sharman Macdonald,
Andrea Gibb, Paul McGuigan, Dougray Scott, Craig Armstrong and Oscar winner, Tilda Swinton, are all
profiled here, as are the production companies, facilities companies and individual talent who make Scotland
the best place to make films.
Through Screen Academy Scotland, Creative Loop and a host of talent development initiatives, Scotland is
supporting the development of the next generation of filmmaking talent and businesses.
And we don’t just love making films – we love seeing them as well. We have the best network of cultural
cinemas, the widest range of festivals and of course, the UK’s premier film festival (and the world’s longest
running), the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
And Scotland’s cities, towns and amazing land and seascapes act as a magnet for international producers
looking for that perfect location. We have the best talent, the most innovative businesses, state of the art
facilities, world class locations and a ‘can do’ approach to doing business.
This brochure gives you a flavour of what Scotland has to offer. If you want to know more, then get in
touch with Scottish Screen at www.scottishscreen.com.
Welcome to Scotland.
Ken Hay,
Chief Executive, Scottish Screen
May 2008
“Hollywood
was built by
Europeans,”
Tilda Swinton
joked at the 2008
Oscars. “Don’t
tell everybody,
but we get
everywhere.”
She might want to keep it a secret,
but there’s no mistaking the success
of Europeans in Hollywood, and
Tilda Swinton’s success is one of the
most striking examples. Like Sean
Connery, Swinton is co-patron of the
Edinburgh International Film Festival
(EIFF), and 2008 saw her follow the
distinguished actor into the record
books by joining him in the ranks of
talented actors and actresses who
have carried off the top award in their
profession; she won the Academy
Award for Best Supporting Actress
for her performance opposite George
Clooney in conspiracy thriller Michael
Clayton.
The highlights of Swinton’s acting
career include her Venice win for
Derek Jarman’s Edward II; a genderbending role in Sally Potter’s Orlando;
playing opposite Ewan McGregor in
David Mackenzie’sYoung Adam; and
her Golden Globe nomination for
thriller, The Deep End.
2008 looks set to continue this
success with Swinton at the top of the
Hollywood pecking order, a position
she’s likely to maintain with a role
opposite Brad Pitt in David Fincher’s
The Strange Case of Benjamin Button,
plus a reprise of her popular White
Witch in the Prince Caspian entry in
the Narnia series, and appearing with
Clooney again in the Coen Brothers’
follow up to No Country For Old Men,
Burn After Reading. This year will
also see the release of the eagerly
awaited Julia, Erick Zonca’s second
feature, which was greeted with
sensational reviews for the actress
at 2008’s Berlin Film Festival. So
winning the Oscar is really just the
cherry on the cake for her.
As well as opening Scotland ’s Screen
Academy in 2006, Swinton is also
pleased to take up her duties as
patron of the Edinburgh International
Film festival: “Edinburgh is not
only home to the most rocking arts
festivals on the planet, but is also the
closest thing I have to a home town.”
With this year’s EIFF moving to a new
slot in June, Swinton is convinced
that the festival is moving into a new
and exciting period of development,
for filmmakers and audiences alike.
“Filmmakers all over the globe,
even if they have never been here,
value the EIFF as a proper adventure,
with an identity of its own, invoking
a spirit of the new and altogether
a reputation for downright fun,”
says Swinton. “Coming in June,
after Cannes and before the Venice/
Toronto logjam, a conversational and
discovery-based, non-competitive
festival can only enhance this holiday
atmosphere for the film community.”
Tilda Swinton at the Baftas 2008 where she won the Best Supporting Actress award
“Stone of Destiny has a universally significant story,” says producer Rob
Merilees of Canadian production company Infinity Features, who are coproducing the film with the UK’s The Mob Film Company. “It deals with
the theme of the little guy going up against the big guy, so in that sense,
you could say it was a classic underdog story. But it’s also about the
passion of youth. When you’re young – you feel like you can do anything;
so it’s often the young that buck the trends and the status quo.”
made in
scotland
made
in scotland
“From the outset, we had no doubts that Stone of
Destiny needed to be shot in Scotland for accuracy,
and we found plenty of recognisable talent in
Scotland as well.”- Rob Merilees
Robert Carlyle
Stone of Destiny
Helmed by experienced director Charles
Martin Smith, an actor familiar for
many roles but fondly remembered
by Scots for his performance opposite
Sean Connery in the The Untouchables,
The Stone of Destiny stars Stardust’s
Charlie Cox, along with Billy Boyd and
Robert Carlyle. The film deals with a
famous and still controversial moment
in Scottish history: the theft by a group
of Scottish students of the Stone of
Scone, an artefact of significant cultural
importance.
“It was Charles Martin Smith who
initially wrote a spec script and brought
it to me and asked if I would produce
it; I loved the story and thought ‘Why
hasn’t someone done this movie
already?’” says Merilees. “From the
outset, we had no doubts that Stone of
Destiny needed to be shot in Scotland
for accuracy, and we found plenty of
recognisable talent in Scotland as well.”
The theft of the Stone took place
in 1950, presenting a considerable
challenge in terms of creating period
detail. “We felt the story, although
based in the fifties, is timeless – so
we tried not to push the era down
audiences throats. We shot mainly in
and around Glasgow - there were so
many great locations in the city that
it was very easy to create the period
l-r Billy Boyd, Charlie Cox, Ciaron Kelly
- and we used lots of costumes and
period cars to capture the feeling of
the time. Some areas of Glasgow
were useful in doubling up for London,
and parts of Paisley Abbey stood in
for parts of Westminster Abbey,” says
Merilees. “We were also able to shoot
in Westminster Abbey in London, where
we were told that this was the first
feature to be allowed to shoot there in
half a century.”
With an international audience in
mind, Merilees had to consider one
of the vexed questions of Scottish
identity: would the world be able to
understand the accents? As it turns
out, accent wasn’t an issue. “We loved
Trainspotting - that’s one brilliant
film. However, this film is made for a
family audience and we need viewers
to understand every word, all around
the world, so we steered away from the
harder accent and went for the naturally
soft and lyrical sound that many Scots
have. I hope the Scots will forgive us
for any creative licence we’ve taken
here.”
“This is a story about four college kids
who set out to wake people up in their
country, when it was under threat of
losing its distinct culture. They hatch
and successfully carry out a plan to
bring the Stone of Destiny back to
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery Funded: Content Production ]
Scotland as rallying a symbol for
nationalism,” says Merilees, although
he’s keen to emphasise that the film is
no polemic. “I think the film should be
seen as entertainment with a message:
the message that you can affect change
in the world by non violent means.
Infinity has been focusing on joint
ventures with studios and international
co-productions to widen the scope of
talent and tell universally appealing
stories. This one just happens to be set
in Scotland.”
www.infinityfeatures.net
www.mobfilm.com
Kate Mara & Charlie Cox
[
D
DOOMSDAY
“
Doomsday came from an idea I had when I used to drive
between Carlisle and Newcastle on a regular basis,” says
writer/director Neil Marshall. “As I used to drive alongside
the remains of Hadrian’s Wall, I used to wonder what kind
of change in circumstances would it take for the wall to be
rebuilt, what could happen that could be so bad?
Doomsday on location at Blackness Castle
Doomsday on location at Blackness Castle
Doomsday on location in Glasgow
Malcolm McDowall
After scoring notable successes in the horror
genre with Dog Soldiers and The Descent,
2008 saw Marshall finally getting the chance
to realise his dream project: a futuristic action
thriller set in an unrecognisable Scotland,
devastated by a deadly plague.
“The virus idea came from the idea of the
authorities isolating what was on the other
side of the wall, quarantining it. I’d read
about strategies used in the aftermath of the
Chernobyl nuclear reactor explosion, where
areas of the country were left to grow wild.
So once Hadrian’s Wall is rebuilt, the main
characters in Doomsday go back to see what
happened to the survivors. There’s one group
of people who are living in a medieval feudal
society, whereas in the cities, there’s a postpunk, marauder’s society. Like the setting
for Escape From New York, it’s a place where
there are no rules and absolutely anything can
happen; it’s a Scotland which simply hasn’t
been seen before on screen.”
Although many of Doomsday’s elaborate
interiors were created on South African
soundstages, assistance from Scottish
Screen enabled Marshall to realise exteriors
on location in Glasgow, with one city street
dressed with burnt-out cars to create an
atmospheric vision of a world gone mad. And
Marshall’s crew were also able to use historic
locations to add a visceral, authentic feel.
“We used Blackness Castle as our primary
location for the feudal scenes; it was an
”
absolutely brilliant location for us,”
says Marshall. “There’s a main arena
in the middle, with lots of huge rocks
embedded in the ground, and when I
first saw it, I knew that I really needed
to use for this big fight sequence. I’d
previously imagined the scene being
filmed in a tight arena, but what we
got from shooting at Blackness was
phenomenal.”
Getting the right cast was also a prime
concern; Rhona Mitra leads the way as
tough-nut Major Eden Sinclair.
“As Sinclair, Rhona was tapping into
the vibe of Kurt Russell in Escape from
New York, and going down that route,
rather than female icons like Ripley in
Aliens. The sexiness of her character
is a secondary consideration; the most
important thing is that she’s cool, nasty
and can beat up guys,” says Marshall.
“For the key role of Cain, I knew that
Malcolm McDowell would be ideal; he’s
an actor that brings a real historical
weight to the film. And Scottish actor
David O’Hara is a great presence as well
- he’s a phenomenal actor. I’d spotted
him in Braveheart and The Departed,
and his voice is something I really knew
would work. I think he sandpapers his
larynx every morning to get his voice
like that.”
“It’s a Scotland which simply
hasn’t been seen before on screen.”
- Neil Marshall
Doomsday
on location in Glasgow
And with Doomsday heading towards cult status, Marshall still has
his sights set on making films on the north of the border.
“I have a project called The Ninth Legion, which I’m doing with the
company who made The Descent, and one of the conditions of the
film is that the whole thing must be done on location in Scotland. It’s
about the myth of the legion who marched into Scotland to take care
of the Picts and supposedly vanished without a trace and my story
imagines how that might have happened,” says Marshall.
“It’s a gritty survival story about soldiers fighting their way back
home. I intend to do it entirely here. I want to show Scotland as a
tough place to be, and to film it in the winter when it’s cold and harsh,
and put the actors and crew through hell. The cast may hate me for
putting them through it, but they’ll appreciate it afterwards. That’s a
film which I believe can only be done properly in Scotland.”
www.doomsdayiscoming.com
Doomsday on location at Blackness Castle
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery funded: Content Production ]
“Ultimately it’s all about trying to convince the guy in the cinema that something is real.” - Mike Kelt
Artem Scotland
Animatronics, models and miniatures,
physical
special
FX,
prosthetics,
atmospherics, mechanical rigs, action
props, camera rigs, pyrotechnics,
puppets and special costumes.
The list of specialised subjects which
special effects production facility
Artem are prepared to tackle sets the
imagination racing. Having serviced
effects-heavy films like Hot Fuzz and The
Da Vinci Code from their London facility,
Mike Kelt’s company set up a workshop
in Scotland to cater for the growing
number of productions requiring their
services.
“Over the last year in Scotland we’ve
worked on The Stone of Destiny and
Outpost, and have just finished Clive
Barker’s Book of Blood, which shot in
Edinburgh. We also helped with some of
the shoot for Neil Marshall’s Doomsday,”
says Kelt. “One effect we were involved
with required us to build a third scale
model bus that explodes as a Bentley car
comes through the side of it. Although
they did do the stunt for real, they ended
up replacing it with the model-shot. It
took a fair amount of R&D to get right,
with high speed video tests before the
main shoot; in the end we built three
models with enough bits left over to
shoot a fourth, the elements then being
composited together by post house
Double Negative.”
Many US critics praised Marshall for
not using computer-generated special
effects but relying on real stunt work in
Doomsday’s climactic chase sequence,
a confusion that illustrates just how
convincing Artem’s work is.
Kelt reflects on the experiences which
led him to create the company. “I moved
to London to work for six months at
the BBC, which somehow became nine
years. While I was working there, I began
to see that to make things work as well
as they could on screen required raising
and spending considerable amounts of
money, and I wanted a management
structure that would allow that to
happen smoothly. So Artem was created
as a one-stop shop – one place which
could provide pyrotechnics, models or
prosthetics.”
While many of the first films to use
computer effects are now dated by the
obviousness of the CGI, filmmakers have
gradually learned that only so much can
be created effectively in post-production,
and that means more calls to Artem to
provide physical effects that integrate
with digital.
“We don’t really do digital effects,
although we will advise, our expertise is
physical. Any project needs a discussion
between physical and digital; I know
from experience what works best in
which area.”
Kelt enjoys Artem’s role within the
filmmaking team, contributing creative
thinking at all stages of a film’s
production, and says that big effects
don’t always have to mean big budgets.
“Working on green-screen won’t give
you good performance, so relying on
post automatically creates limitations.
That means that people are coming back
to what they can do in camera,” says Kelt.
“Something that could be shot in a day
for real can become a massive task that
takes days in post. Younger people may
assume every problem can be solved
by computer, but quite often that kind
of thinking is a big drain on the budget;
sometimes a simple approach is best.
Even something as basic as a hanging
miniature allows for acting in scene and
requires no post-production.”
