SCOTLAND has the beauty, now it needs the industry.
It probably should not be a surprise that, coupled with tax breaks for large film and TV productions, the natural glories of the nation, in particular the Highlands, should still be coveted by film producers and advert creatives.
Scotland can also offer, within comparatively short distance, urban environments of ancient and modern type, of similar use to film makers, two major airports and, usually, a functioning motorway system.
What it cannot offer, as we know by now, is a large and properly equipped film studio complex.
READ MORE: Seven-year fight to block huge wind farm on Great Glen Way
For although Scotland has the views, the castles and the mountains, it also has, as we all know, a capricious climate (and midges).
So although many film productions do shoot here, even more would if they could, when it rains, move into a purpose-built facility and shoot interior scenes, perform post-production, and other elements of film making in reasonably close proximity to the hills and lochs.
It is notable that the three current major film studio projects in various states of planning - in Cumbernauld where Outlander shoots its interiors, in Straiton where the Pentland's studio may be build, outside Edinburgh, or the location where Guardhouse hope to build their studio, are not in the Highlands.
Perhaps given the movie world's interest in the Highlands, one wonders if it would be feasible for someone to invest in a film studio north of the central belt.
The 2014 EKOS consultants report on the issue for Scottish Enterprise notes that the main concentration of crews and facilities are there, in particular in Glasgow.
It also says, interestingly, "the industry is agnostic on the location of a studio so long as basic criteria are met".
READ MORE: Seven-year fight to block huge wind farm on Great Glen Way
These are: good transport links and access to airports (suggesting the central belt again), sufficient scale and size, and away from major sources of noise. The latter consideration, in particular, would be less of a problem in the Highlands.
One wonders if someone, soon, will look north for their studio plans.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here