Film quango slammed for lack of vision

Published on Saturday 1 August 2009 20:01

A LEADING Hollywood director has attacked Scotland's main film development body for lacking the vision to cultivate new talent while handing out funds to the "usual suspects."

Bellshill-born Paul McGuigan, whose film credits include Gangster No1, The Acid House, and Lucky Number Slevin, accuses Scottish Screen of stifling the production of films by independent producers and directors.

Scottish Screen was set up by the government to encourage film-makers with grants towards the cost of productions and scripts.

McGuigan, who says he can no longer stand by and watch the homegrown industry be "decimated", claims Scottish Screen should represent "hope" to young talent with no other access to funding.

"Hope that someone will give them a chance, a voice and encouragement," he says. "Instead, it (Scottish Screen] falls into a dark hole of inactivity and bad judgment.

"Commercially, it is losing money hand over fist and creatively it has found itself in a cultural cul-de-sac. I am not even aware of what Scottish Screen does any more, but I know what it doesn't do. It doesn't invest enough in individuals as it prefers to give its time, and in some cases its money, to the usual suspects.

"It doesn't reach out to the individuals who are working in the industry and establish a relationship with them in helping to create mentor programmes which are invaluable to any aspiring film director, producer, photographer, spark, screenwriter or editor."

McGuigan believes that, under the current system, some of Scottish Screen's funding decisions are open to question as they have not yielded sufficient returns. The organisation's accounts show that during the period from 2001 to March this year, a total of 26.2 million has been handed out to local production companies but only 2.2m has been recouped from completed projects.

In addition, more than 4.6m went to just eight production companies. Some of those receiving grants are run by senior figures within the Scottish film industry, some of whom have previously worked for Scottish Screen.

"Get rid of this lumbering, unimaginative approach to film-making," McGuigan says. "I know most people don't care about Scottish Screen but they do go to the movies and watch TV on a regular basis. It's a massive industry that could and should be creating and bringing jobs to Scotland. We need to be putting more money into investing in talent, stories and the future.

"We want to be an industry that creates homegrown entertainment and at the same time makes money and creates jobs in Scotland."

One Scottish independent producer, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of being cut off from future funding, said there was an in-built conservatism within Scottish Screen "to go with whom it already knows to get results" rather than risk backing new talent. "The real result of Scottish Screen's strategy over the last decade is that there's simply no incentive for individuals to go into the film industry," he added.

Ken Hay, chief executive of Scottish Screen, defended the organisation's position, saying that it had a track record which stands up to scrutiny.

Hay, whose functions are being taken over next year by a new government-created arts body, Creative Scotland, said: "The nature of film development is that it can take many years. A simple example is The Flying Scotsman, which had been in development for ten years before it was made into a feature film.

"Equally, it's an intensive research and development process, to get scripts that are able to reach a market place not just in terms of an audience but in terms of finance. Part of our responsibilities is to ensure that research and development is carried out."

Scottish Screen's remit was not solely economic, Hay said. "In terms of recoupment, on the whole it's unlikely that we will get our money back in a large volume, but what we're looking for is the development of the talent, development of the skills, development of the stories and development of the businesses and those are the areas that we assess applications on. We don't assess them on the likely level of recoupment they will bring to the table."

Every application was based on an individual case and based on a track record that went beyond any company's past performance in using Scottish Screen investment, he added. The organisation operated with complete transparency and there was a complaints procedure for anyone who felt they had not been dealt fairly.