Scotland’s new culture secretary has pledged to ensure home-grown film and TV work is prioritised for future support – to make it easier for Scots to tell their “own stories” on screen.
Màiri McAllan has declared that projects “originated” in Scotland are “just as important, if not more important” than incoming productions.
And she suggested that genuinely Scottish film and TV had “felt elusive for too long” in Scotland.
Read more:
- What will Màiri McAllan's new cabinet role mean for Scottish culture?
- How many of the SNP's 2021 arts and culture pledges were delivered?
- My pick of the 2026 Edinburgh book festival as line-up is revealed
Scotland has had huge success in attracting blockbuster productions such as Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, The Odyssey, Frankenstein, One Day, The Running Man and Spider-Man: Brand New Day in recent years.
However Ms McAllan insisted the benefits of screen projects which were developed and owned in Scotland would “go further and last longer” than incoming productions.
Ms McAllan admitted the country needed to do “much more” to support intellectual property development to ensure better backing for Scottish writers, producers and creators to "originate ideas here, to retain rights here and to scale those ideas for international markets".
Ms McAllan was speaking at a Holyrood debate on the film and TV sector at the Scottish Parliament, where she confirmed the SNP would be pressing ahead with an election manifesto commitment to remove the Screen Scotland agency out of Creative Scotland and relaunch it as a new body dedicated to the industry.
The manifesto sets out ambitions to make Scotland “the go-to destination for production” but also pledges to increase the annual budget for Screen Scotland, which is currently set at £12m, “to support homegrown talent, and to attract more and bigger projects to Scotland”.
Ms McAllan said the relaunch of Screen Scotland as a “distinct body with increased funding” would help realise its ambitions, which were first set out more than two years ago, for the country’s film and TV sector to be worth £1 billion annually to the economy by 2030. Its value is said to have grown from £567m in 2019 to £718m in 2023, the most recent years to be analysed.
Screen Scotland’s current official strategy, which was launched more than two years ago, commits to a focus on “developing Scotland-based talent”, investing in “locally-originated” film and TV projects, and supporting the growth of companies based in Scotland.
Screen Scotland is committed to “attracting and supporting large-scale inward investment productions, stating that they are “key drivers of our creative economy”.
But it has also highlighted the importance of "returning series" like Outlander, Dept Q, The Rig, Shetland, Granite Harbour, Rebus and Vigil due to their lengthy production schedules, and use of Scottish talent in front of and behind the camera.
Screen Scotland's current strategy states: “Film, TV and content originated in Scotland, with intellectual property rights owned in Scotland, provide another layer of value for that creative economy.
“Successful projects from Scotland have the potential to launch and sustain careers for Scotland-based talent, generating ongoing revenue for both rights holders and talent involved in the production. They increase the economic sustainability of Scotland’s content-creating companies, helping them generate more jobs and invest in further creative research and development.
“Films and TV from Scotland are also more likely to see Scotland-based talent in senior production roles, cast onscreen and working as part of the crew. The worldwide distribution of Scottish films and TV gives voice and authentic representation to Scotland’s talented, diverse storytellers and cultures on the global stage.”
A number of MSPs who spoke during the Holyrood debate highlighted the impact of major international productions including Outlander and Dept Q choosing to film extensively in Scotland in recent years.
However Ms McAllan also highlighted the recent Channel 4 drama series Summerwater and Scotland’s first big budget Gaelic drama, An t Eilean, which was greenlit for a second series which has been filming in the Outer Hebrides in recent months.
Ms McAllan said: “Domestic production is just as important as, if not more important than, our ability to attract international productions.
“When content is developed and owned in Scotland, the benefits go further and last longer.
“By supporting sustainable jobs, we can strengthen independent production companies, ensuring that value remains here in Scotland and that we have the ability to tell our own stories, something that has felt elusive for too long.
“We have already seen what can be achieved in productions such as Summerwater and An t Eilean, which provided absolutely gripping Gaelic drama.
“Both those productions were supported by Screen Scotland’s broadcast content fund.
“Independent Scottish production companies continue to produce work that reaches global audiences and reflects our distinctive voice—a voice that I am so glad is being heard in English, Gaelic and Scots.
“To build on that, we need to do much more on intellectual property development. That includes backing Scottish writers, producers and creators to originate ideas here, to retain rights here and to scale those ideas for international markets.
"It is essential that we have a strong pipeline from development through to distribution if Scottish-owned content is to play a larger role in the growth of the sector."
Speaking in the Holyrood debate, Q Mannivannan, culture spokesperson for the Scottish Greens, said the distinction between productions “taking place” in Scotland and stories that are developed, owned and here in Scotland “matters enormously”.
They added: “The screen sector is on track to reach £1 billion by 2030, but it not only generates just economic value, it generates narratives.
“It decides whose lives are visible, whose voices carry and whose experiences are treated as central, and whose are, at times, treated as optional.
“A screen sector that draws on the full range of Scottish life will make better work. That is not woke ideology. It is a question of craft.
“Screen Scotland has increasingly emphasised creative origination, not just production taking place here in Scotland but stories developed, owned and led here. That distinction matters enormously because we can grow output without growing control. Growth without authorship is, at the end of the day, dependency.
“Growth in the screen sector cannot just be measured in terms of investment and output; it has to include who gets to show up.
“Screen culture is often the first place where we get to see Scotland reflected back to us, and it shapes what we believe is possible and what we believe is not.
The test for this parliament is not whether Scotland’s screen sector can grow—it will. Rather, it is whether we build a sector that redistributes cultural power, or one that quietly concentrates it in the hands of those who are not here.”
