MORE than 50 leading names in the Scottish film industry will today urge the government to build a national studio in Glasgow.
An open letter signed by Tommy Gormley, the co-producer and assistant director of the new Star Wars film, as well as a number of other directors, actors, producers and senior executives, has been sent to the body established by the government to deliver a film studio for Scotland.
The letter urges the Scottish Government's Film Studio Delivery Group to build a studio in Glasgow after "years of inertia and procrastination".
It says Glasgow would be the best site for such a studio as it has a "competitive advantage and baseline of strong screen activity to expand on".
The statement lobbies for a Glasgow location and asks for the government to "urgently reconsider any moves to develop a screen facility or studio outside an urban area".
It is understood that earlier this year the government and Scottish Enterprise were seriously considering a site off the M8 between Glasgow and Edinburgh, but the plan fell through.
The letter says other sites being considered, including the Cumbernauld studio created for the Outlander TV series and other locations on the M8 corridor, are "compromises that will not deliver the double advantages of a connected, accessible facility, married with commercial sustainability".
"There is little appetite amongst the many skilled workers, screen companies, post houses, or facilities companies to permanently relocate outside an urban area."
This contrasts, the letter says, with Glasgow, which is "at the heart of both the cultural and commercial screen industry in Scotland".
It says that there is a danger that a new studio that is a "stand alone facility" would be a "white elephant, vulnerable to the easy-come, easy-go vagaries of the international marketplace."
The letter has been signed by Peter Mullan, the actor and director, Greg Hemphill, the actor and writer, actress Kate Dickie, the actors Gary Lewis and Ewen Bremner, Gregory Burke, the writer of Black Watch and '71 and actress Daniela Nardini.
Both directors of the Glasgow Film Festival, Allan Hunter and Allison Gardner, also put their name to the open letter, along with Paul Laverty, writer of My Name is Joe and Angels' Share, Jack O'Connell, star of Starred Up, Stuart Cosgrove, the broadcaster and director at Channel 4, and numerous producers and directors
The Scottish Film Studio Delivery Group was set up Fiona Hyslop, the culture secretary, in May.
But as yet neither the government nor Scottish Enterprise, who are a key partner in the process, have announced a site or plan for a studio.
Five bids have been made for the studio, with one of them made by Film City Glasgow, who have organised the open letter.
Film City Glasgow is close to 32 acres of brownfield sites in Govan and Pacific Quay and is already a working business, based in the old Govan Town Hall: it believes its financial stability would be a good base on which to build a studio.
Three of the film studio proposals are believed to be based closer to Edinburgh than Glasgow, and are currently being scrutinised by Scottish Enterprise (SE) and the government.
A studio could cost between £15 million and £74m, an SE study says.
The film industry letter says that Glasgow has a sum of advantages that other sites do not, including proximity to an international airport and motorways, cultural sites and hotels, and a pool of freelance workers and talent living in the city and its environs.
It adds: "Longer term, and once a more tangible critical mass of screen production companies and facilities exist, an Edinburgh-based facility could further complement Scotland's production offer."
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