Written by new-contact on Jan 27, 2015. Posted in On Location

Scotland faces stiff competition to host filming for Highlands-set novel Seeker

Scotland will face stiff competition to host sci-fi story Seeker, which is set partly in the Scottish Highlands. The Young Adult novel will be published next month and Sony Pictures has already bought the movie rights as it eyes a new franchise in the vein of The Hunger Games.

“The first third of the book takes place almost exclusively in Scotland, up to and including a large, savage, life-changing confrontation that spins each character off in new and dangerous directions,” author Arwen Elys Dayton told the Express.

“You could create aspects of the Scottish countryside elsewhere. Iceland mimics Scotland in some ways, as do parts of Europe. Even where I live, in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, can look much like Scotland at certain times of the year.

“But it's hard to duplicate the overall Scottish experience – the castle ruins around every corner, the ancient forests, the rugged landscape fading into green valleys. So I hope Seeker is able to be filmed, at least partially, in Scotland.”

Scotland has enjoyed a boosted production profile over the past year hosting the time travel romance Outlander. The country conspicuously lacks purpose-built studio facilities, although Outlander shot in adapted industrial premises which were more cost-effective for the production in the long-term.

Over the past year Scotland has invested more heavily in promoting its production history. This has included issuing digital maps to showcase locations used in Outlander and in Bollywood movies over the past couple of decades, as well as directly promoting Edinburgh’s film history.

(Hunger Games images: Murray Close/Lions Gate Films Inc)