While the results may be dazzling on
screen, it’s all in a day’s work for Artem,
whose Glasgow workspace is adorned
with the animatronic heads of tigers,
while their snow-machine is kept on
ice in the storerooms behind the main
office. Kelt sees the professionalism
paying off on and off screen, and despite
a busy first year in Scotland, only sees
more work in the pipeline. He is also
enjoying the feeling of putting something
back into the industry in Scotland, and
helping to train up the next generation
of SFX experts.
“One of the key stages on any project
is breaking down the original script to
determine how it can be achieved, and
at what cost. This indicates where the
physical SFX work is the solution and
where post or CG can help to realise
the writer’s and director’s vision. I think
the physical and digital effects sides of
the industry will come together, but
ultimately it’s all about trying to convince
the guy in the cinema that something is
real. If you’re animating a CG dinosaur,
then you go out and film the clouds of
dust coming from its footprints, that’s
the kind of attention to detail that makes
people believe.”
www.artem.com
Artem working on Doomsday
Keira Knightley in The Edge of Love
Keira Knightley & Sienna Miller in The Edge of Love
“The Edge of Love coming to Edinburgh is something truly amazing for me.”
- Sharman Macdonald
SHARMAN
Macdonald
In its new June slot, the 2008 Edinburgh
International Film Festival’s opening film
brings together some of the UK’s hottest
film talent, including Keira Knightley,
Matthew Rhys, Sienna Miller and Cillian
Murphy, all under the direction of John
Maybury (Love Is The Devil, The Jacket).
Screenwriter Sharman Macdonald, who
also penned Alan Rickman’s directorial
debut The Winter Guest, admits that,
as Knightley’s mother, getting the right
cast and crew involved required a huge
family effort.
“Keira has worked before with John
Maybury in The Jacket, and she was
bowled over by the experience of working
with him; he’s a real auteur. So when it
came to attaching a director, Keira was
sure that she wanted him to do it. I think
we sent him some pink champagne,
some poetry which was written by a
friend of ours - even a cake. There was
no end to the wooing we were prepared
to do to get John involved.”
The Edge of Love looks at the passion
and pathos of legendary poet Dylan
Thomas, but rather than a biopic, the
story is told through the lives of two
women, Vera and Caitlin, who are rivals
for the poet’s affections. As well as
dealing with the inner lives of celebrated
real-life characters, the film also delves
deeply into the aftermath of World War
Two.
“It’s not so much about one person as a
group of friends; it’s a story of love and
friendship. We’ve all had relationships
where you love someone with every piece
of your heart, but you end up drifting
apart, and something in you misses the
taste of what’s been taken away from
you in the process,” says Macdonald.
“It’s about four people grabbing for life;
they live hard, love hard, siezing hold of
their lives for all that they’re worth.”
To create The Edge of Love, Macdonald
worked closely with those who
remember the real-life people involved,
while retaining the creative imagination
required to bring the characters to life on
screen.
“My mother was Scottish, but my father
was a Welshman, who had come back
from war. He very rarely spoke about
it, but I’d been reading about the mental
state of soldiers who returned from the
first Gulf War, and that led me to consider
what kind of effect the conflict had on
the individuals involved; they didn’t call
it post-traumatic stress disorder back
then, but that’s what it was.”
Macdonald had already proved her
ability with getting under the skin of
characters as a playwright, in When I
Was A Girl I Used To Scream and Shout
and The Girl With The Red Hair.
“The film is a work of fiction. No one has
any idea what happens between Vera and
Dylan, you have to take liberties to get to
the essence of truth underneath,” says
Macdonald. “I remember the impact
that say, Under Milk Wood, had on me
as a teenager, and so it was important
to me to capture different aspects of the
lives I portrayed, to capture the fun that
they had as well as the drama.”
And for Macdonald, coming to the 2008
EIFF in the opening film berth means a
homecoming that she confessed to being
“genuinely excited about”. “I had such a
wonderful experience with Alan Rickman
when he directed The Winter Guest, but
I’ll never quite get used to the magic of
the filmmaking process. I love sitting by
the monitor and watching the film come
together,” she says. “I’ve had the chance
to watch directors like Saul Dibb, Joe
Wright and Gore Verbinski on set, and
that’s been a really privileged position to
be in. So to see the completed film of
The Edge of Love coming to Edinburgh
is something truly amazing for me.”
Paul McGuigan
“It’s great in LA. You’ve got the constant
sunshine. You’ve got your pool. Yet I’d
be lying if I pretended I’m not always
wanting to come back to Scotland,
and enjoy the simple yet extraordinary
things about life back home. My wife and
children are in Scotland, and so that’s
where I live too. It’s not hard to imagine
living out here in LA, but I’m happy to
stay where I am. Not everything in life
is about money.”
Paul McGuigan’s directing career has taken off faster than a
speeding bullet. He’s currently editing together his latest film,
Push, a Hong Kong-set action film, starring Dakota Fanning,
Chris Evans and Djimon Hounsou, for release later in 2008.
But he’s got to that point through a succession of visually and
thematically imaginative features, including underworld epic
Gangster No 1, medieval murder mystery The Reckoning,
time-shifting romance Wicker Park and complex black comedy
Lucky Number Slevin, the latter alone grossing over $150
million dollars worldwide.
“Maybe there’s something particularly Scottish in the way
that I feel, but when I look back on the films, the harder they
were to make, the more I like them now. So although it’s
probably the least seen of all my films, I’ve a real soft spot
for The Reckoning, which I now realise was far too ambitious,
too tough on the actors, and was filmed in almost impossible
conditions, yet I’m actually very happy looking back on it,”
says McGuigan. “I was less happy with the experience on
Wicker Park, where I was forced to re-cut the film less as a
love story than as a thriller. It was a remake of a French film
called L’Appartement, and it annoyed me that in Wicker Park’s
Morgan Freeman & Paul McGuigan on the set of Lucky Number Slevin
case, the marketing process was allowed to affect the creative
one.”
Push concerns a group of American teenagers with telekinetic
and clairvoyant abilities, who face-off against government
officials to defeat a secret US government agency which
desires to harness their powers. It’s a change of pace for
McGuigan, but one which provides plenty of opportunity for
his customary directorial panache.
“I wanted to do something outwith the violent thriller genre,
and Push has been a lot of fun, doing lots of hand-held shots,
working with stunt co-ordinators and pulling off complex
visual effects really brings out the kid in me,” says McGuigan.
“I think the one thing that really links my films together is
their look, a combination of look, editing, pace and stylisation
which I’m proud of. It’s been particularly great working in
Hong Kong; blue and green screen effects are all very well,
but nothing beats being on location.”
Despite being linked to a number of big name projects,
including The Equaliser (“the current script was too jingoistic
for me”), McGuigan will be returning to Europe for his first
feature since the one that launched him: 1997’s adaptation of
Irvine Welsh’s The Acid House. In October, McGuigan’s next
project will be a film about Robert Capa, the great American
photographer.
“It’s important that young people in Scotland believe that
they too could do this kind of work; when I was doing Lucky
Number Slevin, we had kids from Newcastle coming over and
visiting the set while I was directing Bruce Willis. I’d like to see
a lot more of that kind of mentoring scheme, it can only do
good for young people to believe that they can do that kind of
work,” says McGuigan. “Sure, you could say that Scotland is
a small country, but it’s not in terms of the talent that comes
out of it; you only have to look at the success of actors like
James McAvoy and Gerry Butler. So although I’m working in
LA right now, I still live in Scotland, and yes, I would love to
get involved in large scale productions in my home country.”
“
Sure, Scotland is a small country,
but it’s not in terms of the talent.
- Paul McGuigan
Bruce Willis with Paul McGuigan on the set of Lucky Number Slevin.
Main pic: Paul McGuigan
“
“It’s a risk – filmmaking is always a risk, and hopefully a
bigger and bigger one every time.”- Richard Jobson
new town killers
Ice lies in sheets on freezing Edinburgh
rooftops. As snow starts to fall, a young
man edges closer to the precipitous
drop, moss dislodged from under his
thick-gripped boots drops five stories
straight down. As a voice yells, “action”,
the figure steps out into the abyss,
then lowers himself down the gothic
frontage of the building like a spider,
finally coming to rest on the cobbled
street where the crew greet his arrival
with relief, and a round of applause.
“It’s a risk – filmmaking is always a
risk, and hopefully a bigger and bigger
one every time,” says director Richard
Jobson, watching as his stuntman
returns to position. “This latest film,
New Town Killers, cost more than my
first three put together. New Town
Killers is a highly commercial idea, a
literal noir which addresses issues to
do with masculinity head on, giving a
critique of it while also celebrating it.”
In the third week of a five-week shoot
when the rooftop stunt is shot, New
Town Killers is a non-stop action film,
which allows Jobson to adapt the style
of cinematic influences like Walter Hill
and Don Siegel to modern cinema.
The plot revolves around Sean (James
Anthony Pearson) a troubled teenager
who becomes trapped in a deadly
game, and is hunted across the city of
Edinburgh by two killers, who are also
private investment bankers, played by
Alastair Mackenzie and Dougray Scott.
“Dougray’s character in this movie is a
full monster, but I love having a great
villain to drive the story along. He
beats up a gang, shoots a dog, kills a
tramp and that’s just the start of it. I
knew as soon as I met Dougray that he
was perfect for the role, bringing over
a sense of real nihilism, but there’s a
real dark humour in there as well. As
the other banker, Al balances the duo
out, doing a more sensitive kind of
thing, but still going along with the
idea of man-hunting Sean. These two
are well-heeled characters who are
so used to the powers they have in a
financial world, they want to exert that
kind of power in real life,” says Jobson.
“The film is essentially about two
socially invisible classes, which clash
head on, on the streets of Edinburgh:
street kids coming into direct conflict
with hedge fund managers, but they’re
equally anonymous. It’s a David and
Goliath story, and it all takes place on
the rooftops above the city. Which is a
problem if it’s raining.”
As a drop of snow lands on his
spectacles, director of photography
Simon Dennis looks despairingly up
at the snow, which looks set to cause
all kinds of continuity problems, and
as if by magic, it stops. Across the
alleyway in the Café Royal, rising star
James Anthony Pearson is watching
the stuntmen going through their paces
on the outside of the building opposite.
Pearson made a big impression as New
Order’s Bernard Sumner in 2007’s Ian
Curtis biopic Control, but the Englishborn actor chooses to live in Scotland
rather than down south.
“This whole film is like one big chase,
it’s really physical. At first, I was told
there was no way I could do it, but
over the next few weeks the stuntman,
Terry, seems to have relented,” he says,
looking out the window to where a
cable dangles from a crane platform
thirty feet up. “So I’m going to do
as much of the climb-down that the
stuntman’s doing, we’ll see how much
they let me do. This kind of film has a
Dougray Scott in New Town Killers
lot more stunts or action than Control did. The night shoots are
hard, but at least I can still get to my own bed at night.”
Once the next shot is complete, Jobson takes shelter for a
while inside a nearby building. There’s a mock up of a bar, with
skips full of glass bottles for one of the actors to crash into.
On closer inspection, they’re fakes, moulded from plastic to
ensure safety on a stunt. Jobson picks one up; the production
designer has created a label design with Jobson’s own name
inscribed on it.
Upstairs, Jobson pauses and discusses details of the next
few shots with his crew. The room he’s standing in has been
dressed to look like a squat. The walls are covered with vibrant
graffiti in the style of Francis Bacon, and the tables are filled
with empty bottles and disused food cartons. “This…,” says
Jobson, pausing over a particularly messy area, “believe it or
not, used to be the ex-Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters. It’s
now owned by Vladimir Romanov, who owns Hearts football
club; he was about to turn it into a city centre boutique hotel
before we came along and asked to have use of it first. So this
location is like a mini studio for us, we’re doing five different
interiors, which is a godsend for centralising the crew.”
An ex movie critic as well as a celebrated pop star with The
Skids (The Saints Are Coming was a Skids cover, and provided
a 2006 smash for U2 and Green Day), Jobson admits that his
idea of cinema comes from an eclectic selection of influences.
“I’m the first to admit that all of the films I’ve made so far, 16
Years of Alcohol, The Purifiers and A Woman In Winter have
some kind of flaw in them, but I also think they have unique
ambitions, and I’m very proud of them. But New Town Killers
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery funded: Content Production ]
takes things to another level for me, it’s the kind of visceral fast
paced thrillers that I grew up on: the Siegels and the Hills and
the Peckinpahs. I’m taking old school structure and plotting
and matching the ideas with technical ability.”
Outside in the street, a jet-black Maserati Quattroporte has
been moved into place on the cobbled street. It’s the car that
will be used in the film to hunt down Sean. Like the characters
that drive it, the high-performance car seems to exude menace.
Not compromising on the details, Jobson says: “I’m keen to
get into the head-set of the kids in the film, lots of hand-held
camera work, frenetic music, location shooting in Muirhouse
for Sean’s character. Whereas Dougray’s character, Alistair,
just kind of glides through the world in his Maserati, like a
knife through butter. What you see in New Town Killers is the
kind of chase that comes when these two worlds collide. Like
all filmmaking, whether it’s Nicolas Roeg or the latest Korean
thriller, it’s all a risk, a high-wire act.”
