Scots filmmakers plan sequel to crime thriller Infiltrated

It took almost a decade to come together but Infiltrated, written by and starring Paisley actor Tam Toye, was picked by Amazon Prime and now a sequel is on the horizon as talks with a major studio are on the cards.

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Director Archie Allison and producer and scriptwriter Patrick Boyd came on board and the team is now celebrating one of Scotland's most enduring success stories. They are now putting plans in place to make the second movie in what could be a potential series.

It began as a project of Paisley actor Toye who had tried to get the film off the ground for several years but it is hoped future films could also help to retain and develop talent in the film industry north of the border.

Looking back on the award Mr Boyd said: “Winning the Los Angeles award was just the start of things. Although it is not as big an event as the Sundance Festival in Utah, it is still a prestigious US film festival run by high end industry professionals from Universal Studios in Burbank, and a Scottish movie winning an award like this in America is a very rare occurrence indeed.

“It takes a long time even from winning something to then tour the film festivals in the hope that the film get picked up. Infiltrated is now being distributed on Amazon Prime Video in all English-speaking territories and sales have gone through the roof since it won the award.”

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Directed by Archie Allison, from Giffnock, its plot shows how the main character Sergeant Barry Clark, played by Toye, is recalled from the Royal Regiment of Scotland to Military Intelligence where he is sent undercover to infiltrate and destroy the organisation of John Masterson, the Kingpin of the largest organised crime cartel in Scotland.

Coats Memorial Church features in the movie

Mr Boyd added: “My colleagues and I have worked on many successful features and TV series including the movie Night Is Day which made its cinema debut at the Glasgow Film Festival and the sci-fi series 'Cops And Monsters', both also on Amazon Prime. With Infiltrated the goals were to make a quality product, sell it to a distributor for release on both sides of the Atlantic, and win an award at a US film festival. The result has been one of outstanding, remarkable success in all these endeavours. Sales of the film just get better and better, and anything that shows our home-grown film industry in a good light globally can only be a good thing.”

There are instantly recognisable places from scenes which were filmed in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Paisley and a speedboat chase sequence was filmed on Loch Lomond. From the Paisley skyline, the Coats Memorial Church and the town hall, the town takes centre stage.

Paisley-based movie Infiltrated could be the first in a series

And its not just the places that the team behind the film hope to raise their profile, but also the talent and possibilities for those in the film industry in and around Glasgow.

Mr Boyd added: “We hope this could be a long-term project to provide work for cast and crew in the film industry in Scotland. In the past anyone wanting to pursue a career in film has had to move away but that doesn’t need to be the case. We have shown some fantastic places in Scotland on film and we need to show there is the talent here as well.”

Mr Boyd said they have a vision of making a series of films using the same set of recurring characters to rival the James Bond franchise.

He added: “With the success it has enjoyed so far, there is no reason why these films cannot eventually become as successful as the global phenomenon Eon Productions have achieved with Bond, and put Scotland firmly on the map as a film-making hub. Look out Barbara Broccoli. In these times of doom and gloom we need a success story to raise people's spirits and bring back the 'feelgood factor.’”