One of the BBC's biggest blockbusters last year looks to be heading to Cairngorms
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A Highlander who runs one of Britain's biggest talent agencies is warning of a tsunami of wild campers unable to find enough affordable accommodation with the region set for a wave of new mega productions.
It includes a new series of one of the BBC's blockbusters of last year.
Iain Wilkie of BBB Talent Agency has 5000 people on his books and supplies the major TV and film companies.
"Folk don’t know that Scotland's biggest casting platform is based here," said Mr Wilkie, who was born and brought up in Aviemore.
"But they need to.
"We are bringing a huge range of talent to the Highlands but it's vital we inspire local people to sign up, to ease the pressure on Badenoch and Strathspey's beauty spots.
"We've seen the pressure growing so much already on places like Glenmore and that's set to become much worse unless we can organise a better way."
A former actor himself, with credits from the Outlaw King to Outlander, from The Crown to Game of Thrones, Mr Wilkie found more and more of his time being spent providing extras for an increasing number of productions.
"I enjoyed the camaraderie at Rothiemurchus, on the set of Netflix's Outlaw King, so much that I teamed up with 700 other walk-on characters to form the Beautiful Bearded B*stards some six years ago.
"After meeting my partner Elisa, we decided we wanted a quieter life and settled in Grantown.
"The town hardly seemed a normal location for a UK-wide company but things changed with Covid and we can do more and more over Zoom and email.
"I absolutely love working from home. But that brings me to my biggest bugbear, local casting.
"Aviemore and north of Inverness are becoming filming hot spots."
Bond, Batman and The Crown on the big screen, the Monarch of the Glen and Dr Findlay's Casebook on the smaller one, have all helped project the strath to the top of location lists with producers.
"There are a whole line up of productions heading our way including on of the BBC's biggest recent blockbusters.
"I can't go into details at this stage but let's say it's based around the creation of an elite military force in World War II in the Highlands...?
"Accommodation and facilities are at a premium in our area so shipping people up from all over the UK when we have talent on our doorstep is madness.
"We have a great small local base of artists here but nowhere near enough to cover everything.
"I guess people just don’t understand what production are looking for and folk think they need acting experience, when the truth is all production want to see is real people, from all walks of life and all ages.
"As long as you can follow instructions and get on well with others, you will have a fantastic time on set.
"Yes, it's paid and all an adult needs is a legal right to work in the UK. BBBs are one of the few agencies free to join – we don’t manage an artist's profile. When they have an account they manage their own profile.
"It's like having your own personal shop window to casting but you are the product, we just match a face and measurements to a production's requirements."
He explained: "We will have walk on and featured roles with actions and dialogue, that's where the biography and experience bits of a profile are important to fill in.
"Most of our work is in central Scotland. There’s absolutely no commitment to say yes to any offer of work, as long as someone responds to an availability check with a 'yes' or a 'no' we know they are still active and want to be involved.
"Eventually a job pops up that works with someone’s day off or a production they really want to be part of.
"When an artist joins up we can let them in our private Facebook group where the TV and film community in Scotland all chat, great place for advice and to meet others in the industry."
A major demand for extras is already upon the strath, he said.
"Our first big one near Aviemore is in the first week of August and we are looking for fit folk between 18 and 35 at the moment but we may need different looks and age ranges as more information and requirements are shared with me.
"Artists can find the registration page and some of the jobs we are known for on our website bbbtalentagency.com all information given follows all GDPR rules and is extremely secure.
"We have had the pleasure of supplying supporting artists, featured roles, walk ons, stand ins, dancers, musicians to HBO, Sony, Star, Netflix, BBC, STV, ITV, Starz, Prime Video, Apple TV, Studio Lambert, and many other independent productions."