Out on the street, the Maserati motor is gunned into life, and
the next part of the chase begins.
www.richardjobson.co.uk
Dougray Scott in New Town Killers
“You could say my character’s at his
most violent when he’s not doing
anything at all.” - Dougray Scott
dougray
scott
“I’ve known the city of Edinburgh since
I was boy, but I’ve never seen it quite
the way I have while making this film,”
says Dougray Scott on the set of Richard
Jobson’s New Town Killers. “Being up
in the rooftops or down on the New
Town streets, there’s an impressive
gothic quality about the city which comes
from the richness of its history. Like the
character I play, the city is omnipresent in
the movie.”
The character Scott plays in New Town
Killers is Alistair, a highly affluent
man whose prosperous and powerful
demeanour hides a dark, manipulative
and violent side. For Scott, who has
recently played one of Edinburgh’s
darkest characters in an adaptation of
Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr Jekyll and Mr
Hyde, it’s a challenge.
“You have to mine the very deepest
part of your psyche to come up with a
character that will still seem believable
and real. To me, Alistair is a generic
representation of an uncaring element
in society, and I think that’s what Richard
was interested in: the portrayal of a
nihilistic, Nietzschean character,” says
Scott. “How you view him depends
very much on how you want to interpret
Nietzsche; some people say his way of
thinking makes him a saviour of mankind,
and yet the Nazis were very influenced
by his writing: there’s a wide spectrum of
thought. But as to where the sociopathic
nature of this particular character comes
from, that’s something which is left to
your imagination in the script.”
Alistair and Jamie (played by Alastair
Mackenzie) set out to play a deadly
cat and mouse game with a streetwise
teenager, with many innocent bystanders
caught up in the game.
“There are some movies where, in
an action scene, there’s kicking and
punching, and you can see the character
getting involved. But Alistair isn’t like
that: when he does something, he’s
detached; you could say that he’s at
his most violent when he’s not doing
anything at all. He’s interested in how
he can push buttons on people, like his
sidekick Jamie,” says Scott.
“He’s got a lot of confidence from what
he’s achieved in his life, and from the
position that he holds in society. He’s
bored, and he’s made up this game to
spice up his life.”
The role calls for a large amount of
physical action, and Scott is happy to
get into the character by putting himself
through as much of the action as
possible.
“It’s dynamic, different and great. There
are often constraints and frustrations on
a set, but not on this one; we’re all on the
same page, all making the same movie,
all in sync. On top of that, I’ve been
getting to shoot here in Edinburgh. And
I’ve had a great time working with Richard
- he’s fantastic to work with: brave and
fearless, and I respect that,” says Scott.
“He’s got a great energy about him…
we’re both from Fife, believe it or not.”
Dougray Scott in New Town Killers
CraigArmstrong
“What am I doing today?” says composer Craig
Armstrong, “I’m working on the score for Edward
Norton’s new movie, The Incredible Hulk. I usually do
straight drama, so this for director Louis Leterrier is a
little bit of a change for me, but one I really enjoy. I’ve
been a fan of the Hulk comic book character from when
I was a little boy.”
Craig Armstrong’s own career is nothing short of
incredible. Films as diverse as Baz Lurmann’s William
Shakespere’s Romeo and Juliet, Richard Curtis’s Love
Actually and Oliver Stone’s World Trade Center have
featured distinctive scores written by the Scot. But with
a highly successful classical career running alongside,
Armstrong has little time to rest on his laurels.
“I need time for writing music for myself, and having
that time really helps me when I’m actually composing
a film’s score; when you’ve got to compose one hour
and forty minutes of music in five weeks, you don’t
have time to think about the big picture, you have to
concentrate on the music and just do a bit at a time.”
he says. “Writing a symphonic work is something
different because you’re on your own, whereas working
on films is more about being part of a team. Doing ‘art
music’, if I can call it that, doesn’t have deadlines and
pressures in the same way.”
As well as composing a short opera for Scottish Opera,
and with the release of his first classical album for the
Virgin Classics label imminent, Armstrong’s talents are
recognised throughout the music industry, but for the
composer, nothing beats working in cinema.
“My wife is Scottish Italian, and we went to Lucca where
they showed some movies, Cinema Paradiso style, in the
town square. Audiences in America are different, very
vocal, almost like music hall. The magic of live cinema is
something technology will never destroy.”
And although some commentators have suggested that
the day of great film scores is over, Armstrong has little
doubt that the art of creating a great soundtrack is here to
stay.
“What really does amaze me is that film as a medium
is more popular than it’s ever been. They have said
television, then video and now computer games will
destroy film audiences. But the truth is, you can play
an X-box game online with people all over the world,
but you’re still on your own. People are still going to
the cinema, people are still making films, and films will
always need soundtracks.”
“The magic of live
cinema is something
technology will never
destroy.” - Craig A rmstrong
Craig Armstrong at the 2007 BAFTA Scotland
Awards where he picked up the award for
Outstanding International Contribution
SummER
“Summer invites the audience to enter a
world of great warmth and humanity.” - Kenny Glenaan
A
lthough set in the midlands,
Summer brings together two
of Scotland’s most respected
talents; director Kenny
Glenaan and actor Robert
Carlyle. Glenaan marked himself out as an
uncompromising talent with Yasmin. Now,
working from a script by Derbyshire based
writer, Hugh Ellis, he’s created a film which
deals profoundly with human relationships.
“It’s a character-based story set in DH Lawrence
country,” says Glenaan. “You could look at coal
and see it as a metaphor for what lies beneath the
surface of the mining community that’s the setting
for this film. There are communities south of
Sheffield and north of Nottingham, which are like a
Bermuda triangle, where pits have disappeared and
the community has stagnated. But this isn’t about
making political points; we focus on a character,
Shaun, who comes from this environment and
refuses to see himself as a victim. And there’s a
streak of black humour about it, almost Laurel and
Hardy.”
Black comedy needs a strong sense of context, and
Summer offers a sharply-edged description of a
complex friendship to make the humour and drama
work.
“There’s a friendship at the heart of it: two guys,
one, Daz, is in a wheelchair, the other Shaun, is
the guy who looks after him. Daz has a couple
of months to live, and the film looks at how the
carer Shaun copes with that situation, that period
of knowing that the end is coming,” says Glenaan.
“Even though we know we’re mortal, something
kicks in when we have to prepare for death,
something that turns us back towards the past.
Shaun starts to think about the formative events of
their youth which have affected the way they are as
adults.”
Robert Carlyle as Shaun
To put over the notion of a search through past and
present, writer Hugh Ellis chose to use several timescales.
Sean Kelly as Shaun,
Joanna Tulej as Katie
and Jo Doherty as Daz
“There’s three - we have Shaun in his
forties (played by Robert Carlyle), back
when Shaun and Daz were teenagers,
and then back even further to when
they were in primary school,” says
Glenaan. “By exploring the past, Shaun
is coming to terms with issues about
their relationship, and about guilt; he
feels partly responsible for Daz being in
a wheelchair. And the timelines allow
us to bring the story together like the
pieces of a puzzle.”
For Ellis and Glenaan, Shaun and Daz’s
relationship connects up with wider
issues to do with community. Ellis says:
“We wanted to open a door on the lives
of two sharp and funny people who,
like many, have been badly let down by
the education system. Their failure at
school puts them outside mainstream
society for life. The point is that
Shaun isn’t stupid. He’s a bright bloke
with a problem he’s never had any help
with. What he has got is a genius for
conjuring up the vivid memory of his
past and a longing for the days when
his life could have gone anywhere.”
Glenaan says: “It’s not just about coping
with your best friend dying. It’s about
losing someone you’ve been joined
at the hip with,” he says. “And I think
there’s a specific link between Shaun’s
problem and what’s happened to the
community around him. The challenge
he faces is about letting go of the past,
breaking the cycle he’s been part of.”
Creating authenticity isn’t just a
question of period detail, Glenaan
was keen to take advantage of his
location not only as a backdrop, but as
a resource to provide local talent, which
would help provide a balance in the cast
of both the personal experience and the
acting skills to make Summer work.
“We wanted to use actors who were
untrained, and have several first time
actors two of whom are from Scotland,
Shaun aged 15, who was working
in his local supermarket when we
met him, and Shaun aged 11,” says
Glenaan. “Robert Carlyle is, of course,
a seasoned actor, and so we were able
to create a situation where all our actors
could learn from each other, and that’s
a big help before you even turn the
camera on.”
“My previous film, Yasmin, was
unconditionally a piece of agit-prop
about anti-terrorist legislation, and
was considerably ahead of its time
in looking at that subject,” he says.
“But Summer is a different kind of
film; it’s got no axe to grind. It invites
the audience to enter a world of
great warmth and humanity. There’s
a genuine thrill about the process of
making this film. I’m using a much
wider aspect ratio than ever before, and
when you’re dealing with such powerful
landscapes, there’s real potential to
use the frame to tell the story. Working
on such a big scale is exciting because
using a wider ratio also gets you into a
whole new rhythm of storytelling.”
www.sixteenfilms.co.uk
And with two features under his belt,
Glenaan can look back on a learning
process that’s helped him to develop his
skills and approach as a director.
Katie and Shaun
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery funded: Content Production ]
Martin Compston on the set of Rounding up Donkeys, photo by Roddy Hand
Rounding Up Donkeys*
Rounding Up Donkeys is the feature film debut of Morag McKinnon,
and the second in the trilogy of films made under the Advance Party
banner of co-productions between Scotland and Denmark.
The three films follow a set of
creative rules devised by Sigma
Films and Zentropa, with characters
created by Lone Scherfig and Anders
Thomas Jensen. The two companies
have collaborated for the past eight
years on films including Wilbur
(Wants To Kill Himself), Dogville and
After The Wedding. The first film
in the trilogy, Andrea Arnold’s Red
Road, won international recognition
and the Grand Jury prize at the 2005
Cannes Film Festival.
Having won a BAFTA for her short
Home in 2000, and completed
television assignments like The
Innocence Project, Rounding Up
Donkeys sees McKinnon graduate to
the big screen, and she’s not worried
about following on from Arnold’s
powerful film.
“Rounding Up Donkeys isn’t a
sequel so to speak; it uses the same
characters (although not necessarily
the same actors) as Red Road, “ says
McKinnon. “The main character,
Alfred (James Cosmo) is 64. He’s
lost touch with his family and the
story really starts when a threat to his
health makes him realise he wants to
make amends for what he’s done in
his life. The more he tries to do right,
the more he does wrong, and as his
past comes back to haunt him, he
is forced to face up to what his life
means to him.”
Working with producer Anna Duffield
and writer Colin McLaren, McKinnon
had to match up to the guidelines set
out by Sigma and Zentropa, while
also coping with the demands of a
rigorous and high profile shoot. “We
had First Minister Alex Salmond on
set at one point,” says McKinnon.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t get him
to do a bit part!”
“Each film in the Advance Party
trilogy is also able to stand alone
in its own right, “ says McKinnon.
“They have different subjects and
tones, and should be judged on
their own merits, although we
were always aware of the high
expectations caused by the success
of Red Road, which sold to the
majority of territories.”
As well as Cosmo, the film also
features Lindsay Anderson regular
Brian Pettifer, with Kate Dickie and
Martin Compston returning to the
roles they created in Red Road.
“There were certain constraints in
the rules set down about the film’s
content: we were not allowed to use
any time devices like flashbacks, for
example,” says McKinnon. “But the
real challenge was the filming itself;
we shot the film on HD in Glasgow
over five weeks with three weeks of
night shoots, which was hard-enough
going, but shooting in the winter
meant genuinely Baltic weather.”
* Rounding up Donkeys is a working title.
made in scotland
On the set of Rounding up Donkeys, photo by Roddy Hand
“Although Rounding Up Donkeys
is a low-budget production, we are
confident of its high production values.”
- Anna Duffield
Rounding Up Donkeys retains the
strong thread of black comedy, which
brought McKinnon’s shorts Home and
Birthday to international attention,
and Duffield is confident that the
same highly individual flavour will
fully bloom in this new feature-length
project.
“Although the story deals with a
character trying to reconnect with
the world after the revelation of his
ill-health, there’s plenty of moments
which are side-splittingly funny, as
well as others which are very bleak;
that’s all down to Morag’s world-view
and range as a filmmaker.”
And while McKinnon recovers from
the kind of rigorous shoot modern
filmmaking requires and starts work
on the post-production process, she
can look back on the creation of a
highly anticipated debut.
“I have heard of a lot of exciting
projects going into production in the
near future, which is great news,”
says McKinnon. “I just hope that with
this we can create a self sustaining
industry, with confidence and
diversity that gets fully supported by
our government and affiliated film
bodies.”
And Duffield in equally optimistic that
the production paradigms set out in
Rounding Up Donkeys will pave the
way for successful co-productions in
the future.
“Although Rounding Up Donkeys
is a low-budget production, we are
confident of its high production
values,” says Duffield. “Whatever the
budget, it’s important for a producer
to get the right deals across the
board, to make sure the production is
the best it can be.”
www.sigmafilms.com
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery funded: Content Production ]
On the set of Rounding up Donkeys, photo by Roddy Hand
Clive Barker s
On the set of Book of Blood
book of
bLood
Working with a budget of just under £4
million, Edinburgh based Plum Films,
along with their co-producers, Matador
Pictures, are looking to emulate the
success of one of horror’s best known
literary franchises with their latest
project, Clive Barker’s Book of Blood.
