Treasurer of the Edinburgh Film & Video Access Centre,ë Pete Gregson, has called for better public access to filmmaking in Scotland.

His plea comes in the wake of a sustained attack on Scottish Screen by The Scotsman newspaper, which has levelled accusations of cronyism at the screen agency, funded by the Scottish Parliament to help develop screen industries in Scotland.

Gregson suggests entry level talent is being denied access to develop under present arrangements. He says agencies like his own operate on shoe string budgets but give great value for money. Projects they assist lever in much larger amounts of funding. Filmmakers hone their skills with low-budget projects supported by agencies like Edinburgh"s FVA.

ëIn a letter to The Scotsman newspaper Gregson calls for a fresh look at what such agencies can offer the industry””””..

Value of public access centres to film industry

Letter from Pete Gregson”

Your editorial (14 June) outlines six ways of boosting Scottish film-making, but has missed out the seventh and most important one: funding public access media centres and workshops.

Each big city in Scotland boasts such resource centres which struggle by on tiny local authority grants ( the Film & Video Access Centre in Edinburgh gets just £6,020 a year). On the back of these, the projects lever in huge amounts of Lottery and earned income (FVA turn-over is £80,000 a year). In return, they provide a fantastic public service in developing talent.

Recently, the List magazine published Scotland"s top 40 new film-makers to look out for. Half of these had trained or used FVA resources to make their way into the industry. Indeed, FVA supports 460 film and video-makers each year, with training and access to everything from beginners to broadcast equipment.

Rates are incredibly cheap for those on a low wage, acknowledging that those starting out are supporting their interest through part-time work in other jobs. Productions have won over 50 awards (including BAFTAs). Over 150 ex-users now work in the industry, or have gone on to training such as the National Film and TV School. All say they could not have done it without the FVA"s help.

What you and Scottish Screen seem not to acknowledge is that film-makers need access to training resources - not just for a year or two at film school, but for the years before and after college that it usually takes to develop their craft.

But for 20 years now Scottish Screen (and its predecessor, the Film Council) has been deaf to our pleas for support. In desperation, 20 Scottish groups have come together to form the Scottish Community Video Lobby to campaign for change.

Scottish Screen has now agreed to put forward a proposal for increased funding next year. However, if the Scottish executive fails to cough up the extra cash, I fear Scottish Screen will forget about us. This is at its peril - it really has no idea how much better the Scottish film industry could be with just a modest amount of support to local agencies supporting emerging talent.

PETE GREGSON

Treasurer, FVA