The need:
We need to build a new Screen Machine that is custom-made for Scotland’s roads, slipways and weather in the Highlands and Islands. A Screen Machine that can tour all 44 communities on our regular route, of which 50% are islands. A machine that is environmentally sustainable, reducing carbon emissions and keeping us on a path to net zero. We need a machine that has the latest cinema technology to bring the best possible experience to every community we visit, in a warm, safe, accessible environment. A new Screen Machine (SM3) will ensure the continuity of the service for 18-19 years. It will cost approximately £1.7million. We need 50% to commission the build from the manufacturer and get the project rolling. Your contribution will help us make this vital start.
The current service is using a French Cinemobile, leased temporarily with funding from Screen Scotland. Without a new Screen Machine, the service will end in April 2026.
The Ask
This is a once in 20 years opportunity to help us build a new and better mobile cinema that will endure into the 2040s.
Your donation will:
- Help us to get started on the vital first phase of commissioning the build.
- Prove to the Scottish Government, and other funders, the value of the service and the need for their contribution.
Background
Regional Screen Scotland is the manager and operator of Screen Machine. We are a charity registered in Scotland governed by a voluntary board of Trustees and a regularly funded client (RFO) of Creative Scotland and we work closely with sector partners Screen Scotland and Film Hub Scotland as part of wider film exhibition strategies. The Screen Machine service is now in its 27th year of operation. We tour new release cinema, festival films, archive material, photography on screen and deliver special screenings to 44 communities, where otherwise there is no access to cinema, locally. Each tour lasts around ten weeks, comprising a total of 150 stops across the year and 21,000 tickets sold across Argyll & Bute, Western Isles, North Ayrshire, Highland, Moray and Orkney. We deliver our service with two full-time Screen Machine Operators, alternating fortnightly shifts, and a desk-based team of one full-time and four part-time staff, as well as a network of 70 ushers across each community we visit. We work to ensure we are connected to every community we visit and that our service is as universal and welcoming as possible.
We are fundraising to build a new Screen Machine – SM3. We call it SM3 because only two other Screen Machines have ever been built. Screen Machine 1 (SM1) was a prototype built by a British manufacturer that had several technical problems and operated between 1998-2005. Screen Machine 2 (SM2) was custom built by Toutenkamion, the French maker of Cinemobiles and lasted 18 years of touring the Highlands and Islands, enduring all weathers but finally requiring to be retired in January 2023, having suffered a series of faults and erosion. The current service is being delivered by a Cinemobile leased from Toutenkamion until April 2026 and paid for with a grant from Screen Scotland. The lease of Cinemobile has been essential for continued delivery of the Screen Machine service. But it was not designed and built to be opened and closed every few days, as we require, and it cannot navigate ferries and slipways as ably as SM2 could, and SM3 will. To continue to deliver the service sustainably in the future a new machine is needed. We have already commissioned a detailed technical spec for a new cinema. SM3 will incorporate new technologies to make it efficient in its set up, environmentally friendly in its operation, and custom-built to deal with rural and island roads, ferries, and weather. Once commissioned, SM3 will take between 12-18 months to build. It is vital the build starts this year so that the service can be maintained after the end of the Cinemobile lease.
A public asset
SM1 was funded with public funding and the National Lottery, SM2 was funded by the then Scottish Arts Council, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Scottish Government. HIE have pledged 25% of the cost of SM3 as match funding against that raised from Government, Trusts, Foundations and other sources.
From September 2023 until now, to fund SM3 we have been asking our supporters to write to their MSPs and MPs to urge the Scottish Government to fund 50% of the build so that SM3 can be commissioned. The amazing response we have had from this letter writing campaign has led to Screen Machine being discussed in Parliament, meetings with MSPs and even a plea from Dame Judi Dench to former First Minister Humza Yusaf. However, no commitment of funding has yet been made by the Scottish Government. We cannot afford to wait for their response, we must commission the build and get the project rolling. Your donation will be the vital spark to ensure the service can continue once the Cinemobile lease ends.