The Hellraiser and Nightbreed author’s
work is already familiar to generations
of genre admirers, and producer Micky
MacPherson’s Plum Films set out on
an ambitious project to bring Barker’s
terrifying visions to the screen intact.
“The film relates to Clive Barker’s other
works in so far as we have a typically
strong narrative, engaging characters
and dramatic images which are very
much in keeping with his brand name
and reputation. It’s based specifically
on the wraparound story penned by
Clive Barker in the Books of Blood
collection, in which a psychic researcher
called Mary Florescu employs medium
Simon McNeal to investigate a haunted
house. McNeal, at first, begins to fake
his visions, but then real ghosts present
themselves. They attack him and carve
words in his flesh, and these words,
claims the narrator, form the rest of the
stories, stories written on a literal, living
Book of Blood.”
important partner in the creation
of the prosthetic requirements for
the film. There were two key sequences
to address, one where a young girl
has her face peeled, and the other
where we create the living Book Of
Blood written on the skin of McNeal.”
In order to bring director John
Harrison’s vision of Book of Blood to
the big screen, MacPherson was able to
draw on funding from Scottish Screen
as the film would be shot in Scotland
using Scottish crew.
MacPherson is understandably upbeat
about Plum’s future: “With interest in a
further two book options and an original
thriller currently on the table, coupled
with a very strong and supportive
commercials client base, we are hoping
to go from strength to strength over the
coming twelve months.”
“Shooting in Edinburgh was a key
contributor to the atmosphere and
texture of the film,” says MacPherson.
“And effects facility, Artem, were an
Having come up through the world
of commercials and short films, Plum
Films is looking at Book of Blood as a
stepping stone towards further features,
and the possibility of a Book of Blood
franchise to rival the Hellraiser films.
On the set of Book of Blood
“The feature films have been a natural
progression for us, and our aim
is to keep working with local talent
and bringing new and innovative
filmmakers to the attention of the
audience, whilst producing work
of a standard that competes in the
international marketplace,” says
MacPherson. “At this moment in time
we are looking to produce other books
in the series and we already have the
next script available to offer up as
the next instalments; once again this
feature film would be shot in Scotland
and it would be our intention to
once again use local key talent
where possible.”
On the set of Book of Blood
www.plumfilms.co.uk
“Shooting in
Edinburgh was a
key contributor to
the atmosphere
and texture of the
film.”
- Micky MacPherson
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery funded: Content Production ]
La Bellee Allee
On location on an Austin Martin commercial
“
’Whatever you dream you can
do, begin it. Boldness has
magic and power in it...Begin it
now,” so says Scottish producer
Karen Smyth, quoting German
philosopher Goethe, whose wise words
form the opening page of Scottish
production company La Belle Allee’s
website. “An old flame sent me that
quote on a postcard… It’s pretty much
how I see my mission statement for the
production company I run.
“
Starting at the beginning, after deciding
a degree in business meant nothing
to the film industry, from running
on shorts and adverts to working as
a production manager on features,
Smyth has by now experienced
most angles of the business. She’s
producing features, commercials and
TV programmes, with La Belle Allee’s
2008 slate dominated by the £3.5
million international co-production of
Nicolas Winding Refn’s Valhalla Rising,
starring Mads Mikkelsen as a Viking
warrior.
“Feature financing is a complex
business, but the artistic challenges
of Valhalla were complex as well.
The film depicts one man’s search for
identity, and is set half in Canada and
half in Scotland, which could have
upped the budget considerably,” says
Smyth. “With the help of Scottish
Screen, we were able to convince the
overseas financiers that the whole
Karen Smyth at the 2006 BAFTAs where she won an award for Best Short Film
film could be shot here, and that the
Scottish landscape is so diverse that
our hero could convincingly re-emerge
into another country without the crew
leaving Scotland. It’s good from a
filmmaking point of view, particularly
because all the technicians are Scottish,
and the ten-week shoot will have a
substantial economic benefit to the
area.”
Dealing with substantial budgets
and demanding visuals holds no
surprises for Smyth; prior to feature
films, La Belle Allee worked their way
up through handing short films and
lucrative advertising briefs. “My first
love is drama, but the way the company
has evolved is simply to do with
business,” says Smyth. “We’ve brought
commercials to Scotland for companies
like Ridleys Scott’s commercials wing
RSA Films, and Orbit Design, who do all
of Diageo’s far eastern ads, for products
as diverse as Aston Martin and Johnny
Walker whisky.”
Yet it would appear their first love is
perhaps the hardest thing to produce:
feature films; with a diverse slate,
which includes a co-production with
Oscar-winning Irish company Samson
Films already nearing production, and
numerous co-productions with fellow
ACE (Ateliers du Cinéma Européen)
producers in the pipeline, features are
where the heart is.
And looking to the future, La Belle
Allee reflects Smyth’s confidence that
Scottish film is evolving by not only
understanding its position within the
culture in general, but by grabbing new
opportunities as they emerge, especially
within the field of co-production and
international co-operation. “I don’t
see how screen industries could be
sidelined within the arts in Scotland. It’s
one of the most formidable entities and
has the greatest ability to say so much
to so many. Yet it feels while there’s a
certain amount of talent, which is visible
to everyone,” she says, “to me, the
real story is that of the iceberg; there’s
an awful lot more going on under the
surface.”
www.labelleallee.com
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery funded: Content Production (Valhalla Rising) and Business Development Loan ]
Dog Altogether
Actor Paddy Considine turned writer/director for Dog Altogether,
winner of the best short award at the 2008 BAFTAs and 2007 BIFAs,
as well as the Silver Lion at Venice. The film is the story of Joseph,
a man who is plagued by a self-destructive violence and rage. As
he falls further into turmoil, Joseph searches for a single grain of
redemption that might restore hope to his fractured life
Peter Mullan in Dog Altogether
“I met Mark Herbert from Warp Films
at Dinard Film Festival 2007. He
mentioned that Paddy had a short
he was keen to shoot in Glasgow
with Peter Mullan in the lead,” says
Anna Duffield of Sigma Films, who
co-produced the film with Diarmid
Scrimshaw of Warp Films. “I could
tell immediately Paddy had a very
strong sense of how he wanted to
realise the film - he clearly had an
emotional affinity to the story. And
I was interested to work with a new
director who has so much experience
in another field in the industry.”
Dog Altogether brings Considine
together with Scottish actor Peter
Mullan, an accomplished director
in his own right, who launched his
career with short film Fridge, and
went on to make features Orphans
and The Magdalene Sisters.
“Paddy’s vision was influenced
by films from directors he
admires such as Ken Loach and
Alan Clarke, films he watched
when he was young. Paddy
identified with the stories
they were telling, stories of
‘real’ people. He wanted to
emulate the authenticity they
achieved,” says Duffield.
“Peter is clearly a hugely talented
actor and perfect for the role of
Joseph. He and Paddy share a mutual
respect for each other as actors and
that certainly dictated a chemistry
on set that I think translates to the
screen.”
For Duffield, who also produced
Morag McKinnon’s debut feature
Rounding Up Donkeys for Sigma, the
awards success of Dog Altogether is
only one of many indications of the
production’s success.
“It was good to work with different
people and, of course, another
production company, and to
experience working with multiple
financiers on a relatively short film,”
says Duffield. “It was great to help
bring a new director to Scotland,
helping Paddy and (co-producer)
Diarmid Scrimshaw select a crew of
people they had never worked with
before. Learning to construct the
right team of people is important.
You learn different things from
every project you work on that are
invaluable for future films.”
“Paddy clearly had an
emotional affinity to the
story.” - Anna Duffield
Writer/director Paddy Considine
Andrea
gibb
“I’ve got more work in the last two
years than ever before,” says Andrea
Gibb (pictured), one of Scotland’s
most successful screenwriters. “This
is an industry where if you don’t get
features made every year, people
think you’ve gone missing, but that’s
not necessarily true from a writer’s
point of view. Although I don’t have a
feature released, I’ve never been busier,
or happier with the kind of work I’m
getting.”
Writing an original script based on her
own short film, Gibb’s breakthrough
film, 2004’s Dear Frankie went on to
run for 24 weeks at the US box office,
and helped launch the career of Gerard
Butler and Emily Mortimer.
Since then Gibb has been working on
a string of high-profile adaptations:
“We’re just going to finance this year
on Vikram Seth’s An Equal Music, so
I’m excited about taking that out into
the market,” she says. In addition,
she’s also working on an adaptation
of Arthur Ransome’s children’s classic
Swallows and Amazons for BBC
Films. And there’s also the retread of
a popular television series, Lynda la
Plante’s Euston Films Widows, which
won audiences over 10 million in the UK
alone when first broadcast.
Both commissions by BBC Films are
well-paid, and Gibb is quick to point out
the importance to a writer of having
the value of their work recognised in
financial terms.
“It’s great to get to the point in your career where you’re commissioned by a
broadcaster rather than, say, writing a spec script, because you’re in a much
better position. I’m on the film committee of the Writers Guild, so there’s
obviously a lot of issues right now affecting writers not just in the UK, but
internationally,” she says. “When the writers went on strike in America, some
people argued that writers earn a fortune. Certainly, the writers at the top end
of the business do, but others don’t, and the people striking at the top were
doing it on behalf of the people who were not so well paid.”
Gibb’s own success hasn’t distracted her from getting involved in strategies and
innovations designed to ensure than all writers get a decent chance at making
the same kind of living that she does.
“At the Writers Guild, we’ve been working on drawing up a series of model
contracts, so that writers who are just starting out can phone up and ask to see
a contract. Filmmaking is a collaborative business, and producers depend on
writers in the same way as writers do about producers. You both want to make
the best film possible; you want to set out together on the same journey. But
writers need to know they have certain rights, and equally, producers have
every right to cut off a writer who does not perform. It’s naïve to think it’s
them and us. It’s all about finding good practice and successful collaborative
processes.”
Working in the highest echelons of screenwriting is no easy feat, but Gibb feels
that working from a base in Scotland helps provide her with the access she
needs, whether the next meeting is in LA or Glasgow.
“There used to be a brain drain that took people away from Scotland for work,
but there’s no reason for writers to have to do that anymore,” she says. “I do
have to fly off to meetings, but that would be true wherever you live. And in
Scotland, I can get involved with the next generation of writers through talking
at colleges or as part of courses. I’m just glad I’ve been
able to have experiences which might be of use to new
writers coming through now.”
“Filmmaking is a collaborative
business, and producers depend on
writers in the same way as writers
do about producers.”
- Andrea Gibb
An Equal Music: one of Andrea’s latest
adaptations
        
“I left the world of theatre seven years ago because
I wanted to be more creatively involved in projects,”
says David Smith, looking back on his early career
with theatre company Suspect Culture. “At that
time, I knew a lot of playwrights who wanted to
write for the screen. It was being in that specific
situation that led me to form Brocken Spectre, a
company which is writer
driven and producer led.”
In 2008 alone, Brocken
Spectre have a variety
of projects on their slate,
including a period short
called The Bedfords about
the artist Landseer by the
writer and director Henry
Coombes; a pilot for a series
called Stacked for Channel
Four; and the feature film
White Male Heart, written
by Blackbird and Knives
and Hens scribe, David
Harrower, and directed by
the creator of award-winning short Milk, Peter Mackie
Burns. The company are also involved in new work from
Scott Graham (developing his acclaimed short Shell into
a feature), Nicola McCartney, Ruth Paxton as well being
associate producer on Duane Hopkins, debut feature
Better Things. But for Smith, it’s the process which is vital
to his vision.
“I would say that at Brocken Spectre, we learn by
doing. We really want the company to be in production
as much as possible with projects we are passionate
about. We like making films! Then there is the nurturing
of new talent, whether that is in front of the camera or
behind. Finally storytelling. We are really keen to tell new
stories about Scotland because we think there is a such a
wide variety of stories that can be told.”
The company take their name from a rare visual
phenomenon in which mountaineers may see a magnified
figure close to them. Getting close to new talent is
also part of Brocken Spectre’s remit, and to further the
experience of his company, Smith has also involved
himself with Channel 4’s PILOT initiative, and with the
4Talent scheme, supported by Scottish Screen.
“It was quite an intensive
process. We worked with four
writers over the course of three
months, developing their ideas
from outline to script. At the
end of the process a project
was selected to be pitched to
Channel 4, with the winner
given a half-hour of network TV
drama,” says Smith. “Writer
Bryony Ive and I were invited to
pitch it, and I’m pleased to say
we got the commission. I think
that the nature of that process
gave the project’s development
a real energy.”
With 2008 getting Brocken Spectre involved in production
on several levels, Smith has plenty of reasons to feel
optimistic about the future, for his company, and Scotland
as a country.
“There is now the political will to make things happen
and there seems to be a real focus on growing indigenous
companies, which I think is the only way to grow a
sustainable industry in Scotland. There is brilliant raw
talent, enthusiastic crews and tremendous actors who
all want to work here,” says Smith. “We are being given
opportunities to prove ourselves. We are feeling confident
as a company and want to grow. Things are starting to join
up now and we feel excited about the future.”
“It is also great that there are number of exciting new
companies in Scotland that like us have been around for
a long time, but are led by young producers,” he says.
