In October Tania Banotti will complete one year at the helm of Film Makers Ireland (FMI). During the past twelve months she witnessed unparalleled growth in the independent sector while also watching the mainstream press chart the demise of the industry overall. So, will she be celebrating next month or simply breathing a sigh of relief? Gary Quinn visited FMI to find out.
Tania Banotti laughed out loud when I brought up the subject of the much-heralded death of the Irish Film Industry. “Its not as bad as everybody feared”, she explained. She recognises that people did get pessimistic over the summer and admits that there are valid reasons for that. “It is certainly true that the UK is offering very stiff competition in terms of how competitive they are, crew rates, studios, a bigger industry. Also there is a perception, whether true or false, that we have an industrial relations problem here and there is still uncertainty about section 481.” All this, she maintains has created a recipe for pessimism which affected production over the summer period but sees the industry coming out the other side of this now. “There are six productions in place between now and the end of the year and lots of stuff looking good for early next year. They might not be huge productions like Private Ryan but they are keeping the industry going and people are in work.”
In short, the industry is becoming a much tougher place for independent producers. In a short time, FMI has grown from 90 members to 160 with a growth rate of one new company per week. “When you are setting up as a one or two person company it is very tough. I don’t really think that so many companies are sustainable and we are going to see some consolidation where some of the smaller companies link up with each other. A more market driven approach.”
Tania Banotti relies on her previous work experience to identify and prepare for trends such as this. She previously worked in Brussels for four years, working within DGX (Directorate General 10), the unit which deals with audiovisual policy. Her time there allowed her to assess just how much the role of the EU in member state broadcasting has expanded and that most of the regulation on the business is now coming from Brussels. “I find that there isn’t a realisation here of the importance of the EU to the whole picture. Although 80% of the film board money comes from Europe there isn’t really recognition that almost all of the money flowing into the Irish Industry is in fact European money.”
Banotti feels that much of this is linked to a lack of realisation of the importance of business and financial skills in general. “Updating of financial skills is critical because a lot of producers are coming from the creative side. I’m not sure that people recognise that training is the most important thing, primarily because they are very small companies and just trying to stay afloat. From the surveys we have done of our members we were surprised at the number of companies that had taken no financial training at all.”
Film Makers Ireland has a much broader activity base than simply monitoring training needs. Setup in the 1980’s, it has since evolved into a representative lobbying body for independent producers. According to Banotti the word lobbying is not yet considered very fashionable here but knows this will change. “It has to. Our sector is traditionally very fragmented, small companies, each trying to do their own thing.”
She sees the lack of effective lobbying in the past to be part of the difficulty in attracting further investment in the industry overall. “I mean, if you look at how effective other lobby groups have been, whether it be construction, the motor industry, the farming community, they are incredibly well organised. They are very cohesive as an industry, they put their case very effectively and they have the figures to back them up. We have to take a leaf out of their book.”
Part of the realisation within FMI was that the industry needed an effective lobbying voice both nationally and internationally. Banotti is very clear that until the industry has that voice “it will not be taken seriously whether by the Dept. of Finance, Arts or anywhere else for that matter.” She cites the example of the software industry to make her point “If you look at software and how it was treated by Enterprise Ireland five years ago. They threw money at software, they went out to the States, they built shell factories, they went after that business because that was a priority business. We have to see what we can do to persuade Enterprise Ireland that we have that potential as well.”
Returning from the recent trade delegation to Canada, and the earlier similar visit to Australia, Tania Banotti can see in those countries a clearly higher status for the film industry. She believes this status or belief in the interest to be lacking here. She maintains that both Australia and Canada took a decision ten years ago to make film a priority and to go after this industry. “Whether it was for cultural reasons because they didn’t want to be swamped by the Americans or because it was a project to determine what it is to be Canadian or Australian. Whatever the reason they put in place a balance. They have the provincial and federal tax incentives, then they have various broadcasters funds, then they have private funds and also huge public funds like the Canadian Television Fund or the Australian Film Finance Corporation which has something like £40-50 million per year.”
Importantly and additional to this, Australia and Canada employ a series of very specific regulations on commercial and public service broadcasters about producing distinctively Australian or Canadian content. Consequently, because of that people have to spend locally. We don’t see that there is any desire by the Irish Government to put that kind of regulation on TV3 or RTE. All we have in comparison is section 481.
It is not all bad news however. She admits that RTE and TG4 have been the saviour of the independent sector. RTE is spending £16million this year and TG4 is spending between £8-10million. “If it wasn’t for them the industry would go belly up. Although we would like more we also have to recognise that if it they didn’t spend that we wouldn’t have an industry.”
With the independent sector growing at the rate it is this limited funding for independent production does not go far. FMI sees the next few months as crucial. This particularly regards the proposed implementation of the Think Tank Report. FMI had five members on the body which prepared this report and so believes in much of the recommendations contained within it. “A lot will depend on whether the Fianna Fail government rows in behind this report. If it does, if we are going to see both a beefed up section 481, Equity funds, more money for the film board, RTE spending more money on drama. Then I would say that the picture looks very rosey.”
She wonders if that will happen though. She doesn’t see the industry going bust but recognises opportunity when faced with it. “The potential is there to do a lot more. Unless we grasp that now we are just going to stagger on as very much a local Irish production industry serving Irish broadcasters, and not making the bigger budget things that allow us to sell abroad,” she said.
I somehow doubt whether Tania Banotti will sit idly by and watch that particular scenario play itself out.
- GQ 30/9/99
