HEY! Wanna be in movies? The TV commercial featuring the delight of two girls in a smart car when approached by a movie director owes its success to the fact that people can relate to their response.

Leaving aside the glamorous appeal of the film industry, its growth in commercial terms is stunning - and Scotland is poised to play its part in world competition.

``There is a huge world market and it has been identified by the EC as one of the largest job-rich sectors for the next 20 years,'' says Kevin Kane, chairman of the Glasgow Film Fund (GFF) and project manager on the recently-published report Scotland On Screen, commissioned by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

The industry should be seen in business terms rather than purely cultural ones, he believes. ``It is a whole new economy, involving the creation of products that people will see across the world.''

One of the report's major recommendations, the creation of a new film agency, has been acted upon, and Scottish Screens - incorporating all aspects of the industry under one umbrella - should be up and running by April.

There is currently some interaction between the organisations involved in the film industry in Scotland. With the exception of Scottish Screen Locations, all the other associated groups are based in Glasgow, where there is not only a commercial infrastructure but also access to national cultural institutions like the Scottish Film Council (SFC), the Scottish Film Production Fund (SFPF), the Scottish Broadcast Film Training Ltd (SBFT), and BAFTA.

There is a kind of ladder of opportunity within the Scottish film industry, with the GFF and the Lottery at the top, while many of the operational arrangements have been delegated to the Scottish Film Production Fund.

The Lottery's first production, Poor Things, is based on an Alasdair Gray novel. It is a #5m production with #1m Lottery funding.

Apart from ``Tartan Shorts'', other opportunities for short film production include those run by the Scottish Film Production Fund and the Scottish Film Council. Further down the ladder is the film and video sector, the workshop sector. The Glasgow Film & Video Workshop receives help from the GDA, and the City of Glasgow Council provides it with revenue support.

The Scotland on Screen report was published on the request of Scottish Secretary Michael Forsyth after the launch of Braveheart, and he is keen to see its recommendations implemented. One of its findings was that it was difficult to track down who was doing what in the industry (and thus the proposal for a single body with a one-door approach).

``In real terms a Scottish film industry is very feasible,'' says Kevin Kane. ``Scottish Screen will bring together the Scottish Film Council, Scottish Film Production Fund, private sector Scottish Broadcast Film Training Ltd, and Scottish Screen Locations. Their roles differ at the moment and there is some overlap.''

The Scottish Film Council deals with film culture and media education and is also involved in some production and funding for regional film theatres.

Scottish Broadcast Film Training is funded by broadcasters to provide training, while Scottish Screen Locations is funded by local authorities.

The Scottish Screen agency, likely to be based in Glasgow, will bring together the four organisations into one, each with its own space. Alan Shiach, chairman of the Scottish Film Council and the Scottish Film Production Fund, has stood down from those positi ons and will be the new chairman of Scottish Screen.

There will be four operating divisions within it - Culture and Heritage, Production and Development, Training and Human Resources, and Locations & Marketing.

It is hoped that the new agency will bridge the gap between film and television. ``Film is the cream on the cake in Scotland where television is the cake,'' says Kane. ``That's where people are employed and it will not change, but the inter-dependency means that Scottish film success has an impact on the confidence of local producers and on the people who are commissioning television programmes down south.''

``Scottish Screen is not an amalgamation,'' stresses Kane. ``The new organisation must make its own unified culture. The issue of the one-door approach from an economic development point of view is attractive - more direct access to the people you need to see.

``To develop an industry you need to make sure that training, marketing, producing the products is right, and you need to have an organisation that understands what it is all about.''

As well as a revamped home industry, there will also be a kind of Scottish ``scout'' - a ``Tartan Pimpernel'', someone senior in the international industry with an ear to the ground, with advanced warning of projects.

There will be an increase in small- to medium-sized enterprises within the industry and fewer barriers between creative, technical, production staff - as well as multi-skilling of people, flexible working, and individual contracts.

A Screen Industry Business School is also likely to emerge, training producers to put together business propositions, to go to the marketplace for funding. Another recommendation is that councils all over Scotland should have at least a half-time person responsible for liaising between a film production company, a television company, and local services providers.