Big news for the big screen: Scottish film and TV industry set to create thousands of jobs

Scotland’s film and TV industry is forecasting the creation of thousands of jobs as the screen sector continues to boom.

Scotland’s national film body Screen Scotland is predicting the formation of over 10,000 new jobs in the Scottish screen industry and a net turnover of £1 billion by 2030/2031.

In 2021, the Scottish film and TV industry employed nearly 11,000 workers.

Screen Scotland, who are part of Creative Scotland and funded by the Scottish Government and the National lottery, are aiming to double the number of full-time jobs in film and TV by 2030.

Screen Scotland supported over 2,000 traineeships between 2018 and 2023. The body are aiming to use apprenticeships as a gateway to increasing employment in the sector.

Isabel Davis, Screen Scotland’s executive director, said: “We think bringing in £1 billion a year to the economy is an achievable goal. We’re already on that trajectory, but we could also exceed it.”

In recent years, multi-million-pound productions including Batman and Indiana Jones were partially filmed in Scotland.

Screen Scotland says that the use of Scottish locations for big budget films, in addition to sustaining the production of shows shot at the Leith and Cumbernauld TV studios, will help the sector continue to grow.

Riona Steward, a production assistant at Wardpark studios, said: “There are a lot of Scottish people working in the industry, but the majority of the time you have to go to London or Manchester because that’s where the jobs are.

“To be able to do the work that we love and stay in Scotland with more projects happening here would be wonderful.”