Great Getaway finds locations in Scotland

The Great Getaway Film 
Press Release

Above - Victoria Steven Wallace, Seoras Walllce, Councillor Willie Scobie, Mairi Sutherland ,Merrik, Vivien Smith picture in Stranraer the location nearby proposed 'Battle of Culloden'

Producers of the Independent British film ‘The Great Getaway’ about the flight of Bonnie Prince Charlie to the Isle of Skye are looking for their lead character of ‘The Prince’. Mairi Sutherland, Producer of The Great Getaway was surprised to discover she is competing with USA based, Sony backed, TV series with billions of dollars at its command, for the character Bonnie Prince Charlie at the same time.  She says the storylines are totally different with the Great Getaway opting for a historically accurate portrayal of the heart rending defeat of Prince Charlie at the battle of Culloden. Outlander, on the other hand features 1745, in a modern day setting with characters zipping through a time portal. She goes on to say’ It is confusing for the film industry because the budgets are different and we are now competing for crew, actors and locations. Our Charlie is the lead character – our 'proposed' budget is 7.5 million dollar, so we are not able to go for inflated American budgets for cast. We want American involvement but they must accept cuts in pay to be in genuine British films. Mairi agreed with the head of BBC Film, Christine Langan, who was quoted in the London Evening Standard about the threat of American TV series competition last week. Christine Langan said…..

‘There are 2 industries in this country. There’s obviously the ‘service’ industry that can pick up a lot of Hollywood work and foreign investment. And then there’s the British film industry that is telling British stories with a British voice and that is almost a different industry. They feed into each other. A lot of people who start in the indigenous industry go on to make films that bestride the earth. But we have to nurture our own industry and protect it. If that goes, it goes for good. There’s a lot of value in speaking the same language as the Americans, but we have to be mindful of safeguarding our own work’. 

This comes in the week that Producer Mairi Sutherland, her Associate Producer, Seoras Wallace met with the BBC Scotland Commissioner Ewan Angus to discuss whether the BBC will support ‘The Great Getaway' financially. They will also meet with a team from Stranraer who are making a bid to take the location for the Battle of Culloden and to train local film extras.

Meanwhile, Scottish based, Victoria Steven-Wallace Casting Director for The Great Getaway agreed. She said “With so many big budget US backed productions underway in the UK which are really attracting much of the best home grown talent at top rates. I think for the producers of Great Getaway it’s very hard for them and other independent producers to compete with these big budget producers and come out smiling. Having said that, ‘It’s important that actors get work regularly and I totally and wholeheartedly support the producers of ‘The Great Getaway’ because they are endeavoring to employ local actors’ crew and production talent… I do find I’m often in hard negotiations about the price for actors all the time, but that’s my job and with such a good script written by Robbie Moffat it is an easy sell this time.

Film Director Robbie Moffat is buoyed by the public support. At the moment he is opting to cast an unknown for Bonnie Prince Charlie though he hasn't given up getting a Hollywood star. ‘I want to surround Charlie with famous actors and I'm delighted that James Cosmo has come in to support the production with a letter of interest. James Cosmo is a Bafta winner and with this kind of calibre of actor we know that we can get other great actors like Peter Mullan on board as well. We are waiting to hear about Kirsten Stuart of Twilight TV series for the part of Flora MacDonald. So it’s all good at the moment.

Robbie Moffat has directed over 21 independent feature films, but he is still to get acceptance from Hollywood who keep asking who is he? What has he done? It is galling, he says and as Christine Lagan Head of BBC films said last week competing with the  US TV series reach is ’going to be challenging for the independent sector’.

Seoras Wallace associate producer and Fight Director has also come up against similar stumbling blocks in developing his William Wallace TV series hopefully to be filmed in Scotland. In terms of The Great Getaway he said "Im fully behind the production in whatever form it finally takes as it’s an excellent script and the take on the empathy that many highlanders showed to a “Foreign” king is mind boggling. For me its grist to the mill because my profession is about setting up good believable film fights that entertains and amazes audiences. The strategy planning and execution of battles like Culloden is my vocation and instead of bringing or importing stunt people from everywhere this film production is opening a door to people who have the skills but never had the opportunity to show them. I agree with the Director in that I want to give local home based talent the opportunity to get a foot on the ladder, and I certainly know by my own experience they can do it given the opportunity.

Finally Producer Mairi Sutherland said ‘ I'm enjoying putting this film together with have the support of a the company which raises money from the UK Enterprise Investment scheme so I have no reason to say the film will not get financed on way or the other. Gone are the days when we were shunned for blowing the whistle on the 1990’s Scottish Film Production Fund that had all their Committee members applying for Lottery Funds, while also applying for the public funds they managed.  Things have changed since then, and film industry people are now supportive, instead of telling us we can’t make films they are now saying Why Not?

The prospective start date for The Great Getaway the end of June 2015 and the Producers are preparing the ground, choosing locations, in the hope it will be shot in Scotland despite an offer to shot the film in Ireland, where tax credits and Irish Film Board support is more very attractive than Scottish Creative Scotland funding. Having said that, Creative Scotland is supportive – at a meeting in January, they set the producers a challenge that if they got good actors and some Hollywood names then they could put funds into the production.

‘It’s not a matter of how, It’s just a matter of when says Robbie Moffat film director and writer of the script.