Film/TV spend gives Edinburgh £10m boost
New figures from Film Edinburgh show that the economic impact from feature film and scripted TV production in the region was around £10m over the last year.
The stats cover Edinburgh, East Lothian and the Scottish Borders during 2019 with the total revenue boost being £14.4m from 340 filmed productions.
The rest of this total - an increase of 153% on 2018 - was made up of spend from factual/light entertainment, which brought in £750,000 and commercials/corporate content at £3.3m.
The hefty contribution from scripted projects across features and high-end TV drama came from titles such as Fast & Furious 9, which employed 1440 locals including around 850 supporting artists as well as a wide range of crew, service-providers, facilities, transport and accommodation.
Filming on Fast & Furious 9 took place over 19 days last September across 11 parts of the city, with a further 68 days prep and strike. In total, the economic impact of the film to the city of Edinburgh was £5.2m, nearly a third of the overall total for scripted content.
Rosie Ellison, head of Film Edinburgh, said: “The figures for 2019 are testament to Edinburgh’s production workforce, the region’s film-friendly attitude, and the fantastic range of locations within a short distance of Scotland’s capital city.
“With a film studio on the horizon, we can look forward to more consistency within the film & TV employment market and more opportunities for our local economy to benefit.”
Other projects to film in Edinburgh during 2019 included: Will Ferrell’s feature Eurovision; Julian Fellowes’ drama Belgravia (which used various locations to double for London); Outlander 5; Vera 10; Elizabeth is Missing and The Princess Switch 2.
Also on The Knowledge
Freedom Scripted options Sebastian Faulks’ Engleby
Sebastian Faulks’ novel Engleby is set to be adapted for television by C4-backed indie Freedom Scripted, starring Noah Jupe.
Shetland wins double recommission
The BBC has ordered two more series of detective drama Shetland with the first (Series 9) filming this month.
Bank of Dave the Sequel begins northern shoot
Filming gets underway today (26 February) on the Netflix sequel to 2023 feature Bank of Dave with shooting taking place largely in Burnley and Leeds.
Filming underway on new series of Strike
Strike, The Ink Black Heart – the sixth instalment of the detective drama - has begun filming.
Feature film Lola and Freddie to shoot in London this summer
A new feature film, Lola and Freddie, will shoot in London locations this summer with Naomie Harris, Joel Fry, Jameela Jamil and Olivia Lee leading the cast.
Construction commences on BBC's West Midlands production hub as new series is greenlit
Ground has been broken on The Tea Factory, a new BBC production hub in the West Midlands that promises to be the BBC’s greenest building, with a new series featuring Billy Billingham to be produced in the region.