Eyes on the prize

It's easy to knock the screen industries in ­Scotland and plenty of people do, in spite of the fact that many of all ages would love to work in these industries, including thousands of young people who rack up a huge debt to study them.

Having worked in television, film and radio for more than 20 years, I know exactly what the ­attraction is and why anyone would love to be part of it. I also know the passion and fervour that being involved in the making of a programme or film engenders, and the lengths people are prepared to go to for their programme or film.

Most people who are driven to create and produce a piece of work that they put out there to inform or entertain an audience beyond themselves and their friends are willing to do anything to get that project made and seen.

I don't know many areas of life where people constantly work for nothing and give their all for no tangible reward other than pride in the finished product.

A lot of people don't understand this and I'm sure the friends and family of many fellow filmmakers keep wondering why so many of us spend much of our lives doing this. The answer is a mixture of things - you hope to improve, get a break, find an audience, produce a great piece of work, perhaps even win an award, like a Bafta.

But what about the current film industry in Scotland?

There has been a lot of hype recently about several Scottish films being released at the same time - Filth, Sunshine On Leith, Not Another Happy Ending and For Those In Peril.

All of these are very different films that have generated column inches in the press in different ways, and created excitement over the fact that, yes, actually we do have a film ­industry. So has it been a good year for television in or from Scotland?

I really think it has: Scottish actors and actresses seem to be everywhere on the small screen; we have a regular prime-time network drama being made throughout the year in ­Scotland; most of our factual programme producers are working at a high level for every major UK broadcaster; there have been two remarkable feature-length documentaries - I Am Breathing, about a man living with Motor Neurone Disease, and Fire In The Night, about the Piper Alpha disaster - that have not only found support from television but found a theatrical audience in the cinema.

As for the Scottish games industry, there have been more than 50 games released across a range of platforms this year from Scotland-based companies or designers, and the talented team at Rockstar North have achieved another feat of creative excellence with the release of Grand Theft Auto V that has led to unparalleled international success.

I am delighted to say that Bafta Scotland is honouring Rockstar North this evening with a special award to mark this achievement.

Unfortunately, the Bafta Scotland year runs from August to July, which means the two biggest films from the recent spate, Filth and Sunshine On Leith, which were not released or premiered in a festival during this period, aren't eligible for tonight's awards.

They haven't been snubbed in any way, contrary to some reports in the press, and they are sure to be part of our awards next year, which also means everyone gets to enjoy them for a bit longer.

There is currently a review going on into the film industry in Scotland and how ­Creative Scotland and other public bodies might better support what is clearly a fragile business, notwithstanding the aforementioned spate of high-profile Scottish films.

Most of the debate - some of it carried out in public and in the press - concerns money and often the lack of it.

This is no surprise, as films cost money to make and release and there is never nearly as much of it around as everyone would like.

However, many filmmakers I have spoken to and had the pleasure of listening to this year have talked about a sea change in mentality also being required.

Entrepreneurialism has been at the heart of American independent cinema for decades and there are countless examples of now high-profile filmmakers who came to prominence for being entrepreneurial in the early part of their careers - directors Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Smith, and producer Christine Vachon to name but three.

This isn't something that has generally been encouraged in filmmaking in Scotland, but there are increasing instances of people using all kinds of nous to make micro-budget films, trying to find new models of distribution including self-distribution, building their own audiences through smart social media use, creating an international profile for ­themselves through successful crowdfunding and so on.

The established industry view is often to look sideways at this kind of approach, but I personally admire anyone who finds a way of getting their film made and my gut reaction is to celebrate and encourage this.

If we could find a way within our creative ­economy of giving financial support to help get this kind of work seen, it can only encourage others to innovate and confidently move on to the next, more ambitious project.

