Scotland’s screen agency has come in for criticism in the Scottish press following its last-minute bid to keep Peter Mullan’s film Magdelene in production in Scotland, rather than a move to Ireland.

Scottish Screen is the agency set up six years ago, charged with creating a sustainable Scottish film industry, latterly with lottery money.

In The Scotsman newspaper, writer George Kerevan has questioned whether the agency has achieved much in that time. He suggests the system may be a means of allowing getting people in the know to get their hands on money with which they can pretend to be Hollywood moguls.


James Lee, chairman of Scottish Screen and producer of the hit film Chariots of Fire, defended the investment move: "Peter Mullan is a very special Scottish talent and we want to back his second feature film. His first, Orphans, was an outstanding critical success."

Kerevan’s comment on this was to suggest that the words "critical success" are code for not making any money.

Kerevan says, "Orphans received £900,000 of lottery money but returned only £412,699 at the UK box office. Mullan is a member of Tommy Sheridan's Scottish Socialist Party. To date he has had over £1.5 million in public subsidy."

His article in The Scotsman goes on to say that the rationale for funding Magdalene, which he says, because of its subject matter, can hardly be seen as a commercial film, is unclear and "sums up the present policy muddle over what films to support and why." He suggests that Mullan's talents both as a director and actor are proven, so any "bringing on talent" benchmark can hardly apply.

Kerevan then went on to criticise the film investment record of Scottish Screen’s Lottery predecessor, the Scottish Arts Council’s Lottery Film Panel. He points out that until May last year "more than £12 million was pumped into 22 films ranging from Bill Forsyth's Gregory's 2 Girls to The House of Mirth starring the X-Files’ Gillian Anderson. None was a major hit on the Trainspotting level and practically all failed at the box office".

Scottish Screen, Kerevan says, would also argue that the real returns lie in the creation of a pool of industry talent.

Under the new dispensation, Scottish Screen took over the slate of movies funded by the SAC lottery money, then added some of its own. According to Kerevan "the rationale for award-giving remains confused.

In April, following criticism that it is not creating a more commercial film industry in Scotland, Scottish Screen announced it is planning to change its criteria for the films it will fund. Scottish Screen says it will now put commercial viability top of its list in assessment of projects for funding, rather than the less defineable "critical success".

Kerevan however, says this turnaround doesn't get Scottish Screen out of a hole. Why use lottery money for a commercial investment? he asks.