Glasgow Telly Festival flips script with one-minute pilots

The National

23-05-2025

As part of the inaugural event, people in Glasgow will be able to see actors from some of the country's most beloved TV shows, like Still Game, in short one-minute pitches in a bid to unearth the country's next big series.
The festival, which is the brainchild of Scottish author, producer and screenwriter Claire Duffy, aims to shine a spotlight on Scotland's TV sector and has been backed industry stalwarts like actors Dawn Steele, Blythe Duff, Colin McCredie, Joe McFadden and Shauna Macdonald, along with presenter Carol Smillie and Still Game and Chewin' The Fat Director Michael Hines.
Originally from Glasgow, Duffy has worked across film and TV for more than 20 years and across the world, including London, Vancouver, and Stockholm, and has launched the festival after always being 'frustrated' by the industry.
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Duffy said: 'I had come up with this idea to look at sort of different ways of getting projects straight to audiences, which I think is something that the industry badly needs right now.'
The one-minute pilots, which there are 57 confirmed to be shown so far, are designed to cut out the middleman of pitching to executives who are 'incredibly risk-averse' and are aimed at seeing what the Scottish public really wants to see on their screens.
Duffy envisioned the project as a version of the industry where creatives just came together and 'jammed' like a bunch of friends in a band.
And according to her, that's exactly what has happened.
'I keep calling it the playing to manky pubs and student unions,' Duffy (below) said.
(Image: Shots by Sherrie)
'It's the level of the industry where new talent, but also new ideas from established talent, can just get out there into the world and start to be developed and start to see if people are interested in it.
'I just think that it's so much more robust than what we do right now.'
People will be able to watch the short pilots in around 20 pubs and cafes in Glasgow and will be able to simply say if they like or didn't like what they watched by voting on the festival's dedicated app.
According to Duffy, the pilots have been created by Scottish filmmakers from across the industry, ranging from students all the way to veterans of the industry, and cover 'almost every genre'.
The guerilla-style campaign is also a response to how Scottish TV reflects the country's society, which Duffy said there is very little that actually authentically represents Scots on the small screen.
'There's really precious little,' she said.
'Even more so with the sort of imminent end of River City.
'There's very little that Scottish people can look at on screen and see actual, authentic representations of all of the wonderful sides that make up Scotland, and that really resonates with us.
'I always say that you switch on the TV to watch something Scottish, and you've either got sexy Jacobites or gloomy crime drama.
'And we're so much more than both of those.'
Duffy argued that although there is a place for 'sexy Jacobites or gloomy crime drama,' it is also 'really important' for Scottish people to have TV series that they can relate to.
She added that series like Taggart and Still Game are great examples of TV programmes which have gone down well with Scottish audiences due to them being more authentic in their representation, but highlight that they are around a decade old.
'I don't know when I've seen a Glasgow that I really truly recognise on screen, and I think that's a problem,' she said.
Duffy believes that by including audiences right at the beginning of projects will help offer invaluable insight into creating shows that Scots will want to watch.
'People out there in the world, the audiences, are just looking for something to entertain them.
'They are so much more open-minded and discerning and sophisticated than the powers that be often give them credit for.'
Duffy said that at the end of the festival, she aims to take all the data that is collected from those who vote and develop the 'real standouts' into future projects to be shown on digital platforms.
A series of events at the Glasgow Telly Festival will be held across the city, from May 29 to June 1, putting Scotland's talented writers, producers, directors, and actors centre stage.
Other planned events include rehearsed readings - where audiences can watch live performances of TV pilots - with the opening event co-hosted by Scottish Producers Circle's Maureen Hascoet.
There will also be the TV equivalent of an open-mic night, where actors, writers, and directors will perform short pilots of new drama series in front of an audience who will get to decide which ones they'd want to see more of.
You can click here for tickets and more information for events.