When a group called the Scottish Film Studio Partnership puts in a planning application this month for a £250m film studio complex in Perthshire, it will be one of at least seven such schemes in the UK.

The idea of a new film centre in the Welsh Valleys or the Scottish highlands, to challenge the global might of Hollywood, may sound like a sexy proposition - as industries go, film production is one of the most seductive. Yet, while many of these projects have already been announced to the press, their funding remains as mysterious as a Hitchcock film noir.

For many, the film studio is just a small part of a wider leisure or business development. "You probably would not set up a studio by itself now, you would build it into other facilities," says Tina McFarling of the Film Council, who says profits are not easy to come by in the industry.

A cynic might suggest that some of these film studios are Trojan Horses. Their purpose: to lift less appealing projects off the ground. The whiff of Hollywood is more likely to appeal to regional planning officers than a humdrum "leisure-retail- housing" development.

Denis Munro, director of planning at Perth and Kinross council, admits that the plans would stand no chance of survival without the film studio element. "The studio is absolutely crucial to the consent," he says. "The presentation to the council made it very clear they were inseparable."

The film studio concept could also have a resonance with those public bodies trying to regenerate Britain's more backward regions via government, European or local grants. Many of the proposed schemes are bidding for a slice of these funding pies.

Meanwhile, their survival will depend on whether they can attract qualified workers. The skills base for the film industry is heavily weighted around London and some people suspect that will be hard to change.

If the Perthshire scheme goes ahead, the £35m film studio will be dwarfed by its wider £250m complex. Tony Antoniou, of the Scottish Film Studio Partnership, will not say who is behind the project: "I've been asked this a hundred times and I can't tell you. But the finance is in place, it is from private individuals and professional lending facilities."

Antoniou's film studio would have at least five sound stages, he says. A 750-acre patch of land has been secured under options, and the plan is to build a hotel, golf course and luxury apartments.

Planning permission, however, is still a major hurdle. In Devon, a company called the Full Picture Company announced plans last summer - to great fanfare - for its own £120m film studio. It has chosen a site on the edge of Exeter. But as one Devon businessman suggests: "It would be nice to believe it and know it would happen, but there are still a huge number of question marks surrounding it."

Rose Waghorn of the Full Picture Company, says an initial £66m has been arranged in principle in investment and debt; the money will be released "in tranches". But the company will not say where this funding is coming from. "I want people to focus on what we're actually going to do," says Waghorn.

The Exeter site will be a one-stop shop with post-production, editing, audio, special effects, catering, accommodation, six sound stages and two TV studios.

In Wales, a consortium fronted by Brian Willot, former chief executive of the Welsh Development Agency, has raised the hopes of villagers at Llanilid, near Bridgend. They have been promised thousands of jobs at a £300m studio and leisure complex, along with a business park, hotel and conference centre. The potential to win European grant funding through Wales's Objective One scheme is a key plank in the project. Yet despite rumours to the contrary, there is little evidence that Dragon has secured either the funding or the partners it requires.

And even if these projects succeed, there is no guarantee of commercial success once they are up and running. "It seems obvious to me that not all of these regional film studios are going to make it," says one industry executive.

There are others, however, who claim there will be enough demand. Ivan Dunleavy, chief executive of Pinewood and Shepperton, says there is no reason why more production work could not come to the UK. "It is an international market place for the use of studio facilities," he says.

Dunleavy and Michael Grade joined up with 3i, the venture capital group, to buy Pinewood two years ago. Since then they have also acquired Shepperton.

"It is fairly self-evident that we have an optimistic view of the studio market having acquired one two years ago and then acquiring another significant one since then," he adds.

Elsewhere, stars of the music and film worlds are getting in on the act. Dave Stewart, the rock star, and James Cosmo, who acted in Braveheart, have submitted plans to build a £20m complex, including a £7m studio, in Inverness. The pair are trying to raise private investment for the scheme, where they hope to attract the filming of Garden of Angels, with Meryl Streep and Sigourney Weaver. The complex would include a 200-room hotel, and a film studio with a 15,000 sq ft sound stage and multi-media facilities.

Separate plans to build a film studio near Edinburgh by Sean Connery, the actor, and Sony, the media group, have shown little progress.

In Cornwall, two separate consortia - with the scent of European structural grants in their nostrils - are drawing up proposals of their own. A group called South West Film Studios has earmarked a redundant leisure park at St Agnes, near Newquay, for its scheme. Its rival Atlantic Film and Television Studios has promised a £5.5m studio in a former potato processing factory at Liskeard.

Last year, however, was a bad time for film producers. First there were the Screen Actors Guild strikes in the US, then the events of September 11. And some experts suggest that it is always going to be tough to make profits in the industry.

The British film industry has grown in the last decade, thanks in part to tax breaks from the government. "In the early 90s, we made 30-something films, now the figure is over 100," says McFarling. But UK land prices have meant that studios were not always an attractive commercial proposition, she adds.

What is almost certain is that the first new major UK studio in 50 years will be the redevelopment of Leavesden, near Watford. There, a 200,000 sq ft studio will be built by MEPC as part of a 1.3m sq ft £400m media park. It is hoped that Warner Bros will take a stake in the studio.

Gavin Davidson, director of MEPC business parks, says Leavesden's position gives it an advantage over any regional competition. "If you are talking about big promotions like Harry Potter, where US actors are coming in, people like to be close to London, they don't want to spend three months in Wales," he says. "Once you travel far from London you are more likely to see more domestic productions."

Davidson suggests that only London has the skilled technicians and producers for big budget films. That, however, is not deterring the other wannabe film studio moguls, many miles from the UK capital.

jamespickard@hotmail.com