Online promotion of independent films and filmmakers is something else the US is light years ahead on and which we can learn from. A few years ago at the Cannes Film Festival, I saw marketing consultant Peter Broderick give a great talk about how filmmakers need to start building their audiences from the outset of a project's creative life. He told a great story about two young filmmakers who were doing a road movie where their characters were travelling on a Harley Davidson motorbike. He worked with the filmmakers and helped them get to know hundreds of Harley Davidson fanclubs throughout America.

After building a relationship with them all during the film's production, they were eventually able to sell nearly a million DVDs to the members of these clubs and their friends. There are countless other examples of how he has helped independent films connect with audiences across America and I would fly him over in a second to advise our industry and how we can improve it.

The eminent British producer Stephen ­Woolley gave a Bafta Scotland masterclass in June, ­sharing his experiences and insight with an ­audience of experienced and emerging practitioners.

A veteran of almost 60 movies since the early 1980s, including iconic and successful independent films Mona Lisa, The Crying Game and How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, he said the main challenge now is to find the audience and build a relationship with them.

Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas talked recently about the implosion of the film industry as it stands. In a small ­country like Scotland, we have to be even more aware of the need to be proactive in bring audiences to our work. So, hand in hand with sophisticated online marketing and distribution of content, could we also establish a "roadshow" culture, where small films tour the country like bands or theatre productions?

Films can be packaged to create a group ­identity, filmmakers can come on tour and do Q&A sessions as part of the offering to ­audiences. We could also go into communities where there are no cinemas and set up a projector and a blu-ray in community halls, building new audiences across the country from the inside out.

Sometimes in life, size does matter and quantity and quality go hand in hand.

If you open a nice bar on a street, no matter how good it is you are very unlikely to be discovered unless you work really hard to get people to come in. But if you have a street with lots of bars, even if some are of lesser quality to certain customers, you now have a scene where people congregate, curiously check out the entertainment on offer and enjoy themselves.

Whatever the future make-up of the support structures for the screen industries in Scotland, surely we can spend our money and initiative better to enable lots more films, whatever their forms or platforms, get made and then get seen?

The future I would like to see is one in which we empower and support the risk-takers and ­creators to produce a diverse body of work and break new ground in tempting our home audience to back it. If we do that, we can then confidently look out to our neighbours in the UK and Europe and then the rest of the world.

Through our cultural confidence in our work, we can say "look at us" and invite audiences ­elsewhere to become fascinated or interested in the groundswell of stories we're putting out there and the confidence with which we're promoting it and trying to sell it.

And if you think that all sounds naïve or absurd, that is exactly what the Scandinavian countries are doing right now.

It has been a privilege to be director of Bafta Scotland this year, which has given me the opportunity to spend so much quality time with so many talented creative people working throughout the screen industries in Scotland and internationally.

One of the biggest thrills of the year for me - and, in fact, ever - was being involved in putting on a 30th-anniversary screening of Bill Forsyth's Local Hero in Mallaig, where part of the film was shot, at the start of this month.

The film was shown in the Screen Machine, the mobile cinema that tours remote parts of the country where there is no access to cinema. I helped to arrange for Bill Forsyth and Iain Smith, the legendary Scottish producer who cut his teeth on this film, to attend the screening and do a Q&A session afterwards with the packed audience.

That evening would also have been the 100th birthday of Burt Lancaster, who graced the film with a beautiful cameo performance.

It was a unique moment in time that only 80 people managed to be part of and, as well as the film still looking as great today as it did when it was released, it also served as a moving reminder of what great screen entertainment can do for a people and a culture in terms of confidence. It is worth holding on to this.

To me, Bill Forsyth - who is currently thinking about making another film set in the Highlands - is a legend and still the best director to come out of Scotland.

He is far too modest to countenance such a thought, but in many ways he could provide an inspiring screen ambassador. There are parallels in other fields: for instance Michael Platini, the visionary and hugely successful French footballer, who is now a figurehead at governing body Uefa. We need to draw on the inspiration of the likes of Bill Forsyth. We need to remember that our local heroes can be global heroes too.