Scottish Screen Chief Executive John Archer is to call an urgent meeting to try and prevent a major Scottish production moving to Ireland. Peter Mullan would like to use a former convent in Dumfries as a location for Magdelene, a film about abuse of women in mental asylums, which will star Vanessa Redgrave.

A meeting of Dumfries and Galloway Council today offered £250,000 to keep the production in the area. Sixty film crew would be living and spending in the Dumfries area starting in June.

The district has been hit hard by the foot and mouth crisis, but it is feared this incentive may not be enough to retain Magdelene. The project is now £400,000 over budget and the Irish Film Board is offering incentives if the film moves there. The Irish Film Board can make up the difference using its tax incentive scheme, but this is not available in the UK.

Local enterprise agencies in Dumfries and Galloway have spent the last week in a series of meetings to try and find the money needed to keep the film in their area. Scottish Screen Chief Exec John Archer had just left a final meeting in Dumfries as Netribution went to press this week, but was said to be heading straight back to Glasgow to arrange a meeting to see if more money can be found.

Scottish First Minister Henry McLeish and Culture Minister Allan Wilson have already been approached by local politicians seeking their help. However, the Scottish Executive said its official film agency, Scottish Screen, was unable to offer any more financial assistance to the project. It has already given the film the maximum amount available under its film production fund.