New Cork TV company aims to bring Munster drama to global market

Great Island Productions currently has ten projects on its development slate, four of which are market-ready to pitch for production.

Jim Robinson and Mark Kenny of Great Island TV Production Company

A new TV production company with hopes to create numerous jobs and bring content from Munster to the global market has launched in Cork city.

Great Island was founded by TV Producer, Mark Kenny and former software company owner, Jim Robinson in 2020, with angel investor, Shemas Eivers joining as the company chairman earlier this year.

Along with plans to grow its employee headcount, the company is developing long-form TV drama, as well as a number of animation series and unscripted formats.

Located in the Marina Commercial Park in Cork city, the studio currently has ten projects on its development slate, four of which are market-ready to pitch for production.

TV series will be produced across Cork and wider Munster, with CEO, Mark Kenny describing Cork as "ideal for TV production."

Mr Kenny, who has previously worked as a producer in the Caribbean said, "Cork is such a varied landscape with a vibrant cosmopolitan city location as well as rural, coastal and mountainous regions. It really has it all. 

"The value of an individual project could be over €1 million per episode and it is our intention to maximise this spend in the Cork region.”

As the team focuses on a number of scripted drama series, Great Island has appointed a new Head of Drama Development, Amadeo Nikoli, a graduate of the Netflix Masters Programme in Drama Development with experience in European lead co-productions.

Mr Kenny and his colleague Jim Robinson, who met in school, are also looking for an opportunity to open a large-scale TV production studio in Cork following a report from Grant Thornton which estimated that such a space could "lead to the creation of 180 direct jobs and 160 indirect jobs."

In the meantime, the team has secured studio space in the Marina Commercial Park will work for smaller-scale production needs.

Great Island has recently received €100,000 in funding from Enterprise Ireland to aid in the development of its slate with a key area of focus on integrating AI across the company. 

To underpin their research, the team have taken on a UCC masters intern to develop workflows and production pipelines utilising a complete array of AI tools and processes.

Jim Robinson, CFO/CTO who has a PhD in Engineering and previously owned a software company, said, “AI is set to have an enormous impact on the TV industry and we are currently in the process of examining the potential impact it will have on the industry and how we operate ourselves. 

"It’s a very exciting time for the sector and I have a strong interest in this area given my own background in technology.”