Media Release: Screen Facilities Scotland Launch New Screen Production Expo

“VISION SCOTLAND”

For Release 08:00
15 December 2020

Scotland — 15 December 2020 — Screen Facilities Scotland (SFS) officially launch Vision Scotland, a dedicated screen and media production industry exhibition and trade event showcasing Scotland’s creative production, services, facilities, and skilled professionals to the global industry.

Vision Scotland takes place over two days on Thursday 6 and Friday 7 May 2021.

Although first planned as a physical event, due to the current circumstances the event has been restructured into a digital format for 2021 with the first physical event coming in 2022.

This event is aimed at all screen and media production professionals in all specialisms and locations. Registration is free for industry professionals to attend and there is also an allocation of tickets for students of screen and media production art and skill subjects. Registration is officially open from Tuesday 15 December 2020.

SFS

Vision Scotland is hosted by Screen Facilities Scotland Events Ltd. the events company for industry trade body, co-operative consortium, and member organisation Screen Facilities Scotland (SFS).

In delivering Vision Scotland SFS is shining a light on the Scottish offer in screen and media production.

The Scottish Offer

In January 2020 SFS set out a series of aims at their annual AGM infused by a renewed Mission Statement:

“Promote a Strong Sustainable Offer to the Global TV, Film & Media industry, delivering growth to our members and success to our sector.”
– SFS AGM 2020

Many screen and media-based projects have already benefited from using Scotland’s own screen production talent. In 2018 public body Creative Scotland reported that there had been a significant surge in production spending in 2017 in comparison to 2013 and 2014 figures, and things seemed set to keep going in that direction.

The challenge

The work of the screen and media production industry takes place within an array of intricate professional and creative networks and communities. The global industry is accustomed to working within changeable groups, for varying periods of time, and on a rich variety of project types. This naturally puts high value on established connections and relationships, previous work, and experiences.

Sometimes, local production services and talent can lose out on accessing incoming production business in favour of existing relationships outside Scotland. Productions that receive investment from public funding bodies usually commit to a reasonable local spend, which is helpful to ensure the local industry ecosystem can benefit and continue to improve their own business service offerings.

These commitments can however prove challenging and therefore some opportunities can simply slip through the cracks.

Benefits of hiring local production talent

There are many benefits to hiring local services and facilities for screen productions incoming to Scotland:

Existing local industry knowledge and experience
Existing local industry relationships and networks
Existing geographical knowledge
Efficient logistical solutions
Savings on travel costs
Savings on accommodation costs
Regional production spend evidence
Increased COVID-19 production safety with fewer production members travelling from outside Scotland
Ethically supporting local industry which enables it to strengthen and grow for future projects

The additional challenge

In Spring 2020 came COVID-19 and a global pandemic grinding much of the screen production industry to a halt while the world sought ways to save lives by limiting physical interaction, travel, and gatherings. Industry organisations such as PACT, BFI, Bectu, and the UK Screen Alliance all worked hard to research and produce COVID-19 safety guidance and advice to enable the industry to work again, and slowly much of the industry has been able to resume.

The impact of COVID-19 will not be fully known until the hereafter, and the repercussions may well influence future production practices permanently. Scotland is fortunate to have the benefits of fantastic outdoor natural, historic, and contemporary locations; incredible indoor locations including an increasing number of studio spaces; and a wealth of locally based skilled cast, crew, production services, and facilities.

Vision Scotland is SFS’ message to producers that Scotland is a desirable place in which to base a production, and by utilising the native industry it can be more efficient, logistically simpler, COVID-19 safer, and supportive to the local production ecosystem.

VISION SCOTLAND

The objective of Vision Scotland is to proactively foster an environment where global content producers can meet, get to know and connect with Scotland’s screen industry; to deliver an industry trade and exhibition expo enabling the industry to showcase its services and facilities, connect with existing industry colleagues and make new professional connections, discuss and share business and industry intelligence, explore industry innovations and market trends, and engage in knowledge transfer and networking.

The industry programme includes presentations, demos, panels and discussions, curated by members of SFS and in consultation with a group of invited screen industry sector leaders to ensure the topics covered are relevant and of interest to the working industry community.

Ian Pearce, Chair of Screen Facilities Scotland, and Managing Director of Supply 2 Location Scotland:

“In 2016, having identified an opportunity to make a real difference to the industry in Scotland, I started a business here. In a few short years I’ve seen incredible growth and joined SFS where I found a dedicated team with the desire to see Scotland become firmly established as a world-leading screen production location with a thriving local industry to support it. There is a new wave coming to the film, TV and media industry in Scotland. Be part of it at Vision Scotland.”
– Ian Pearce

Matthew Cowan, Creative Director at Production Attic, and Director at Screen Facilities Scotland said:

“I’m excited to be able to not only show off the range of world class screen facilities on offer in Scotland to attendees but also to bring expertise into Scotland from a range of expert speakers. We know Scotland has a compelling offer and Vision Scotland will be vital to showcasing how we can cost effectively assist all manner of productions.”
– Matthew Cowan

Belinda Love, Coordinator at Screen Facilities Scotland and Operations and Programme Manager at Vision Scotland said:

“A dedicated screen production trade event has long been a desire for member companies of Screen Facilities Scotland. The opportunity to showcase what is available in Scotland to a world audience in this way will foster increased familiarity with the Scottish Offer within the screen content production community. We hope many new connections, relationships, and conversations are enabled by Vision Scotland.”
– Belinda Love

Vision Scotland aims to reach out far and wide to sector leaders, industry organisations, media, events, and charities; and aims to attract a diverse attendance from those working in the global production community from advertising, commercials, corporate, interactive media and games, broadcast and streaming television, and of course film.

Brian Baglow, Director at Scottish Games Network said:

“While Vision Scotland is not a dedicated games expo, it should absolutely include interactive media as there has been a rapidly evolving and ever-increasing crossover among the screen production sub sectors. They all produce screen content and the craft and technical skills behind them that are available in Scotland are worthy of shouting about. An opportunity to unite the various screen production media in a showcase such as Vision Scotland is long overdue.”
– Brian Baglow

Vision Scotland registration is open from Tuesday 15 December 2020. Registration is free for industry professionals and Exhibitor and Sponsorship details are available upon request.

– Screen Facilities Scotland

Notes to Editors:

ABOUT SFS

SFS became a formal co-operative venture after winning the Co-operative Development Scotland Collaboration Prize in 2012. Since then, SFS has become a focus point for its member companies and a central point of contact for the wider industry, potential clients, government, public agencies, and other organisations.

SFS’ main activities are to promote member companies, develop new business, engage in industry knowledge transfer and advocacy, contribute to research and consultations, and be a unified voice for the services and facilities sub sector.

SFS has evolved as a visible and influential entity, and has formal presence and contribution at key events, including festivals, conferences, exhibitions, expos, and other industry activities.

SFS won Screen Production Association of the Year 2020 for developing the concept of Vision Scotland as a digital trade event for the sector they represent, moving their member activities and communications swiftly to digital during the sudden global pandemic, and collaboratively producing a promotional advert to showcase the screen talent in Scotland to help the sector bounce back from the production crisis felt by the event of the COVID-19 outbreak.