“They are really now starting to flourish: companies like
Black Camel, Teebster, Lansdowne Productions, La Belle
Allee, Clarity Productions and Autonomi. We seem to all
have an energy and drive. We are all doing different things
but share an ambition to do world class work from our
Scottish base.”
www.brocken-spectre.com
Bryony Ive and David Smith
pictured above
Shell
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery funded: New Talent Development
Initiative (PILOT), Content Production (Shell, White Male Heart),
Short Film Production (The Bedfords) ]
Glasgow Media
Access Centre
2008
sees the 25th anniversary of Glasgow
Media Access Centre, or GMAC for
short. Aimed at providing a link between
community filmmakers and the screen industry, GMAC is core
funded through Glasgow City Council, and project funded by
Scottish Screen, BBC Scotland, Skillset Scotland and the UK
Film Council.
As GMAC prepares to move from their Albion Street residence
to a new £5 million purpose-built space in Glasgow’s
Trongate, they also have time to celebrate to quarter-century
of success the GMAC brand has had, including a retrospective
programme screened nationally of GMAC’s archive presented
by the talent that made it; a short documentary of the 25 years
of GMAC; a high profile visual arts initiative bringing their
archive alive; and a series of masterclasses delivered by some
of their alumni.
In addition, GMAC can point with pride to community
filmmaking wing GMAC 2nd Unit, short film industry
programme, GMAC shortcuts, GMAC productions, an
in-house DVD and video production company and media
consultant. And with funding from Skillset Scotland they’ve
also set up the GMAC Actors studio, with the first group
of actors currently undertaking their training at the CCA.
Addressing many different aspects of the industry from one
central and accessible location, GMAC is looking forward to
being at the forefront of filmmaking in Scotland for the next
25 years.
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery
funded: New Talent Development
Initiative (GMAC Shortcuts) ]
made in scotland
Black
Camel
“We have to be realistic and the
business needs to be sustainable and that means developing films we
know we can finance and sell.”
- Kieran Parker
Black Camel’s Outpost is an action
horror film with ideological bite:
the story revolves around a group
of mercenaries on a mission in
Eastern Europe who unwittingly
find themselves caught in a battle
against genetically altered Nazis left
over from World War Two.
Filmed in Glasgow’s Film City
Studios and on location in Dumfries,
and directed by Steve Barker, the
film was picked up by Sony Pictures
Worldwide for international release
in a multi-territory deal, which
included the UK and the US. The
film sold out worldwide. For Black
Camel’s Kieran Parker and his
partner Arabella Croft, getting that
first feature made and distributed
globally represents the first stage
achieved in a long-term plan to
make commercial features here in
Scotland.
“We set up Black Camel in 2004 to
develop and produce feature films
for the commercial market place,
launching new talent and providing
an inspiring environment for writers,
directors and crew members to
work in,” says Parker. “With two
producers at the helm we like to
keep a tight rein on what is on our
slate; primarily we are developing
genre films for a commercial market
place but there are a couple of
Arabella Croft and Kieran Parker with their BAFTA New Talent Award
projects emerging which are more
culturally and socially relevant. We
have to be realistic and the business
needs to be sustainable - and that
means developing films we know
we can finance and sell.”
One of the talent relationships
important to Black Camel is
the relationship with their long
term collaborator Barker, who
impressively managed to transcend
the limits of his low-budget to deliver
a film with genuine atmosphere and
tension, with gruesome gore effects
by the Artem studio as the icing on
the cake.
“Our long term aim is to maintain
and keep developing our talent and
to ensure that our slate is constantly
active, so we aim to produce two
feature films in the next twelve
months including Steve’s second
feature film Blood Makes Noise,
says Croft. “We want Black Camel
to continue to be the springboard
from which international careers are
launched, to be a home for talent to
return to, while representing and
promoting Scotland in the global
feature film market.”
www.blackcamel.co.uk
Outpost
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery funded: Content Development (Blood Makes Noise) ]
Claire Mundell, PILOT writer, Nick Younger and Justin Molotnikov
T
ogether with
Synchronicity Films cofounder, Justin Molotnikov,
Claire Mundell scored a
notable success with the
BBC’s popular children’s
television show Shoebox
Zoo. But aside from
developing the series into
a film, to be titled The
Brotherhood of the Book,
Mundell and Molotnikov
have also been working on
a slate of other projects.
“Synchronicity Films is a boutique
drama production company working
across television and feature film
drama, scripted comedy and improvised
projects. Our company’s ethos is to
develop and produce really ambitious,
bold and quality drama for UK and
international audiences,” says Mundell.
“Synchronicity has an ambitious
approach to its international strategy;
we are now actively pitching projects
to the major US networks and cable
channels, and we intend to build on our
relationships and contacts in Canada
and the US as we go forward.”
Currently their slate includes a sixpart television drama series, Venus
Rising, in development for Channel 4;
a co-production with French company,
The Bureau, of James Marsh’s second
feature, Rise; a series of morality tales/
“As co-creative directors, Justin and
I are a long-established creative
partnership from our time together
at the BBC. We have extensive
drama development, production and
international co-production experience,
in terms of live action/CGI hybrids,”
she says. “In addition to continually
refining and refreshing our slate of
projects, we will be looking to deepen
“Our company’s ethos is to develop and produce
really ambitious, bold and quality drama for UK and
international audiences.” - Claire Mundell
murder mysteries based on the short
stories of esteemed US author Patricia
Highsmith in development with LA’s
Minerva Films; and a contemporary
version of Jack London’s classic
story White Fang. Such a diverse
range of projects requires a close-knit
team, and Mundell is enthusiastic
in her appreciation of what she and
Molotnikov have achieved so far, while
also looking towards the appointment
of Synchronicity’s first development
producer.
our relationships with North America
and to see the key projects on our slate
go into production.”
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery funded: Content Development (The Brotherhood of the Book, White Fang), Business Development Loan ]
The New Ten
Commandments
Peter Dow, The Right to Freedom of Assembly by David Scott
“This year sees the 60th anniversary of
the Declaration of Human Rights,” says
documentary filmmaker, Nick Higgins.
“So I wanted to make a series of films
which celebrated and examined how
these rights affected Scotland. People
often only think of human rights in
other countries, and it seemed like a
good idea and a good moment to take
a look at the subject in terms of life in
Scotland.”
those Higgins chose to put behind the
camera range from Tilda Swinton to
Douglas Gordon to Kenny Glenaan.
The result is The New Ten
Commandments, ten short films
showing as one feature length film,
each reflecting different aspects of the
Declaration. “It’s to be seen as one
feature length documentary, with ten
Scottish or Scottish-based directors
reflecting on different aspects of human
rights,” says Higgins. “The overall
intent is to get people to think about the
meaning and purpose of human rights
and not just the letter of the law.”
“We have a mixture of artists,
documentary filmmakers, actors
and fiction directors; for some it’s
the first time they’ve ever directed a
documentary film, others are more
experienced and already have an
established aesthetic style. Doug
Aubrey is making one on Aamer Anwar,
which is a portrait of what it means to
be an Asian outsider. That’s a historical
piece about the relevance of human
rights to Scotland,” says Higgins. “The
tones and moods of the shorts differ
quite considerably. BAFTA winner Alice
Nelson, who combines animation with
factual documentary, has made her film
about the right to privacy. It’s about a
man found guilty of trying to have sex
with his bike in a hostel, who now finds
himself on the sex offenders register.”
With finance from the BBC, Scottish
Screen and the Scottish Arts Council,
For Higgins, making The New Ten
Commandments is the payoff for
his own work as a documentary
maker. “I came to make The New Ten
Commandments by virtue of having
my own film at the 2007 Edinburgh
International Film Festival, and as a
result I pitched it to Hannah McGill and
Diane Henderson,” he says. “They were
very supportive, and although we know
the films will be controversial, we see
what we’re doing as being above party
politics.”
The New Ten Commandments is a
co-production with Noe Mendelle of
the Scottish Documentary Institute and
Lansdowne Productions.
www.lansdowneproductions.co.uk
www.scottishdocinstitute.com
Nick Higgins
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery funded: Express Film Fund ]
made in scotland
Trouble Sleeping
Trouble Sleeping is a feature length film that deals
with difficult issues, including refugees and torture.
Robert Rae is director, co-writer and Artistic Director
of co-producers Theatre Workshop.
Alia Alzougbi and Nihat Kaya
rehearsing with Robert Rae (centre)
“The project started when I pitched to the Edinburgh
International Film Festival the idea of bringing the kind of
methodology that I’d been using in community theatre to
feature film production,” says Rae. “I wanted to tell the story
of the experience of refugees in Edinburgh, particularly
those from the Middle East, and I wanted them to be at the
heart of the creative process - as actors and as writers. I
have a strong working relationship with a writer called Ghazi
Hussein, himself a refugee, and by gathering together a
small team with similar personal connections, we started to
gain the trust of people and interweave their stories into a
narrative.”
Working with Edinburgh-based Makar Productions, Rae set
out to construct a narrative, which he believes depicts the
kind of problems that refugees in Scotland might face.
“Trouble Sleeping focuses on the central story of Ahmed,
who finds that our courts don’t believe his story, so he starts
to track down a woman in Edinburgh who can bear witness
to what happened to him,” says Rae. “He sets off to get her
to testify, and in doing so, affects and upsets her own world.
Trouble Sleeping asks questions about the pursuit of truth,
and what the cost might be.”
With many films of varying degrees of social responsibility
depicting the topical issue of torture, Rae feels that Trouble
Sleeping is justified in addressing the controversial subject.
“The casual use of torture in films is something which
really disturbs me; it’s not something which happens in that
moment and then its over - it’s something which defines
people for the rest of their lives,” says Rae.
Rae hopes the film, which has already picked up a BAFTA
Scotland New Talent Award for Best New Work (Fiction),
will reach as wide an audience as possible. “At heart it’s a
powerful story with some brilliant acting. We’re hoping to put
the film into theatrical release, as we want it to be seen by as
many people as possible. It’s also a film that a lot of people
in the US would want to see - there’s a lot of serious concern
there.”
“I wanted to tell the story of the
experience of refugees in Edinburgh
and I wanted them to be at the heart
of the creative process.” - Robert Rae
Robert Rae going over notes with
Okan Yahsi and Fouad Cherif
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery funded:
New Talent Development Initiative and Content Production ]
Diversity
As the name suggests, film and filmmaking is the main
activity that Diversity Films uses to achieve its aim to
work for and promote the elimination of discrimination
and inequality. To achieve this, they aim to empower
and enable individuals and groups to reach their full
potential through inclusive training and communitybased activities. Working in the Greater Easterhouse
and Scotstounhill areas of Glasgow, Diversity provides
training, mentoring and film production equipment to
community groups, getting people involved in filming,
editing and producing.
“We kicked off 2008 with the premiere of ExNE – the
Movie at The Bridge in Easterhouse, a film which has
been mainly shot by Diversity Films,” says Diversity’s
Abigail Howkins. “Talented locals from the area have
come together to write songs, play concerts and record
an album in a magnificent initiative organised by our
partner Platform. And Diversity Films has also been
working with students from the Positive Behaviour
group at Smithycroft Secondary School to make a film
about the school to help students with the transition
from primary school to secondary school.”
In addition, Diversity was also involved in Document
5, Glasgow’s International Human Rights Film Festival,
which took place at the end of October 2007 in
Glasgow’s Centre for Contemporary Arts. Diversity
Films contributed to a number of events and activities
including launching their website at the festival.
Doug, Leanne and Nathalie
Films
“Perhaps the biggest highlight
was the fabulous turnout at
the festival by the filmmakers
who took part in filming the
festival and associated events,
interviewing visiting local
and international filmmakers,
including Paul Watson, John
Akomfrah and Diversity’s own
Doug Aubrey,” says Howkins.
“We were truly inspired by the
dedication, enthusiasm and
initiative shown by all of the
fourteen filmmakers of ranging
experience and filmmaking
knowledge as they threw
themselves into the project,
soaking up all aspects of the
festival.”
Diversity Films is looking
forward to growing and
developing the organisation’s
work, including a mini film
festival for Refugee Week
and completion of works-in-
progress currently underway
by new filmmakers. And in the
longer term, Diversity Films
aims to expand their work into
communities in other areas of
Glasgow, Scotland and beyond.
“As well as our core workshop
activity, our first Weekend Film
School took place in October
2007. The Film School was two
inspiring, activity-fuelled days,
teaching participants a variety
of techniques and practices
for starting to make their own
documentary films,” says
Howkins. “The results of just a
few hours filming and editing
are posted on our website, and
I think they show just what a
talented bunch of filmmakers
there are in the making.”
www.diversityfilms.org.uk
Weekend Film School
“The results of just a few hours filming show just what a talented bunch of filmmakers there are in the making.”
- Abigail Howkins
Leanne & Nathalie
Doug, Dalya and Peri
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery funded: New Talent Development Initiative ]
cultural cinema hubs
R
ecognising the
importance of going to
the cinema as part of
the lives of many Scots,
Scottish Screen has developed
a network of Cultural Cinema
Hubs to provide the best and
most accessible cinema for the
widest definition of Scottish
cinema-going public.
The new Cultural Cinema Hub status is
designed to recognise leaders in cultural
cinema exhibition, capable of ensuring
that the widest range of films reaches and
is appreciated by as diverse audience as
possible.
[ Scottish Screen funded ]
In practice, that means that Scottish
Screen will invest £750,000 into six hubs
(four cinemas, one festival and one new
organisation), including Glasgow Film
Theatre (GFT), adept at attracting and
retaining a passionate film audience,
while the Edinburgh International Film
Festival (EIFF) has also been targeted
for an increase in funding to £250,000
to support their ambitions to be a
cornerstone film event for local, national
and international audiences.
