COUNCILLORS have agreed to cash in on Argyll and Bute’s popularity as a filming hotspots – by charging film and TV crews to shoot on council property.

Proposals for a film location charging schedule went before the authority’s policy and resources committee last week.

A report by council leader Aileen Morton, who is policy lead for development and infrastructure, comes after several blockbuster films were revealed to have been shot in the area.

These included Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and Craig Ferguson's screenplay ‘Love Me To Death’.

TV dramas ‘The Loch’ and ‘The Replacement’ also made use of Argyll and Bute, while car and whisky commercials were also filmed in the area.

Cllr Morton’s report recommended that film makers should be charged up to £1,260 plus VAT per day to film on council property, depending on their budget, while makers of TV shows and adverts should pay up to £660 and £600 plus VAT per day respectively.

It also estimated that had the charge schedule been put in place last year, the authority would have made thousands of pounds.

The report stated: “It is recognised that Argyll and Bute Council is not currently in a position to maximise the potential benefits to help sustain assets and facilitate for film.

“Additionally, we have conducted an exercise to identify an estimated figure of income if the Film Location Charging schedule had been implemented last financial year.

“The council would have generated a sum of £2,000. We are aware this is not a substantial sum of money, however the income will be dictated by the industry and most of the filming on council assets has been small-scale.

“To give an indication of the income that could be generated from a large-scale enquiry, we have identified an example enquiry that we received in 2017 which looked at leasing our council-owned asset for a period of 19 weeks.

“We compared the value we quoted previously of £15,000 with the value which could potentially be generated with the implementation of the proposed charging schedule, which totalled the negotiable sum of approximately £39,900.”

The report also says that other elements may incur additional charges from film and TV production companies, including the removal of street furniture and closure of car parks and footpaths.

Councillor Morton added: “Filming in Argyll and Bute brings benefits in terms of local spend and promotion of the area.

“Formalising future arrangements and implementing a charging schedule will to allow the council to sustain and protect our assets as well as providing a clear, transparent, structured process for future film enquiries.

“Charges will always be negotiable as the council is aware of the importance of continuing to attract inward investment into the area and would continue to strive to facilitate all productions within the area to the best of its ability.”

Councillors agreed the recommendation in the report.