SCOTLAND has drawn record income from film and TV productions with £45.2 million secured from location shoots last year.
Culture secretary Fiona Hyslop said the total, up by almost £12 million on 2013, revealed a "growing appetite" for filming in the country.
Arts body Creative Scotland has supported a number of high-profile movie and TV projects, including the upcoming adaptation of the classic novel Sunset Song, The Legend of Barney Thomson, Sunshine on Leith, and the popular TV series Outlander which films in Skye, the Highlands, Stirling and even in Pollok Country Park, Glasgow.
Ms Hyslop said: "This rise in production spend is a strong indication that film producers have a growing appetite to base their productions in Scotland.
"With our stunning, iconic landscapes, rich culture and heritage and skilled and talented crew, the £45 million production spend total for 2014 demonstrates that producers around the world recognise that Scotland has much to offer."
In recent times, there has been criticism from industry professionals that Scotland is lagging behind other parts of the UK, and losing out on business, due to not having its own filming studio.
Despite delays, the Scottish Government say they are still engaging in talks to create such a site and the plans were being "actively pursued".
Ms Hyslop added: "These productions generate significant income for Scotland through the use of Scottish talent, crews, locations, transport, accommodation and through the impact they have on tourism.
"The Scottish Government and our agencies are firmly committed to growing the economic impact of our screen sector and continuing to promote Scotland as a premier and competitive location to produce great films and TV shows - as underlined by the £162 million public funding awarded to the sector since 2007/08, during a period of tough budgets.
"But we recognise we need to do more. That is why this week I announced a new £1.75 million production growth fund to provide an additional incentive for major international productions to come to Scotland, as well as increasing funding available for Scottish productions.
"This builds on the £2 million Tax Credit Advance Facility I announced earlier this year and the £1 million Screen Skills Fund through which we are supporting training and skills development opportunities."
Ms Hyslop announced the record production spend ahead of a visit to the set of Bannan, a Gaelic drama series commission by BBC Alba which is currently filming on Skye.
Indeed, the island is quickly becoming one of the most common places for shoots in Scotland, after a number of major productions choosing to film on the picturesque island.
A small part of Ridley Scott's Prometheus was based and filmed on the Isle, while the landscape was used for a number of scenes in the movie Stardust.
The latest big-budget production of Macbeth, starring Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard, also features locations such as the Quiraing mountains, the Old Man of Storr at Trotternish, and the Fairy Pools, near Glenbrittle.
Other areas of Scotland also have cameo roles in the likes of The Da Vinci Code and Captain America, while the Cairngorms provided the backdrop for scenes in Skyfall, as well as the daring airplane sequence at the beginning of The Dark Knight Rises.
However, it is not only rolling landscapes which draw large-scale productions, with parts of Glasgow City Centre transformed into downtown Philadelphia to film the action-packed outbreak scene of zombie-flick World War Z back in 2012.
Shots for Fast and Furious 6 were captured on Cadogan Street and Broomielaw three years ago, while much of Cloud Atlas was filmed in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dumbarton and Fife.
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