Edinburgh’s Filmhouse, experts in film
curation and programming, and Dundee
Contemporary Arts, strong providers
of film to children and young people,
will each be awarded money to grow
and develop their own film showing
specialities and programming services.
The newly refurbished Eden Court in
Inverness will also receive support
to develop its successful outreach
programme for Scottish film-lovers
throughout the Highland area.
To ensure that cinema access is
provided for across the country, a new
organisation has been created. Regional
Screen Scotland will become the sixth
hub and will deliver cinema access in
rural, remote and other under-served
areas, including the operation of the
mobile cinemas, RBS Screen Machines
1 and 2.
www.scottishscreen.com
L-r: Fiona Reid, Clair Allan, Sonja Henrici, Nick Broomfield, Noémie Mendellee, Finlay Pretsell
Bridging
the Gap
“What we’re about, as the name
suggests, is Bridging the Gap...
That can be bridging the gap between
the small and the big screen, but can also
apply in terms of making films which cross
cultural boundaries,” says Sonja Henrici
of the Scottish Documentary institute,
who have been running the successful
Bridging the Gap New Talent Initiative for
several years. “Now Bridging The Gap has
become a brand name in itself, because
all the films we make share a specific
emphasis on form, and we distribute the
films we are involved with as a package to
relevant film festivals like Hotdocs.”
Supported by Scottish Screen, Skillset
Film Skills Fund, eca and Angus Digital
Media Centre, last year’s crop of new
work included How To Save A Fish From
Drowning by Kelly Neal, which won a BAFTA
New Talent award, Yulia Mahr’s Butterfly
which went to the Tribeca Film Festival,
Faisal Aziz’s The Unbearable Whiteness of
Being, which went to Hotdocs, and Yasmin
Fedda’s Breadmakers, which screened at
Sundance.
“Last year’s theme was ‘White’, and while I
think they all fall under the banner of being
big-screen documentaries which deal
with universal themes, the films which
were made reflect different genres,” says
Henrici. “Some are told in the first person
and are quite observational, whereas
others are quite composed and blur the
line between fact and fiction. We’re often
looking for something different to the
kinds of projects which are commissioned
for television, although we have sold some
of our films to TV.”
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery funded: New Talent Development Initiative ]
One of last year’s films, Ottica Zero by
Maja Borg, deals with the search of Italian
actress Nadya Cazan to find a better
way of living, and includes reflections
on the ideas of futurist Jacque Fresco.
After winning recognition at Edinburgh
International Film Festival, it was picked
up by a Swedish distributor, and is now on
its way to becoming a feature project - a
progression Henrici is keen to see occur.
“Shorts are really good calling cards,
particularly for filmmakers hoping to get
festival exposure, but there are cases,
like Ottica Zero, where there are clear
reasons for expanding the film because
of its subject matter,” says Henrici. “But
as well as helping filmmakers take such a
step forward, we’re also about discovering
a talent pool of local filmmakers and
giving them what they want in terms of
assistance.”
Bridging The Gap has a strong
responsibility to develop local talent, and
help filmmakers with something to say.
“Bringing someone like Nick Broomfield
here to do a masterclass, as we did in
March 2008, is ideal,” says Henrici, because
it reminds people just how influential and
thought-provoking great documentary
filmmaking can be.
www.scottishdocinstitute.com
How to Save a Fish from Drowing
DANCE:FILM Festival
Diamond Circles Jam
“I’d read an article in 2006 about why
people love dance films. That got me
thinking about a creating a festival which
would show people great examples
of the many different ways that dance
manifests itself in cinema,” says Steph
Wright of Edinburgh’s Dance Base.
“So I got in touch with Bev Nicolson
at the Filmhouse, got Scottish Screen
involved, and the rest, as they say, is
history…..”
In 2007, DANCE:FILM’s inaugural year saw
over 1000 people attend a series of screenings
at the Edinburgh Filmhouse, as well as
workshops and lectures. Rather than mine
popular dance favourites like Flashdance and
Saturday Night Fever, Nicolson and Wright
set out to find something a little fresher.
“I was delighted that we included
breakdancing and krumping gems such as
The Freshest Kids: A History of the B-Boy,
RIZE and the wonderful documentary,
Rhythm Is It!, which features the Scottishbased choreographer, Royston Maldoom,”
says Nicolson. “The overall vision for the
festival was to celebrate the relationship
between dance and film, and I think we
achieved that.”
Both Nicolson and Wright were particularly
keen to include participation sessions which
followed on from the screenings in the
festival programme; rather than sit back and
let the dancers do all the work, DANCE:FILM
was a truly interactive event.
“The highlight was on the last day of the
festival when Dance Base was buzzing with
over 150 people,” says Wright. “They were
dancing their hearts out to the Mambo
Dirty Dancing-style, the Flamenco Carmenstyle, ballet The Turning Point-style and
breakdancing in the spirit of The Freshest
Kids: History of the B-Boy.”
“For me, the ultimate highlight of such an
amazing week came on the final Saturday
when I attended the Diamond Circles Jam
III workshops and the energy and talent
blew my mind!” says Nicolson. “There
were dancers from the age of six upwards
breakdancing, and to see world-class
b-boying featured in the exhibition battles
was simply mesmerising!”
Breakdance
With DANCE:FILM 07 declared a resounding
success, Wright is already turning her
attention to next year’s event.
“DANCE:FILM 09 will hopefully include a
touring programme to other cities in Scotland
such as Glasgow, Dundee, Aberdeen and
Inverness where there are national dance
agencies and independent cinemas,” she
says. “As with any new festival, the first
year is always a scary prospect but now
that hurdle has been crossed, we hope that
DANCE:FILM will develop into Scotland
and the UK’s leading biennial dance film
festival.”
American ballet
www.dancefilmscotland.com
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery funded: Audience Development ]
Mambo08
Dirty Dancing
made in scotland
Park Circus
SCOTLAND’S INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
DUNDEE’S DISCOVERY
FILM FESTIVAL’S 2008
EVENT, RUNNING FROM 21
OCTOBER TO 2 NOVEMBER
IS AIMED AT FAMILIES
AND YOUNG PEOPLE, AND
LOOKS TO PROVIDE A
USEFUL RESOURCE FOR
PARENTS WHO WANT TO
DISCOVER AND ENJOY
FRESH STRANDS OF
FILMMAKING WITH THEIR
CHILDREN.
“At Dundee Contemporary Arts, we’ve
always had a provision for young
people and film, and from this came
the idea for a festival that
would challenge young
people much as other
European festivals do
adults,” says Discovery
programmer, Joe Hall.
“It’s the kind of thing
that other European
children’s film festivals
do, but there’s not
Joe Hall
many other festivals in the UK offering that kind of perspective on film for young
people. Finding and pleasing that audience takes a lot of care and thought in the
programming.”
With growing concerns from parents about the kind of material youngsters see,
on the big screen at home, Hall has to take responsibility for programming that’s
challenging and innovative, but also takes account of what parents and teachers
think.
“There are always issues about programming for young people, so a lot of energy
goes into consultation with teachers and parents,” says Hall. “Sometimes that
means that we have to explain ourselves in terms of our programme choices,
which is always challenging but nevertheless useful. We are always developing
new ways to work in consultation with young people, going into schools and
discussing the films we show.”
That means that, as well as the festival itself, Discovery has an all-year-round
outreach strategy, ensuring that there’s continued support for connecting inquiring
minds with high quality cinema.
“No one can argue with the value of having a festival like this. It’s great hearing
kids talk about the films they’ve seen here, particularly when they tell me about it
without realising that I programmed the film festival,” says Hall.
“Having Anthony Minghella at our opening event for moving
image education in our first year was a particularly inspiring
event, and set the bar very high, but we feel we’ve managed to
build on that in the four years since. It was great to have a shot
of glamour for that initial impact, but making something like a
film festival for children meaningful and wide reaching takes a
little more time.”
www.discoveryfilmfestival.org.uk
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery funded: Festivals]
“We wanted
to spread
awareness of
Afghanistan
beyond the
image of bombs
and burkhas.” -
Dan Gorman
The Boy who plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan
A
side from the established
Edinburgh and Glasgow
Film Festivals, there’s a
wealth of smaller but no less
important events in the Scottish
film calendar, which reflect the
rich cultural diversity of the
country they take part in. One of
the latest is the Reel Afghanistan
festival, which began in 2008
with a difficult remit: to raise
awareness of a country which is
frequently only understood in
terms of newspaper headlines
and political argument. An
audience of over 6000 people
turned up, much to the delight
of Dan Gorman, one of the
group of six organisers for Reel
Afghanistan.
“The main aim of the festival was to
spread awareness of Afghanistan beyond
the image of bombs and burkhas which
is generally found in the mainstream
media,” says Gorman. “We wanted to
make it possible for people in Edinburgh
and the UK to access more information
about Afghanistan and to enable some
sort of dialogue between people here and
Afghan filmmakers and musicians.”
The festival was inspired by Gorman’s
own trip to the country, and the
determination and spirit of the Afghan
filmmakers, which made a deep
impression on him.
“On a visit to Afghanistan in 2006 with
my fellow Reel Afghanistan co-ordinator
Zahra Qadir and representatives of the
Afghan Schools Trust, we discussed
the possibility of hosting a film festival
in Kabul. On our return we found people
so eager to hear of our experiences we
thought it would be equally valid to host
the equivalent here - a festival of Afghan
Film and Culture,” says Gorman. “We
also wanted to support the arts and film
industry in Afghanistan; one of the things
that constantly amazed and impressed us
on our visit there was the resilience of the
arts and the Afghan led drive to continue
these cultural activities.”
Highlights of the 2008 festival, which
was sponsored by Scottish Screen and
the British Council, and co-ordinated by
Edinburgh University Settlement, Afghan
Schools Trust and Firefly International,
included director Atiq Rahimi, presenting
his film Earth and Ashes and leading a
masterclass with Scottish filmmakers,
as did gifted filmmaker and outspoken
raconteur Richard Stanley. The whole
event was covered by BBC Persia, which
relayed the proceedings at Edinburgh’s
Filmhouse to a wide international
audience.
“For the future, we’re also looking at doing
a Scottish film festival in Kabul, hosting
a Central Asian festival , hosting an Iraqi
film festival or maybe a Balkan festival in
Edinburgh,” says Gorman. “And cinemas
as far afield as Melbourne, Amsterdam
and America are interested in hosting the
Afganistan festival, so who knows what
will happen next?”
www.reelafghanistan.org
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery funded: Audience Development ]
made in scotland
Image from the Tramway Launch
The Pakistani Film,
Media and Arts Festival
“I started working on the idea of coordinating the Pakistani Film, Media
and Arts Festival in 2004 after a visit
to Pakistan to attend the Karachi
International Film Festival,” says
festival Director Alina Mirza. “What I
found was inspiring. I was sure that
the Pakistani community in Scotland
and the Scottish community in general
would welcome an opportunity to watch
exciting new films, documentaries, and
shorts which were made in Pakistan
and beyond.”
Europe’s first ever Pakistani Film,
Media and Arts Festival, entitled
Pehlee Dharkan [meaning First
Heartbeat] was launched in Glasgow in
September 2005. The festival aimed at
providing a platform for Pakistani and
British Asian filmmakers to showcase
their work, as well as staging talks
Festival Director Alina Mirza
and events for filmmakers and public,
and mainstream mentoring schemes
within the film industry.
Film Theatre of Sarmed Mirza’s
Mistaken, the first ever Scottish-Asian
co-produced feature film.
“One of the driving forces behind
the festival was the desire to hold a
quality event representative of arts
and film from Pakistan”, says Mirza.
“The festival aims to bring different
artforms together under this banner;
we have held eclectic exhibitions, such
as the photography exhibitions, Art on
Wheels -TribalTruck Art of Pakistan, and
Billboard Art of Lollywood. We hope
to see more collaborations between
the artists from the different artforms
in developing joint film projects.”
Mirza identifies two highlights of the
festival. “People had been waiting
for the release of Khuda Kay Liye a Pakistani blockbuster by Shoaib
Mansoor, but there was also a huge
amount of interest in Mistaken, a film
which had considerable local appeal
with its Glaswegian, Pakistani, Indian
and Afghan crew. Both films dealt
with the human consequences of
global politics, terrorism and war, the
first in Lahore, the second, in Glasgow.
And both films fitted in well under the
notion of the festival, and that shows
how diverse the films we show are.”
Over 2000 people attended 2007’s
events over a three day period, with
over 300 people turning up for the
opening night screening at the Glasgow
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery funded: Audience Development ]
www.pakistanifilmfest.com
Change of Address
CineF
ile
Anyone who has visited a film festival will understand the temptation
of moving into distribution. The chance to seek out high-quality films
and set them in front of a grateful cine-literate audience seems too
good to be true. But it’s not quite as easy as that, with CineFile one
of the few distributors who can point to a profitable track record in
releasing high-quality domestic and foreign films.
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery funded: Distribution (True North) ]
made in scotland
“I suppose it started with our involvement
in the French Film Festival,” says CineFile
Co-Director Allison Gardner, also one of
the programmers of the Glasgow Film
Theatre. “The films we were showing
were proving far too popular to be used
in a one off-slot. So that experience led
us to have a boutique approach to film,
where having a small business is part of
the charm.”
cinema not only from the point of view
of a distributor, but as an exhibitor too.
