This month marks the 10th Anniversary of Screentime ShinAwil, the independent production company founded by Larry Bass in 1999.
ShinAwil has established itself as one of Ireland’s largest and most successful independent production companies specialising in entertainment, factual and live event programming such as ‘The Apprentice’. Early productions included talent formats ‘Popstars’ and 'You're a Star'; drama programmes such as ‘Inside Australia's Underworld Wars’; and factual programming such as ‘Where Were You When O’Leary Scored?’ and ‘Aslan…Made in Dublin’. Screentime ShinAwiL also produced the ‘Irish Film and Television Awards’ in 2003 and 2004.
In 2008, Screentime ShinAwiL introduced two programme formats to Irish television. The first of these was ‘The Apprentice’ for TV3, which won Screentime ShinAwiL their first IFTA for Best Entertainment Programme at the Irish Film and Television Awards in February 2009 and also a handful of TV Now awards in April 2009. The second of these formats was Ireland’s first series of ‘Dragons Den’ for RTÉ which enjoyed a notable success in audience ratings.
This year Screentime ShinAwiL created a new Celebrity Boxing show, ‘Charity Lords of the Ring’, where celebrities took part in a mini boxing tournament and ‘Test The Teachers’, a children’s gameshow format, which will be shown on RTÉ Two’s The Den in December. In addition, ShinAwiL also opened its first UK office in Hillsborough, Co. Down.
In 1999 Larry Bass established ShinAwil Productions Ltd., where he acted as Managing Director for three years, before establishing a joint venture with Screentime Australia in 2003, and forming Screentime ShinAwiL, now one of the largest independent production companies in Ireland. Larry is currently CEO of Screentime ShinAwiL.
You're a Star |
“I wanted to create an Irish-based company with a world market. And I think the success of the ‘Popstars’ format showed us that this is possible,” Bass tells IFTN. “When we set up ShinAwil we set the goal of never scrimping on quality. To that end we only use the best people, the very best practitioners - from cameramen to editors.”
As producers of successful shows such as ‘You’re a Star’ and ‘The Apprentice’, Bass believes the Irish audience’s appetite for “casting shows” is set to continue. “TV has always been about reality so there will always be a TV series that gives people reality in some shape or form. There will always be a place for the various genres and though the show formats might change there will always, always be new talent and so there will constantly be a place for these kinds of shows.”
And what of the current economic crisis? Larry says, like many others in the business, Screentime Shinawil has not gone unaffected.
“Everyone has been affected by the recession, everyone. There isn’t the availability of budgets that there once was but I think this recession is making people work harder and work smarter. I think we’ve realised now that we have to make more for less but keep the quality intact. There’s no doubt that it’s a challenge.”
In closing Larry tells IFTN he’s looking forward to the next decade at ShinAwil: “There’s a lot going on, we’ve had our birthday celebrations, the opening of the UK office, the second series of ‘Dragons Den’ is going ahead, and we’re always looking to introduce new shows that will be global hits, not just international ones.”
Bass at IFTAs 2009 |
And the highlights of the last decade? “It was fantastic winning the IFTA,” he enthuses. “It was great when we were producing the IFTA ceremony but there’s something very satisfying about winning one of the statuettes.”
The 2nd Series of Screentime ShinAwil’s ‘The Apprentice’ is now showing on TV3 on Monday nights at 9pm with the episode on Monday, October 12th boasting an audience of approximately 327,000.
‘The Apprentice’ is followed by the live ‘You're Fired’ show with Brendan o’Connor at 10.15pm. Screentime ShinAwiL Ltd. is currently in pre production with Dragons' Den Series Two.
For more information about Screentime ShinAwil’s programmes visit www.shinawil.ie
