The idea of a national film studio for Scotland has probably been the subject of more reports and investigations than Robert Maxwell's business empire. There have been at least two on Glasgow’s Pacific Quay, and rival proposals, championed by people like Sir Sean Connery and the Eurythmics' Dave Stewart, advocating studios in Edinburgh, Perthshire and Inverness. McLeish received his feasibility study, commissioned by Scottish Screen from a Glasgow consultancy, New Media Partners, in September 2000. Eight months on, the Executive has yet to announce any cash for the project. Later this month, Scottish Screen I to hold a series of meetings with members of the executive which it believes will be crucial to the future of the project at Pacific Quay.

Scottish Screen wants the Executive to put up £6.7m of the cost of building the studio. The money would simply provide a shell. According to the current proposal, a company would have to be found to operate the site; a company which would be prepared to invest in its basic infrastructure, such as wiring and rigging on which to hang lights and cameras. The lights and cameras themselves would be provided by separate rental companies on-site, as they are in other commercial studios, like Pinewood. It is hoped the studio would also attract post-production companies.

The Executive's concern is that unless Scottish Screen can find a way of guaranteeing a minimum of use, the studio will not be able to cover its running costs. To be viable, Pacific Quay would have to be in use 60% to 70% of the time. Most Scottish films are low-budget, and to keep costs down they are likely to continue filming in disused warehouses rather than renting a specially built studio. Without the tax breaks of the kind offered in Ireland, there is no certainty Scotland would be able to attract enough US productions to fund a film studio.

Recently, Scottish Screen is reported to have been talking to TV companies and studio operators furth of Scotland, hoping to persuade them to take a stake in Pacific Quay. The screen agency believes it has excited sufficient interest to convince the Executive that the project could work. One of the companies which is believed to have shown an interest runs the Three Mills Island Studios in east London, where Gladiator, London's Burning and Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels have all been filmed.

As well as film companies, Scottish Screen hopes that the BBC would use the studio regularly. BBC plans to relocate, from Queen Margaret Drive in Glasgow's west end to Pacific Quay, are close to coming to fruition. With director-general Greg Dyke keen to see licence-fee money spent on programmes rather than on capital costs such as new filming facilities, the Corporation could well find the prospect of ready-built facilities to record studio-based shows and its new Scottish soap an attractive one.

Scottish Screen's plan is that the studio would be used for a variety of work, only a small amount of it feature films. It to refers to the project as a production facility, because it will be suitable for recording TV shows, TV ads, and digital animation. Studios are also used by video games makers to record the movement of digitally animated characters.

The Pacific Quay studio would include three sound stages: one measuring between 15,000 and 20,000 sq ft for feature films; one TV stage of 10,000 square feet; and one or more 3000 square feet spaces for shooting ads. Ideally, a broadband internet link with the US would allow studio executives in LA to view the day's rushes the same evening, as they did when Gladiator was being filmed at Three Mills Island. Scottish Enterprise is already in talks with companies about providing Pacific Quay with a high-speed link to the US and Europe.

Scottish Screen chief executive John Archer was unable to comment on the proposals or the forthcoming talks with the Executive. But when the film agency was launched in 1997, its first major announcement was about its plans for a national film studio. For Archer, it was a major priority. He said at the time: "With Scotland's success in developing internationally viable feature projects, this is the next step in the domestic industry's economic development."

He considers a national film studio a fundamental mark of nationhood, and was quoted as saying in 1998: "Most countries recognise without much debate that an opera house is a must. In my view, a film studio is even more of a must. For a parliament waiting to get its new identity out to the world, what could be better than film production?"

The idea has high-profile backers from across the industry, but not everyone agrees with Archer. Saul Metzstein, director of the much-anticipated Glasgow production Late Night Shopping, says: "I'm genuinely quite sceptical. Do all little countries have a right to have a film industry? It's lovely if they do have a film industry, but it's not a God-given national right. I'm not sure it is the best use of taxpayers' money; film is an expensive and high-risk business."

Peter Broughan, who produced Rob Roy, which cost £30m and was the biggest film ever made in Scotland, believes the key to a strong film industry is not a national studio but a commitment from broadcasters such as the BBC and Scottish Television to spend more on making films. "I've tended to stay out of the debate about the studio because it has gone on for so long," he says. "It would be nice to see one happening, but things will continue without it." He believes broadcasters should be forced by legislation to spend more in Scotland.

"If you were a Martian coming to Scotland and looking at broadcasting as an industry you would not think anything called devolution existed. There is no great evidence that anyone in the government cares about supporting the indigenous film industry. You have to grow it from the grass roots upwards to create a sustainable industry, and you need the broadcasters to do that."

McLeish's successor on the enterprise portfolio, Wendy Alexander, and culture minister Allan Wilson, do not seem to have the same passion for the project. Even if it had an obvious champion at ministerial level, a decision is unlikely before polling day because such a positive PR move could be seen as electioneering. But in three months' time it will be August again. The festival will be in full swing, the weather will be warm, and Edinburgh will be buzzing. That may well prove to be the right time for a feel-good announcement.