As a distributor, you have to work hard
to sell a product, and as an exhibitor,
I’m highly critical of the product we’re
buying for the cinema. I think that
by doing the two jobs, they reflect
positively on each other.”
2008’s releases include True North,
picked up due to strong audience reaction
at the 2007 Glasgow Film Festival, and
Change of Address. CineFile’s team of
Gardner, Richard Mowe, Ilona Morrison
and John Beattie are currently scouring
the world’s festivals for the best possible
material to add to their lists.
Other popular releases have included
Cédric Klapisch‘s L’Auberge Espanol
(Pot Luck) and its sequel Russian
Dolls, and the historical epic Le Roi
Danse (The King is Dancing) by Gérard
Corbiau, while their acquisition of the
rights to Skyline’s documentary about
sculptor Andy Goldsworthy, Rivers and
Tides, paid off over a lengthy run at UK
cinemas.
“CineFile is run and works as a business,
but to us, it’s not just about making a
profit. It’s an education for me to see
“The important thing for a distributor or
an exhibitor is understanding your film
and audience, “ says Gardner. “You can’t
treat the audience as if they’re stupid
and they don’t know what they want,
because it’s simply not true. Audiences
are smart and will find the good stuff,
but you need to know the returns on the
film.” And with the public’s appetite for
cinema showing no signs of abating,
Gardner is always on the look out for
new product and new opportunities.
“I think filmmakers don’t always
understand audiences in quite the
way that exhibitors or distributors do.
Something light and fluffy like Change of
Address, you have to market it directly
to French community, and even a highly
accessible film like Son of Rambow
needs a confident marketing strategy,”
she says. “Really great films do get
seen by audiences, but they need good
marketing, and that’s what we do.”
www.cinefile.co.uk
True North
page 43
drews
St An cotland'
t
a
S
S
CB
across
g
'Puttin
Whether it’s furnishing a dystopian wasteland
for Neil Marshall’s Doomsday, or doubling
Glasgow locations for London in The Stone
of Destiny, getting the right location is a key
element of the filmmaking process. At Scottish
Screen Locations, Belle Doyle is responsible for
making sure that filmmakers get the best possible
locations to realise their visions.
“We’re constantly working on all sorts of projects,
whether it’s a short film, television programme, or
feature film. It’s a complicated business because
it’s about more than finding just the right place.
We also have to look into whether they’ll be able
to have the right crew, equipment and weather,
and that may depend on what else is shooting
at the time,” says Doyle. “One thing which has
helped is having a recce fund so we can take
filmmakers out and show them exactly what
they’re getting.”
Scotland’s unique landscapes and countryside
have regularly proved themselves to be a big
draw for big-budget productions, but Doyle’s
job also involves making sure that all levels of
filmmakers are catered for.
Blackness
'Doomsday' at
Features
s
cu
Castle - Fo
'Stone of Destiny',
Arbroath
- Mob Films/Infinity
Features
History Channel at
Rosslyn Chapel
“You could say that smaller projects like
television or even a still shoot are our bread
and butter, but it’s also important to take full
advantage if there’s the possibility of a big budget
spend here,” says Doyle. “When a movie like
Stardust shoots here, it’s a great advert for us,
even if there’s no mention of Scotland in the
film. I think people in the industry recognise how
effective the location work is on a film like that,
and it can only help cement relationships and
create more opportunities.”
Scottish Screen has just returned from taking part
in the 2008 Locations Expo in LA’s Santa Monica.
“Visiting the Expo, you can see that there’s a lot
of places which offer different kinds of tax breaks;
it can be like a supermarket with everyone trying
to out-do each other with the cheapest offers,”
she says. “But I think we’ve had plenty of success
getting productions to come here, particularly
when we’ve got so many great locations and
facilities positioned closely together. It’s great to
have people coming back to us again and again,
and we want other filmmakers to know what they
can get when they film in Scotland.”
www.scottishscreenlocations.com
made in scotland
hannel
History C
rgh Abbey
u
b
ed
at J
Crew of
'D
- Focus oomsday', Glasg
ow
Feature
s
'Book of Blood' - Plum
Films/Matador Pictures
The Inheritance on location
“Scotland’s unique landscapes and countryside have regularly proved
themselves to be a big draw for big-budget productions.” - Belle Doyle
Skyline
“
My next production is a good example. It
involves a German director working on a
Japanese artist with a gallery in Paris and a
project in southern Italy,” says Leslie Hills of
Skyline Productions. “That’s the kind of project Skyline
do. As a small company in a small country, I think we
should always bear in mind the advantages of looking
towards Europe.”
Productions
Newer projects include Jes Benstock’s highly successful The
Holocaust Tourist and Living Lightly, a look at the Vido family who
live by the scythe in 21st century New Brunswick. Currently in postproduction and due to be aired on the BBC in May, is Alison Watt
– A Painter’s Eye, another art-oriented film, again directed by Hills’
long-term collaborator, German director, Thomas Riedelsheimer.
The film features the work in the National Gallery, London, of
acclaimed Scottish painter Alison Watt.
Skyline productions can not only boast a highly
individual feel for content in films such as a visually
stunning look at the art of Andy Goldsworthy in Rivers
and Tides, and Touch the Sound - A Sound Journey
With Evelyn Glennie, but also a reputation for high
professional standards, on and off screen.
Working with such high-profile artists brings kudos to the film
company, which works with the artists to record their working
methods and capture on screen the spirit of their works of art. With
over 20 years of experience at the company, it’s a finely-honed
recipe for success for Hills. So where does she think Skyline fits
into the expanded Scottish media map?
“The ethos behind Skyline Productions is eclectic.
We’ve made a wide ranging spectrum of programme
types over the years but have tried always to ensure
we deliver the highest possible quality,” says Hills.
“We’ve also tried to train people and to give them a
chance to step up – and we’ve made it a priority to treat
people with respect; to observe proper professional
standards.”
“That’s a difficult one. We originally started in Edinburgh and
expanded to London and worked successfully for many years from
the two bases. Skyline Films in London and Skyline Productions
are now two separate companies but are still sister companies,”
says Hills. “There was a time when Skyline supplied more hours
of programming to Channel Four than any other company, but
these days, I think Skyline Productions is probably happier to be
regarded as a micro company who are doing big projects. We’ve
changed and adapted to the way that the media landscape has
changed.”
Rivers And Tides and Touch the Sound are very different
projects about very individual artists, but to Hills, the
filmmaking challenges involved with these and other
projects are just the same.
www.skyline.uk.com
“Every project is different involving the acquiring
of new skills and information – and every one is the
same in its essentials. In the last five years our main
output has been a drama for BBC1, several outside
broadcasts, a comedy for Channel 4, four half-hour
films, two broadcast documentaries and a 90-minute
documentary for cinema distribution,” says Hills. “But
the essentials of production - funding, production and
distribution - are the same, whatever format you’re
presenting in.”
Alison Watt – A Painter’s Eye
Living Lightly
made in scotland
Theatre B
T
en years ago, Giles Lamb, Michael McKinnon and Kahl
Henderson set up Savalas, a sound post-production
company which is now recognised as one of the
UK’s best, working on internationally acclaimed projects
like David Mackenzie’s Hallam Foe and Peter Mullan’s The
Magdalene Sisters.
“Our team is one of the most
innovative in the industry,
offering exceptionally broad
expertise encompassing
feature films, television drama,
factual, commercials, games
and exhibition design,” says
Lamb. “Unique for a facility
of our size, Savalas is wholly
owned and operated by its
founding team of creatives and
engineers. This feeds our ethos
of complete commitment to
the work, helping us to deliver
the highest production values
to every project, regardless of
budget or size.”
Savalas has recently moved
into a custom-designed £2
million premises at Film City
Glasgow, complete with a 60
square metre Dolby Premier
mix theatre – the first in
Europe. This state of the art
facility is already hosting
some of the industry’s most
anticipated projects.
“We’re working on Sixteen
Films’ Summer, directed by
Kenny Glenaan, and Zentropa/
Sigma Films’ Rounding up
Donkeys,” says Lamb. “For the
rest of the year we have, so
far, three high-profile network
drama series, another two
features, and a raft of factual
seasons and one-offs, plus
commercials, short films and
our multimedia and interactive
work. That’s more than enough
to keep us busy, although we’re
always keen to find challenging
new projects.”
With the growing need for full
in-house facilities for sound
post-production and music
services, Savalas can offer
cutting rooms for dialogue,
effects and music, a dedicated
Foley stage with artists, a live
room, and three further midsize surround mix theatres.
“Ultimately, our goal is to
be able to win projects from
beyond the UK by securing
an international reputation,”
says Lamb. “And to achieve
that kind of growth, we want
to keep up our reputation for
insightful, innovative work and
exceptional client care.”
www.savalas.co.uk
Foley Stage
[ Scottish Screen National Lottery funded: Business Development Loan ]
M8Media
M8Media
The Red Arrows
M8media
“T
oday, you can shoot, edit and
do a complete Dolby sound
mix on a film, all within
walking distance of where
I’m sitting now,” says Jim
Allison, of M8media, from his new offices at
Pacific Quay digital media quarter. “What’s new
is that feature films can now be made without
leaving Scotland.”
Having formed his own editing company with his
wife Jill back in 1994, Allison recently moved his
business to a custom-built facility at Pacific Quay
Media Park, offering in-house editors, colourists
and dubbing mixers, together with a television
studio and digital cinema facilities.
While the basics of editing can be learned on a
home computer, when work gets to a professional
level, M8media offers tried and tested broadcastquality facilities. “For many people editing is
something which can be done as a hobby at
home, but the equipment which is used for
today’s film editing needs to be professionally
Film Mastering
operated,” says Allison. “From my point of view, the cost of buying
equipment like an Avid Media Composer has fallen by almost 50 per
cent recently, which makes it easier for us to ensure that we’re offering
the most up to date facilities possible. This also allows us to provide
craft editors on projects with tight budgets.”
In terms of film work, M8media have creatively navigated their way
through shorts like Cannes Audience Award winner Leonard, starring
Dennis Lawson, to the recent feature Gamerz. Whilst M8media’s
television track record covers everything from Robbie Coltrane’s B-Road
Britain to The Red Arrows for IWC, keeping pace with the demands of
an ever-changing field keeps them busy.
“When it comes to new staff coming to work for us, what we’re looking
for is a keen understanding of the industry and an understanding of the
systems involved. That’s what we’re expected to provide as a company;
editing has come a long way from the ‘black art’ people used to see
it as,” says Allison. “As a company we are moving towards offering
a complete solution to the post-production process with all the bases
covered. So rather than outsourcing it, which is what used to happen,
we can now provide everything from the initial shoot through to final
delivery, including an integrated graphics capability. That lets us be
incredibly efficient plus it helps keeps costs down.”
www.m8media.co.uk
film city
glasgow
Film City Glasgow
C
reating a full production facility
and ideas factory is not an easy
task, but Glasgow’s Film City
studios are now entering the
third stage of redevelopment at their site,
ensconced in the building that was once
Govan’s Town Hall.
“Film City is a great example of
indigenous ideas and talent being
supported by local strategic partners
on an ambitious level,” says Film City’s
Operations Manager, Tiernan Kelly. “The
project got off the ground when Gillian
Berrie of Sigma Films, frustrated with
the lack of facilities available in Glasgow,
looked to the Danish Film industry
for inspiration, most significantly, to
Filmbyen, a media hub created by
Zentropa Films in decommissioned army
barracks on the outskirts of Copenhagen.”
With help from Glasgow City Council,
and local economic development agency
Scottish Enterprise Glasgow, and with
additional assistance from the European
Regional Development Fund, £3.5 million
was raised to redevelop the town hall into
a state of the art production facility.
So far, feature films shot wholly or partly at Film City include Sigma Films’
Red Road and Hallam Foe; Black Camel’s zombie horror Outpost; Mob Films &
Infinity Features’ Stone of Destiny with Robert Carlyle and Charlie Cox; Hadrian
Productions’ Doomsday; and Viking epic Valhalla Rising also slated for summer
2008. But such success only comes from an appreciation of how Denmark’s film
industry works.
“Film City is the antithesis of an insular, fragmented production community,”
says Kelly. “The example of the industry in Denmark is a good model – we hope
to apply the same innovation and irreverence to what we do. Sigma Films is
the ideal example: they themselves are a micro-ideas factory, with projects like
Advance Party, demonstrative of successful collaboration on an international level.
The prospect of up to 20 other screen and creative businesses under the one roof
with the same mindset and desire to create, is tantalising.”
And while Scotland’s film talent has been making waves internationally for
decades, having a practically orientated studio facility should provide a crucial
stepping stone to creating an environment where the talents of tomorrow can
flourish.
“Assisting and nurturing talent is key for us. The low cost rental model we are
working to allows us to offer affordable accommodation to those emerging in
the industry, and the invaluable opportunity to work and collaborate alongside
established industry professionals. This incubation concept, if applied in the
correct way, can only add impetus and energy to the building,” says Kelly. “The
very existence of such a facility in Glasgow engenders confidence, belief, and in
turn, investment, in the indigenous industry, and benefits the deep pool of creative
and technical talent we have in the country.”
