Plans for new funding for the film industry in Scotland is being worked on by the Scottish Government, the culture secretary has revealed.
Speaking at the opening Scottish Film Summit of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Fiona Hyslop said that she was looking at proposals for additional funding and incentives to increase film and TV production north of the border.
No announcement, however, was made on the proposed Scottish national film studio, which is likely to be based in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire.
Talks are still ongoing on the project, a source said.
The film festival opens tonight with The Legend of Barney Thomson directed by Robert Carlyle, who is due to attend the red carpet gala at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh.
Ms Hyslop said: "We are committed to this sector and are genuinely working very hard to support growth and promote Scotland as a premier location to produce great films and attract significant inward investment.
"That's why we are working with our partners to deliver additional funding for production, including increased incentives for film and television which at least match the incentives in other countries.
"Together, we will work hard to secure additional investment because we recognise that this will bring a significant boost to Scotland's economy as well as to our international reputation."
Hyslop acknowledged that the long process of building a film studio in Scotland had been "frustrating and has posed significant challenges" but confirmed a bid, from a private company, was being worked on by the government and Scottish Enterprise.
"It may seem that we are asking a lot of your patience but it takes time to secure the facility we need," she said.
The EIFF will run until June 28.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article