Dawn of the Dead

Dawn of the Dead being screened in Denny town centre

You know, I was thrilled to see that Glasgow-based event firm Itison has revealed plans for showing drive-in movies in appropriate locations throughout Scotland. It's a great way for ordinary folk to 'engage with their environment' as we expert planners say. A total of 20,000 people saw films such as Elf and It’s a Wonderful Life at the Lomond Shores centre at the southern end of Loch Lomond at Christmas, while nearly 10,000 watched Ghostbusters and Halloween over the Halloween weekend at Victoria Park in the west end of Glasgow.

First of all Itison have come up with rather predictable film and venue partnerships - the James Bond blockbuster Skyfall in Glencoe, West Sands beach in St Andrews, which famously featured in Chariots of Fire and they also included Jaws, which might be screened beside the River Clyde near the Riverside Museum in Glasgow. It's dedicated to the Leader of the Council. They also have a location wishlist and I think I can help them out with some insightful suggestions.

Let's be topical! Clearly town centres obsess most planners at the moment. They are obsessed because there is nothing they can do! It's like the unrequited love for a beautiful woman so focus on town centre would be a good start for a planner's wish list of locations. My first suggestion is Denny town centre which was the subject of an Urban Realm Carbuncles intervention a while back. Well it hasn't improved at all and for me, it never will. It has doom written all over it but it would be the ideal location to screen Dawn of the Dead. My fallback location for this would be Clydebank Shopping Centre.

The problem is that Dawn of the Dead could have been flmed in either location using the residents as extras. Maybe it was actually filmed in Clydebank!

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre being screened at B&Q, Dundee

Another one that comes to mind is the car park of B&Q at King's Cross Road, Dundee - a great place for a day out! The boy and I were there many years ago when he was a nice wee laddie. I recommend to Itison that they screen the texas Chainsaw Massacre here - a great way of advertising some of B&Q's products!

I should credit Wee Shuggie at the office with knocking out these breathtaking CGIs in Photoshop. It's a better use of his time than knocking up women whose heads he has turned with a fish supper.

I hope to be back tomorrow with an important post aimed at helping planners and wooly-headed environmentalists towards achieving better performance figures and KPIs. I'm sure you are looking forward to this.