A much-loved service
Most static cinemas in the UK are still trying to bring back audience attendance to the level it was pre-pandemic. Screen Machine had its best attendance in 2019-20 and audiences have returned to the same levels since we returned to full-capacity touring in 2022. In our recent survey (June 2024) to our mailing list, over 1000 responders contributed, and 97% of respondents said that Screen Machine was either Very or Extremely important to their community. This is evidence that our place in the cultural lives of our communities remains highly valued, alongside the public support we have been given in our campaign to raise 50% of the project costs for SM3 from the Scottish Government, which have led to our cause being discussed in Parliament.
‘Screen Machine is part of the cultural landscape of Uist and Benbecula. It provides not only a magical cinema experience, but a chance to meet up with friends who may live further away and neighbours. People are geographically scattered here, so events like the screenings are so valuable in getting people together. Everyone is welcome at Screen Machine. You could be sitting next to someone entirely new and outwith your usual social group. It’s a chance to meet new people. Also people feel welcome and safe to come on their own, so helping to reduce social isolation’ - Screen Machine Usher, Liniclate, 2024.
In their strategy to 2030/31, Screen Scotland identified Regional Screen Scotland as a key partner in their audience development action plan: ‘to integrate support for the growth and resilience of exhibition networks in areas of low provision and low population density.’ This is a clear indication that our service fulfills an identified need and is a strategic priority within the Scottish cultural sector. Our Business Plan for 2024-28 includes a commitment to ensuring the Screen Machine service is as affordable as possible, and that key partnerships will develop greater access and inclusion for communities marginalised due to economic inequality.
Environmental sustainability
Whilst driving on the road, Screen Machine has the appearance of a regular 33 tonne articulated truck, but when parked, a system of hydraulics is employed to convert the trailer into a state-of-the-art 80 seat cinema, with facilities to be expected of any cinema in any town or city: ten rows of eight seats, two aisles, plush seat upholstery, carpets, wheelchair spaces, small foyer, projection room, excellent projection/sound, two doors by which to arrive/depart including a ramp for wheelchair access. The cinema is designed to set up/close up by one person in approx one hour.
Screen Machine 3 will have excellent green credentials. Whereas SM2/Cinemobile uses a diesel generator for its heat and power and is RSS’s main source of emissions, SM3 will save up to 8,000 litres of diesel, or 20500kgCo2e. It will do this by using rechargeable batteries that will charge during the day via the solar panels on the cinema roof and by the truck’s alternator while driving. It is not yet known how much emission free charging of the batteries can take place, but even if the batteries were charged daily and fully by electricity from the UK grid, which they won’t be, it would still be a quarter of the emissions compared to SM2’s diesel powered generator. SM3 will take 66Kwh to do a full recharge of the batteries. The battery capacity is designed to be able to screen three films a day. For emergency use only, there will be a small diesel generator mounted on the tractor to charge the batteries if they reach a critical level.
Donor information
Do tell your friends, family and colleagues to pop on here and give what they can.
If you are a UK taxpayer, you can increase the value of your donation by 25% by adding Gift Aid.
If you are considering a donation over £5,000 we'd welcome a conversation with you.
Contact us on [email protected]
For more information (including FAQs) and to join our mailing list, please visit screenmachine.co.uk. We'll send news and updates via our mailing list and also via Crowdfunder to anyone who donates – remember to stay 'opted in' for updates.
Thank you.
In the event that we are unable to raise sufficient funds through Crowdfunder and from other sources to commission SM3, all pledges made will be refunded in full, including those made on this Crowdfunder. If the overall project can move forward, then we will use funds donated via this Crowdfunder whether or not the Crowdfunder target level is achieved.
Regional Screen Scotland is a company limited by guarantee, registered in Scotland SC343553; and a registered charity in Scotland, SC039853, regulated by the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).
Staff team: Simon Drysdale (Interim CEO), Fiona Fowler, Brenda Fox, Kevan Jamieson, Angie Jennings, Iain MacColl, Drew Taylor, Harriet Warman.
Additional information about Regional Screen Scotland/Screen Machine is available on our website.