“In addition to production offices and
studio space, Film City houses two
of Scotland’s leading post production
companies, Savalas (audio post), and
Serious Facilities (picture post),” says
Kelly. “Brought on board at an early
stage, both companies have been given
the chance to have an input on the design
of purpose-built, state of the art postproduction facilities.”
Inside Film City
Inside Film City
made in scotland
ENGAGE
SCREEN ACADEMY SCOTLAND
T
he diverse communities of
London’s Brick Lane might seem
some distance from the Scottish
Screen Academy. Yet there is a firm link
to Sarah Gavron’s 2007 adaptation of
the bestselling book; the director is a
graduate of Edinburgh College of Art’s
(eca) filmmaking courses. The Screen
Academy Scotland, a collaboration
between eca and Edinburgh’s Napier
University, specialises in providing
professionally oriented, project-based
and practice-led film education and
training, delivered in partnership with
the screen industry.
The Academy brings together Napier
University and eca’s postgraduate
degree programmes in directing,
producing, screenwriting and
animation to which additional
programmes will be added in the
coming years. Ranging from low
budget digital feature production
(DigiDIY!) to collaborations with the
School of Sound (The Soundtrack)
and the Film Business Academy, the
institution offers a growing range
of short course and continuing
professional development (CPD)
opportunities for people entering or
already working in the screen industry.
Students at the Academy collaborate
with each other and with industry
practitioners in the development
and production of projects, with
programmes encouraging personal
creative development and a thorough
engagement with industry practices,
personnel and expectations. Typical
of this approach are the three
recent graduates of the producing,
screenwriting and Advanced Film
Practice programmes at Napier, whose
short film collaboration, River Child,
was recently awarded Best Short
Drama at the Celtic Media Festival in
Galway, and also won Best Fiction at
the Scottish Students on Screen BAFTA
awards.
The Academy offers a range of postqualification support including career
planning and, supported by the
EU MEDIA programme, ENGAGE,
a six-month series of international
workshops to foster collaboration
between students and graduates of
European film schools.
The Screen Academy Scotland
provides students with space to learn
and a gateway to fully independent
professional practice, as well as
providing the screen industry with
access to the next generation of ideas,
talent and skill.
Director Robin MacPherson said:
“Screen Academy Scotland is
approaching its third birthday and,
in that relatively short time, it and
our students have achieved a great
deal. From producing the students
who won best short film at the Celtic
Media Festival to leading a MEDIA
funded international collaboration with
the Irish and Baltic film schools, all of
our efforts are directed at supporting
new talent and helping them contribute
to Scotland’s growth as a European
filmmaking nation.”
www.screenacademyscotland.ac.uk
[ Scottish Screen funded ]
Recent Skillset bursary recipient, Julie Bills
on the set of Book of Blood
Skillset K
Scotland
eeping track of the constantly changing skills, required by
the workforce engaged in Scotland’s screen industries, is
part of the remit of Skillset Scotland. Guided by the Scottish
Industry Skills Panel, which has a membership made up of leading
employers, representatives from unions, trade associations,
further and higher education and public agencies, Skillset Scotland
is responsible for creating and delivering an action agenda for
the industry, working with the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish
Government and all other relevant agencies and organisations,
including Scottish Screen.
In practice, that means developing the skills base of companies,
employees and freelancers across the country, ensuring closer
collaboration between training/education sectors and industry in
Scotland for better integration of skills demand and supply, while
attracting, retaining and promoting skills and talent in Scotland
by encouraging existing funding to be used in a more meaningful
way.
Sector Skills Councils have worked closely with government,
employers and other key stakeholders in Scotland, including
the Enterprise networks, the Funding Councils, and the Scottish
Qualifications Authority (SQA) to develop the first Sector Skills
Agreements. These action plans for employers will help change
the way training is delivered in Scotland, ensuring that Scottish
employers have the people with the skills they need, when they
need them.
www.skillset.org/uk/scotland
made in scotland
Perth College
The
accelerating changes in the way we
create and appreciate the media means
that the skills required to work in the
media industry have to constantly
change. Scotland’s long-standing reputation for technical
excellence and innovation is one which is developed through
international initiatives like the Skillset Media Academy
Network – a national footprint of colleges and universities
to work with industry in developing a new wave of talent to
create the media content of the future. Created and endorsed
by Skillset, the network is made up of 17 academies, drawing
together creative education partnerships from 43 colleges
and universities across the UK, which are already centres of
excellence in television production and interactive media.
Within Scotland, the Creative Loop partnership sees
Aberdeen College, Adam Smith College, Cardonald College,
Dundee College, Perth College and Reid Kerr College join
forces. Creative Loop strives to work alongside industry
partners to build the capacity of the Scottish media sector
to take advantage of the growing network opportunities and
changing markets, by ensuring a healthy and competitive
skills base is developed.
“The commitment of the six colleges within Creative Loop
and our key national partners the Scottish Funding Council,
SQA, Scottish Screen and Skillset Scotland, clearly highlights
the importance of partnership working in order to bridge
the gap between Scotland’s colleges and industry,” says
Creative Loop’s Project Manager, Helliate Rushwaya.
“Creative Loop demonstrates how education and industry
can work together to develop the next generation of
talent that’s equipped with the required knowledge and
expertise to meet the demands of a vibrant creative
media sector.”
Ensuring that the quality of students entering the labour
market is high and enhances their employability, and also
ensuring that students are in direct contact with industry
standard practice, Creative Loop has already secured top
level employer commitment to this work. So whatever
the future brings, Scotland’s screen industries can expect
a united understanding of the latest developments
through close partnership between education, industry
and the media talent of tomorrow.
www.creativeloop.org
Cardonald College HD Suite
James McAvoy, winner of BAFTA Scotland award for Best Actor 2007
BAFTA
Scotland
“S
ometimes people outside the industry associate
the BAFTA name with something either very posh,
or remote and inaccessible, but we are much more
inclusive that,” says BAFTA Scotland’s former Director Alison
Forsyth. “To me, Scotland’s screen industries represent a
very broad church. Much as I love music, theatre or opera,
there’s nothing like film and television to get people talking,
and that’s why the BAFTA Scotland Awards, a benchmark of
really high quality, are so important.”
As well as running weekly preview screenings for members
in Glasgow and Edinburgh, BAFTA Scotland’s ever-expanding
roster of awards reflects the growth of creative industries
in Scotland. With the annual BAFTA Scotland Awards in
November celebrating the cream of the established industry,
there’s now the New Talent Awards, a new standalone event.
This March event also incorporates the Scottish Students on
Screen Awards and so encourages and rewards the newest
intake of aspiring film and programme makers of tomorrow.
“The 2007 BAFTA Scotland Awards were streamed on the
internet to over 20,000 people, and that’s vitally important
because as wide an audience as possible need to see what’s
good about Scottish talent,” says Forsyth. ‘‘It was the best
awards show we’ve ever done in terms of structure and
delivery, and we’ve had nine years of experience now – so it
ought to be brilliant! In the future, I’d like to see the annual
BAFTA Scotland awards broadcast on terrestrial television,
because it’s an event directly celebrating Scotland’s moving
image industry, and the hard work and creativity of these
practitioners deserves to be promoted.”
Following hard on the heels of the November 2007 ceremony,
which saw James McAvoy picking up the Best Actor award
for The Last King of Scotland, the Scottish Students on
Screen event in March 2008 saw over 450 students, tutors
and industry professionals taking part in workshops, pitching
sessions and a very informative ‘market-place’. The day’s
events culminated in the New Talent Awards ceremony at
Glasgow’s Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.
“We had a full day of events around Scottish Students on
Screen and it’s great to see young people who are taking their
first steps in the industry alongside a genuine Hollywood
producer like Barry Mendel (The Sixth Sense, Munich,
The Royal Tennenbaums),” says Forsyth. “Barry’s a terrific
example for them, a wonderful, self-effacing guy who I’m
sure made a memorable impression.”
And looking to the future, Forsyth sees BAFTA Scotland
continuing to highlight the best of creative work, and
professional behaviour.
“After the 2008 New Talent awards, many people in the
RSAMD said that they wished every Friday night could have
that kind of excitement and atmosphere. We received many
delighted and grateful responses from the nominees and
winners – several saying that they’d had the best night of their
lives,” says Forsyth. “Yes, an award in itself is important, but
it also serves as an accelerator that gets you one more step on
the ladder. Young people don’t have agents or promoters, they
have to learn how to sell themselves, and the BAFTA Scotland
Awards help create confidence by raising the standards but also
by giving the outsider a real chance to compete.”
www.baftascotland.co.uk
[ Scottish Screen funded: Scottish Students on Screen ]
page 53
CA H
Want to shoot in Scotland?
There are many
advantages for
Filmmakers looking
to bring their
production to
Scotland:
Talented and experienced cast
and crew / Excellent support and
facilities companies to cover all
aspects of production and post
production / UK Tax relief plus the
opportunity of additional funding
from Scottish Screen / Competitive
costs compared to the rest of the UK
/ A well organised network of film
offices around the country which
can assist productions with location
searching, local information and
practical support / A wide diversity
of locations, from period buildings to
unspoilt countryside to contemporary
cityscapes.
UK Funding:
UK tax relief, administration of the
cultural test, and feature film funding
information available from the UK Film
Council (see www.ukfilmcouncil.org/
qualifying for more details). Scotland
is part of the UK, and all UK tax rules
apply.
Scottish Screen Funding
Scottish Screen invests around £6m in the development and promotion of
Scotland’s screen industries each year, including distributing £2.7m of National
Lottery funds for production and content development. Specific funding areas
include:
Production company growth / Short and feature film development and
production / Freelancer and company skills development / Experimental,
alternative and interactive digital screen content, formats and platforms /
Development and production of television drama pilots / Distribution initiatives
To find out more about Scottish Screen and the investment opportunities
available please visitwww.scottishscreen.com/funding.
Scottish Screen Locations offers a fast, free and confidential locations finding
service, including a research service, an image library of over 60,000 images,
locations breakdown for scripts, recce support, and finding locations crew. The
national office and the regional film offices around Scotland can provide a wide
range of support for your project.
For more information, email [email protected], or visit www.
scottishscreenlocations.com.
MEDIA Antenna Scotland
MEDIA Antenna Scotland is the office for Scotland of the European Union’s
MEDIA Programme, based at Scottish Screen.
MEDIA encourages and supports the European film, television and new media
industries with funding in the following areas:
Professional training / Project development / Distribution / Exhibition /
Promotional activities at markets and festivals
For more information visit the UK MEDIA team’s website www.mediadesk.co.uk,
or email MEDIA Antenna Scotland at [email protected].
17.5% sales tax (VAT) refunds are
available to filmmakers from a country
with a reciprocal sales tax agreement
with the UK. For more details,
see www.hmrc.gov.uk or contact
[email protected].
For general information about shooting
in the UK, please see
http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/
filminginuk.
Image by Carl Silver - www.carlsilver.co.uk
eddie harrison - Writer
linsey denholm - editor
stephen mc--eWan - graphic designer
Thanks to the following people who helped put this publication together:
Jim Allison, M8 Media
Craig Armstrong
Andrew Boswell, The Mob Film Company
Camilla Bray, Sixteen Films
Brian Coffey, Sigma Films
Caragh Cook, Rogers & Cowan
Lucy Cooper, Artem
Arabella Croft, Black Camel Pictures
Laura Dickens, DDA PR
Sarah Drummond, Plum Films
Anna Duffield, Sigma Films
Christopher Farrar, Hamilton Hodell
Alison Forsyth, BAFTA Scotland
Allison Gardner, CineFile
Andrea Gibb
Joanna Dewar Gibb, Artem Scotland
Kenny Glenaan
Dan Gorman, Afghanistan Film Festival
Joe Hall, Discovery Film Festival
Sonja Henrici, Scottish Documentary Institute
Nick Higgins, Landsdowne Productions
Leslie Hills, Skyline Productions
Christian Hodell, Hamilton Hodell
Abigail Howkins, Diversity Films
Richard Jobson
Tiernan Kelly, Film City Glasgow
Owen Thomas, Savalas
Mike Kelt, Artem
Sarah Townsend, Independent
Giles Lamb, Savalas
Sue Watkins, Premier PR
Emma McCorkell, Rogers & Cowan
Steph Wright, DANCE:FILM
Lauren McCready, M8 Media
Hannah McGill, Edinburgh International Film Festival
Paul McGuigan
Morag McKinnon
Micky MacPherson, Plum Films
Robin MacPherson, Screen Academy Scotland
Sharman Macdonald
Neil Marshall
Rob Merilees, Infinity Features
Alina Mirza, Pakistani Film Festival
Claire Mundell, Synchronicity Films
Beverley Nicolson, DANCE:FILM
Kieran Parker, Black Camel Pictures
Robert Rae, Theatre Workshop
Amber Ripley, Infinity Features
Helliate Rushwaya, Creative Loop
Dougray Scott
Alasdair Smith, Skillset Scotland
Scottish Screen
David Smith, Brocken Spectre
249 West George Street, Glasgow, G2 4QE
Karen Smyth, La Belle Allee
e: [email protected] | t: 0141 302
Tilda Swinton
1700 | w: www.scottishscreen.com
Scottish Screen
249 West George Street, Glasgow, G2 4QE
e: [email protected] | t: 0141 302
1700 | w: www.scottishscreen.com