Film and Television Drama production in Ireland brought €168m into the Irish economy in 2013.
2013 has shown itself to have been a strong year financially for the film and television industry in Ireland with production activity for the Irish independent film, television drama and animation sector reaching its highest level on record contributing over €168 million into the Irish economy through employment creation and spend on local goods and services showing an increase overall of c18% on 2012 figures and 42% on 2011 figures.
The fact that Ireland now has built up a very strong creative resource of talent and craftspeople is a major factor in the positive outcome combined with the continued competitiveness of Ireland's S481 tax-incentives being offered here, keeping Ireland a strong contender when considered against tax incentives offered by the UK and other parts of Europe in terms of location and co-production opportunities.
This is perhaps a reflection of the resourcefulness of a growing Irish industry that has seen a heightened level of creative talent in recent years, highly trained crews and craftspeople combined with a growing number of enterprising Irish production companies, who have become more proficient at developing and financing high end production through investment, coproduction and partnerships, and encouraging Ireland as the location for the projects.
2013 has seen Irish HOD’s and crews busy working across major productions located here in Ireland such as ‘Vikings’, ‘Penny Dreadful’, and ‘Ripper Street’ with its producer Stephen Smallwood stating recently at an IFTA Academy event that “Irish Crews are second to none in the world” and one of Ireland’s leading Producers Ed Guiney also saying that Irish Crews are absolutely front and central to these projects.
James Hickey of the Irish Film Board who announced the IFB’s yearly production report, said that “there is no doubt that a supportive Government policy and IFB investment are assisting Irish producers to compete internationally. Section 481 has put Ireland on the map and the enhancements of this measure in the recent Budget are welcomed. He went on to say “we anticipate that this will be the engine for additional growth in 2014 helping to further develop this high value, creative industry for Ireland,”.
Despite the overall increase and growth of the industry’s activities, the Irish Film Board had a reduced spend on Irish Film of €7.5m for Irish film projects in 2013 as a result of cutbacks on their overall budget from Government by comparison to their €10m spend in 2012. However the IFB outlined a number of exciting projects in the pipeline for 2014 which they have funded which includes ‘Glassland’ starring Jack Reynor (‘Transformers’, ‘What Richard Did’) and Toni Collette and directed by IFTA rising star Gerard Barrett (‘Pilgrim Hill’) along with an adaptation of Colm Toibin’s ‘Brooklyn’ starring Domhnall Gleeson (‘Sensation’) and Saoirse Ronan (‘Byzantium’).
Some of the films that audiences can look forward during 2014 include the upcoming comedy The Stag starring Andrew Scott, Hugh O’Conor and Amy Huberman in March, the sci-fi film ‘The Last Days on Mars’ directed by Ruairi Robinson and ‘Calvary’ starring Brendan Gleeson in April, and Lenny Abrahamson’s ‘Frank’ starring Domhnall Gleeson and Michael Fassbender in May.
