In the official trailer for Fast & Furious 9 which is eventually being screened this summer, Edinburgh is a main stage.
The trailer shows scenes shot on the Royal Mile while the cast and crew were here in 2019. Have a look at the trailer below from around 1’30” onwards.
It is a reminder of the importance of the film industry to Edinburgh, now given an even bigger boost with the new studio in Leith where Amazon’s The Rig is currently being filmed.
Edinburgh is a natural amphitheatre for filming and already plans for four large-scale dramas have been confirmed in 2021. Using Edinburgh as a backdrop is popular whether it is for period dramas such as Belgravia, or lighthearted features like the Eurovision Song Contest inspired The Story of Fire Saga.
The direct economic impact of big budget films coming to Edinburgh averages around £7 million per year and in 2019 it rose to £14.4 million – the second highest year ever. In 2020 the economic benefit understandably fell to just over £2 million due to the impact of Covid-19. The city council made only £17,668 from filming last year compared to almost £250,000 in 2019, with revenue generated from the use of public buildings or spaces like Calton Hill.
Rosie Ellison, Film Commissioner at Film Edinburgh, said: “Things simply fell through the floor. There was filming but these were small-scale, using local production companies which did not need hotel accommodation or much in the way of equipment hire. But we did have a lot of preparation for drama which might come to Edinburgh in 2021.”
While the public health crisis continues, production companies are required to keep staff safely bubbled up and industry guidelines have been established on how to film safely. There are also a public protection concerns as nobody wants to encourage adoring film fans to congregate.
In 2019, 157 productions were filmed in Edinburgh – not all blockbusters – including government information films and documentaries like Men in Kilts, The Grand Tour and Great British Bake Off, which alone attracted 9.2 million viewers for the final.
When we spoke Rosie was on the hunt for locations that could serve as criminal courts, but on other occasions it could easily be a Mediterranean style beach or a building which might double up as a police station (which city council HQ Waverley Court did in Case Histories).
Once Rosie has located places for the production companies to film, her job moves on to how to accommodate large numbers of crew and associated equipment in the city without causing too much disruption to business and daily life.
The tech vehicles used on a set could include 20 or 30 large trucks and sometimes production companies with deep pockets have to “buy out” the businesses in whole streets to allow filming to proceed. The council might need to switch the streetlights on and off while filming is in progress, and Rosie deals with those sorts of requests to make it easier for filming to be carried on in the capital.
Rosie’s job may appear to be glamorous, but she spends more time helping to find locations than she does schmoozing with the A-listers on set. She said: “I love seeing Edinburgh on the screen and I really like meeting owners and managers of all the locations, but my time meeting the stars is limited. It is more often the production crew who need to talk to me. We have a wide range of locations from buildings to homes available. If anyone wants to have their property added to the list of potential locations then they can get in touch.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
