29 March 2024 The Irish Film & Television Network
     

Irish Film and Television Network

 »

News

 »

Features & Interviews



Brexit: James Hickey, Barbara Galavan and Andrew Lowe weigh in on what it could mean for Irish industry
22 Jun 2016 : Seán Brosnan
The Brexit vote will take place on June 23rd
It is a subject which has dominated world media over the past six months but this week the British government will hold a referendum to decide whether or not they will remain a member of the EU.

Those who oppose Brexit, both in the UK and internationally, have cited the fact that many trade barriers will be born out of Great Britain leaving the EU. This could also be true in the film and television industry with Ireland and the UK currently enjoying very fruitful relations as close allies in co-productions and trade.

“It is difficult to know what the likely impact of Brexit in terms of film and television production in Ireland will be”, says Irish Film Board Chief Executive James Hickey. “The UK is one of our biggest co-producing partners across film and television and we would certainly prefer them to remain in the EU. Issues which are likely to directly affect Ireland will be the 'common travel area' and the movement of goods and services between the UK and Ireland.”

Hickey goes on to state that even if Brexit does occur, there may well still be legal strings attaching them to Ireland that could benefit the Irish industry.

“They are still a member of the Council of Europe and therefore a party to the European Convention on Cinematograph Co-production which is our co-production treaty with them,” explains Hickey.

Andrew Lowe, Chair of the Audio-Visual Federation, warns that while the UK are currently our closest trading partner for film and drama production, they are also our biggest competitor for Hollywood productions shooting in Europe.

“They will potentially acquire an unfair advantage over Ireland in that the rules governing the operation of the production incentives will no longer be the same”, says Lowe, who is also Company Director and co-founder of Element Pictures. “And the UK would be free to implement additional measures that would currently require EU approval and be subject to EU state aid rules. The economic disruption that Brexit would likely cause, could potentially curtail the close co-operation UK Irish co-productions currently enjoy.”

Barbara Galavan, CEO of Screen Producers Ireland, the members organisation that promotes the growth and sustainability of a working environment conducive to a strong independent production sector here in Ireland, echoes Lowe’s sentiments stating that the UK may well gain an unfair advantage over our industry if Brexit should occur.

“A big concern is the UK film and television tax incentive” says Galavan, who in 2015 was also elected Chair of the European Coordination of Independent TV Producers. “If EU rules governing the incentive were no longer applicable, they could potentially change it to make it more competitive with the Irish incentive without having to take EU rules into consideration.”

Another alarming potential issue for Galavan would be the possible decline of the sterling against the euro which she says is one of the biggest factors in UK financed productions deciding to locate to Ireland. “If Brexit occurs all of the predictions are that sterling would lose further value against the euro", says Galavan, who took over as SPI CEO in 2010. "This could have a negative effect on the number of UK productions locating to Ireland. It could also affect the number of UK Irish co-productions which would be financed.”

One facet of being in Europe that may prompt those in the UK film and television industry to vote against Brexit is the potential loss of the Creative Europe funding, according to Andrew Lowe. “One of the most important measures to encourage UK/Irish co-production is the funding provided by Creative Europe, which UK producers would no longer have access to, which again could have very serious adverse impacts in the UK industry which none of us want to see.”

Lowe may well have a valid point. During its first two years (2014 – 2015), Creative Europe has supported 230 UK cultural and creative organisations and audio-visual companies as well as the cinema distribution of 84 UK films in other European countries with grants totalling €40 million.

IFB CEO James Hickey states however that the UK could find a way around the Creative Europe Funding issue stating that many “non EU nations have a special arrangement” with the funding body.

Hickey goes on to say that the fact that there are so many “unknowns” surrounding what would occur should Britain leave the EU means that “disruption and potential changes to the competitive environment are likely across UK/Ireland co-production, which would present significant challenges for production activity in Ireland."

Barbara Galavan also states that at this point, another unknown is how the British will vote so it is imperative to continue working as normal and deal with the subsequent fallout of Brexit if it occurs.

“While we wait to see how the British public votes, it's important to maintain a business as usual approach to our relationship with our nearest neighbours and to maintain our focus on growing our indigenous Film and TV industry."

The British public will vote on Brexit on June 23rd.





FEATURES & INTERVIEWS
“For the industry to grow here, we need more storytellers”, Oscar-nominated producer Ed Guiney discusses Storyhouse
Sharon Horgan, Róisín Gallagher, and Éanna Hardwicke among BAFTA TV Award nominees
Free Industry Newsletter
Subscribe to IFTN's industry newsletter - it's free and e-mailed directly to your inbox every week.
Click here to sign up.






 
 the Website  Directory List  Festivals  Who's Who  Locations  Filmography  News  Crew  Actors
 

Contact Us | Advertise | Copyright | Terms & Conditions | Security & Privacy | RSS Feed | Twitter

 

 

 
canli bahis siteleri rulet siteleri deneme bonusu veren siteler bahis siteleri free spin veren siteler deneme bonusu veren yeni siteler yeni casino siteleri yeni bahis siteleri betwoon grandpashabet