The Scotsman Bulletin Thursday September 14 2023
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00:00 >>
00:03 Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Daily
00:09 Bulletin for Thursday.
00:12 I'm Alan Young, deputy editor of the Scotsman.
00:15 I'm joined today from sunny Edinburgh by our
00:18 arts correspondent Brian Ferguson.
00:21 Let's have a look at the front page first, as
00:24 ever.
00:27 We have a few quick cuts.
00:30 Basically, if they receive a flat budget
00:33 next year, the prospect is that
00:36 600 front-line police officers may have to be
00:39 cut by April.
00:42 Over the next four years, overall police Scotland
00:45 staff may drop by 2000.
00:48 Really worrying warning there.
00:51 We picture on the front there the
00:54 possibility of a new home to Picardy Place
00:57 in Edinburgh.
01:00 That's close to the birthplace of Arthur
01:03 Conan Doyle.
01:06 It was taken away for the various tram work
01:09 and the development of St James's Quarter.
01:12 Great to see it back.
01:15 At the top of the page, the story we will be
01:18 speaking to Brian about.
01:21 We have a few quick cuts.
01:24 We have a few quick cuts.
01:27 We have a few quick cuts.
01:30 Brian, bring us up to date on the situation
01:33 in the Film House.
01:36 >> I was doing a column today saying it has
01:39 been a bit of a saga.
01:42 I can't think of anything I have written more
01:45 about in a single issue.
01:48 The parent company, pretty much without any
01:51 warning to anyone, the centre for the moving
01:54 image which had run both of these institutions
01:57 for about 10 years, pretty much suddenly went
02:00 into administration.
02:03 The doors were shut, all the staff lost their
02:06 jobs and the Film House has been closed ever
02:09 since.
02:12 There have been two twin track efforts
02:15 by the film festival and the film teams largely
02:18 to get both of those institutions back up and
02:21 running.
02:24 To deal with the film festival first,
02:27 basically there was a small scale version of
02:30 the festival put on this year and there was a
02:33 team working in the international festival
02:36 who worked on that event.
02:39 Separate to that, there has been a chair
02:42 of the film festival, the producer of
02:45 Trainspotting, and the chair of a new film
02:48 festival which will hopefully, he is going to
02:51 be leading efforts to get a board and staff
02:54 together for next year.
02:57 In tandem with that, again, there has been
03:00 quite a wide ranging campaign around the Film
03:03 House building, but at the core of the campaign,
03:06 one big element of it is a group of former
03:09 staff, four former staff basically, who pretty
03:12 much from day one have been working to try to
03:15 get this building back, reopen, and it is for
03:18 my guys basically, crucially.
03:21 They have been working behind the scenes.
03:24 It has been a bit of a roller coaster.
03:27 They were trying to find out who was
03:30 potentially buying the building.
03:33 They launched a 2 million pound crowd funder
03:36 in the autumn to try and see if there was
03:39 maybe enough there that could persuade
03:42 administrators to deal with them.
03:45 It didn't quite reach the targets.
03:48 There was a bit of interest in the building.
03:51 It turned out just after the turn of the year
03:54 into the spring, there were a couple of pub
03:57 operators in the frame.
04:00 At that point it didn't look good at all.
04:03 I think they took fright at the
04:06 campaign that was building,
04:09 a Save the Film House campaign, which the
04:12 former members of staff have been involved in,
04:15 but it was very much a grassroots campaign.
04:18 At that point there was quite a lot of focus
04:21 on what was going to happen in terms of the
04:24 building and its licence.
04:27 It was quite a lot of heat on being applied
04:30 to the building, quite rightly I thought,
04:33 on councillors, MPs and MSPs to do something
04:36 about this basically.
04:39 This place had been running for 40 years.
04:42 A lot of public money had gone into supporting
04:45 and maintaining it as a cultural institution.
04:48 There was a lot of heat at the time.
04:51 One pub company fell out of the frame,
04:54 but another pub company, Caledonian
04:57 was able to buy the building.
05:00 The strange thing was, just at the point when
05:03 they bought the building, it turned out that
05:06 the group of former staff who had been quite keen
05:09 to see what could be done,
05:12 they were keen from the point
05:15 when the sell-off had been confirmed
05:18 to try and do some kind of deal
05:21 behind the scenes with the new owners.
05:24 At the time, when I was out in the distance
05:27 this morning, I just didn't really fancy the chances
05:30 because the track record of - you and I can
05:33 probably remember quite a few examples.
