GOOD Omens creator Neil Gaiman and director Douglas Mackinnon had to "prove" to Amazon bosses that the big-money show could be made in Scotland.
In its first series, the cult show – based on the 1990 novel written by Gaiman and the late Terry Prachett – was filmed in locations including England and South Africa.
Earlier this summer it was announced that production on the follow-up, which stars David Tennant and Michael Sheen, would take place in Scotland, where Mackinnon is from and where Gaiman has a house on Skye.
Today the workmates appeared in a masterclass at the Edinburgh TV Festival, where they praised the booming film and TV sector in Scotland.
Following years of investment and promotion, the country regularly attracts major shoots like that for the upcoming Indiana Jones sequel. Crowds gathered to see part of Glasgow city centre transformed into 1960s New York in July, while a stunt performer dressed as Batman drew attention during the capture of Batmobile-riding scenes for a movie version of The Flash.
The Rig, set on an oil platform, was recently shot here and will also show on Amazon, as will Anansi Boys, another Gaiman adaptation. That will be made at the same time as Good Omens and, speaking to event chair Raisah Ahmed, who is also a writer and director, Mackinnon said: "We had to prove we could take them both to Scotland.
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"There were bemused stares down the zoom call from Los Angeles. They went away afterwards trying to work out where Scotland was.
"We have the cream of the crop of local talent. ‘Local’ makes it sound slightly embarrassed. I’m glad that finally we’re bringing these shows here with Neil – it feels like everyone’s ready to make them, there’s no shyness.”
The Skye man, whose credits also include Doctor Who, The Line of Duty and Silent Witness, told the audience: "You can make one of the biggest TV series in the world and you don’t have to go to London any more.
"The moment we came to bring Good Omens it was really clear to me that we could make it here."
The first series of Good Omens was produced by BBC Studios. Gaiman told how they were faced with budget issues during the process, recalling how an accountant would "swing in" to notify them of black holes as large as £1million or over.
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He said: "The BBC’s pockets only go as deep as the share of the licence fee for that project, these days it’s not necessarily deep enough."
On working with a streaming platform, Uig-born Mackinnon said: "There are good and bad things about the streamers, just like BBC and ITV, but if you land in a happy patch that’s certainly good for you."
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