Scotland fails to invest in future of its film industry

Published on Thursday 1 October 2009 10:00

A MEDIA lecturer claims Scotland is failing to ensure crucial films like Trainspotting are made.

Professor Robin MacPherson, director of Screen Academy Scotland, was last night set to speak at a public lecture at Edinburgh Napier University.

He was expected to reveal that the country is near the bottom of the European standings when it comes to feature film investment.

Prof MacPherson, a lecturer in screen media at Napier University, said: "While the long-term success rate of Scottish films is no worse than the UK as a whole, we are simply not producing enough films to ensure the hits required to halt a decline which has seen the audiences for Scottish films halve since the 1990s.

"In any given year the top Scottish film will generally generate 75 per cent of the total box office for all the Scottish films released that year. The brute fact is that, given most films fail, even in Hollywood, you can only have more hits if you make more films.

"In Scotland we have for some time been hovering around production of around six locally-originated films a year, which puts us bottom of the league table compared to similar sized western European countries."

He claims investment is now needed to address the decline in cinema audiences for Scottish films.