05:36 There's a really obvious one at Lothian Road
05:39 where it was a really historic cinema building
05:42 that then became a nightclub and then a music venue.
05:45 It had been open for decades, pretty much,
05:48 in various guises, and was bought by a big pub
05:51 company to try and get the council to block it.
05:54 The council felt legally that they just couldn't really.
05:57 That was a very obvious example of where it was.
06:00 It is incredible, isn't it?
06:03 It's prime property, bang in the middle
06:06 of a going-out area in Edinburgh,
06:09 bought by a pub company
06:12 for the prospect of it not being turned into a pub
06:15 but to be run again as a charitable
06:18 venture to revive the cinema.
06:21 It's an incredible turn-up for the boot.
06:24 Another thing as well, there's other obvious examples
06:27 like the Odeon Cinema, which was - certainly
06:30 when I moved to Edinburgh, that was the place
06:33 at Nicholson Street
06:36 where film premieres were on, basically.
06:39 You could see all the stars on a regular basis.
06:42 Believe it or not, it's 20 years since that building
06:45 has been shut.
06:48 It had a couple of owners, I'm sure, at that time,
06:51 still owned by a hospitality company.
06:54 Nothing's happened with it.
06:57 It's one of the most depressing sights in Edinburgh
07:00 when you walk past it.
07:03 That place had the same kind of heritage as the
07:06 film house, to be honest.
07:09 Again, that was - also, people will remember,
07:12 but certainly it became clear from people I speak to
07:15 a lot that maybe the pub company's attitude
07:18 was not immediately dismissive of the whole thing.
07:21 It turns out - well, it certainly appears to be
07:24 the case that they recognise the value of the film
07:27 house as a cultural institution and seem to be
07:30 serious about trying to make it happen, basically.
07:33 Having said that, I think it's a good thing
07:36 that the film house has been shut down.
07:39 It's a good thing that they're not trying to
07:42 make it happen, basically.
07:45 Having said that, they are a commercial company,
07:48 so obviously they are quite business-minded.
07:51 There will obviously have to be some - if everything
07:54 goes according to plan, there will have to be some
07:57 kind of lease agreement.
08:00 Already that's quite tricky territory when we're
08:03 talking about potentially public money going into
08:06 the film house.
08:09 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
08:12 been shut down.
08:15 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
08:18 been shut down.
08:21 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
08:24 been shut down.
08:27 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
08:30 been shut down.
08:33 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
08:36 been shut down.
08:39 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
08:42 been shut down.
08:45 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
08:48 been shut down.
08:51 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
08:54 been shut down.
08:57 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
09:00 been shut down.
09:03 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
09:06 been shut down.
09:09 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
09:12 been shut down.
09:15 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
09:18 been shut down.
09:21 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
09:24 been shut down.
09:27 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
09:30 been shut down.
09:33 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
09:36 been shut down.
09:39 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
09:42 been shut down.
09:45 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
09:48 been shut down.
09:51 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
09:54 been shut down.
09:57 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
10:00 been shut down.
10:03 >> I think it's a good thing that the film house has
10:06 been shut down.
10:09 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
10:12 been shut down.
10:15 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
10:18 been shut down.
10:21 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
10:24 been shut down.
10:27 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
10:30 been shut down.
10:33 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
10:36 been shut down.
10:39 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
10:42 been shut down.
10:45 I think it's a good thing that the film house has
10:48 been shut down.
10:51 >> Is there any provisional opening date that
10:54 they're working towards?
10:57 >> I think the big thing, symbolically, without me
11:00 even getting to this question, I think they did
11:03 suggest that if they could get, I think the next
11:06 year's film festival would be the thing, symbolically
11:09 it would be the thing to aim for.
11:12 Obviously if they were going to do that, they would
11:15 have to get the film festival.
11:18 That would be a great thing to aim for.
11:21 It still seems a little bit of a dream at the
11:24 moment, but it's certainly a dream well worth people
11:27 holding on to, at least for the next few months.
11:30 >> Great, thanks very much for talking us through
11:33 all that.
11:36 Brian will be watching the progress of this
11:39 development really closely.
11:42 We'll be following up on all of the latest news and
11:45 updates.
11:48 If you can subscribe, then you will not miss a thing.
11:51 If you're out and about today, please do pick up a
11:54 copy of the paper from me and from Brian.