Stirling Studios will be among the biggest film studio campuses in Scotland and pave the way for thousands of high-skilled jobs as well as major economic benefits.

Stirling Council Chief Executive Carol Beattie is confident about the future success of the studios, which will be located on the former MoD land at Forthside, as she identified that the site and buildings could fit well with the needs in the sector.

Screen production is continuing to experience rapid growth driven by consumer demand for content across multiple distribution platforms such as Netflix and Amazon. Worldwide, in 2019, screen sector production had a total economic impact of $414 billion and supported 14 million full time jobs.

Market trends, together with the hugely successful UK tax credits system, have driven a sustained expansion in TV and film productions across the UK. In 2021, total spend in the UK was £5.64 billion, up from £3.12 billion in 2021. This has been mirrored in Scotland with a recent Screen Scotland report showing a doubling of film and high-end TV production in the country between 2019 and 2021.

Stirling Studios will unlock significant investment and job opportunities, as well as an array of economic and social benefits. An independent economic impact assessment has estimated the project will create over 4,000 jobs in 25 years in a range of occupations, with the positive impacts filtering down the wider supply chains.

Whilst some of the job creation opportunities for film and TV production roles may immediately suggest acting, directing or producing, the range of jobs across existing industries within the Stirling and Forth Valley area that are required within the sector should not be underestimated.

Accessibility to a skilled workforce of joiners, labourers, plasters, scaffolders, lighting and electrical engineers, costume design, hairdressers, make-up artists etc. are critical in this sector and Stirling’s historical strengths in these areas provides a unique opportunity for growth.

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