GLASGOW City Council’s Glasgow Film Office (GFO) helped to generate almost £12.5 million for the city’s economy in 2019 though film, broadcast and advertising productions attracted to the city.
Since its creation in 1997, with the aim of promoting Glasgow as a “film-friendly” city, the GFO has attracted productions that have generated over £320m in economic activity.
2019 saw a number of notable productions filmed in Glasgow, including the award-winning 1917 and Succession, BBC dramas Guilt, Elizabeth Is Missing and the yet-to-broadcast The Nest, as well as Bollywood features Sacch and 1983.
These productions join a long list of major films and broadcast series made in Glasgow, including World War Z, Under The Skin, Outlaw King, The Wife, Hobbs & Shaw, Wild Rose, Outlander, Still Game, The Replacement and The Cry.
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The GFO acts as a “one-stop shop” for productions of all sizes and budgets filming, or wishing to film, in Glasgow, coordinating meetings with appropriate agencies, location owners and council departments.
It also markets Glasgow as an attractive filming location through supporting recces for production and location teams, meetings with key producers and decision-makers, and working with Screen Scotland in the planning and execution of joint marketing activities.
Additionally, it leads the Glasgow Film Partnership – a body with over 60 members, which aims to make filming in the city “as simple as possible”. A grant is also given to productions hiring local facilities and services suppliers, to help support and develop the sector in the city.
Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken said: “These latest figures point to the continuing attraction of Glasgow as a location for film production and, crucially, the successes of the council’s Film Office in facilitating that. Major productions like 1917 and Succession not only generate significant economy activity within the city but they profile what Glasgow has to offer to the film and broadcast industry, from our locations to our crews and facilities.
“The Glasgow Film Office team are pivotal to making all this happen, while minimising the impact on our residents and businesses.
“This approach has been so successful that I am sure we can look forward to hearing some super news about more major productions coming to Glasgow in the very near future.”
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