Rossa Mullin is keen to attract film productions to the beauty of Cork

AS THE recently appointed CEO of Film in Cork (formerly the Cork Screen Commission), Rossa Mullin is keen to attract film productions to the Cork region.

He cites the area’s visual beauty, its proximity to London and that it has the second-deepest harbour in the world.

As well as supporting production, Mullin is creating an infrastructure for Cork that will adapt to the demands of film-industry training.

He says that there is considerable talent in Cork, such as Shaun O’Connor and Tadgh Hickey, who have been doing comedy with RTÉ.

There is also Brendan Canty, whose video for Hozier’s ‘Take Me To Church’ received two nominations at the MTV Music Video Awards in Los Angeles recently.

There are script editors, like Patrick O’Driscoll, who is working with major American A-list companies, from his base in Cork, and there are dozens of other young filmmakers and animators, producing things like Sminky and Martin’s Life.

Mullin produced the first-ever Irish Film Board-funded feature film made entirely in Cork.

Shem The Penman Sings Again was directed by Corkman, Padraig Trehy,and was screened recently at Cork Film Festival. Making the film was not without its challenges.

“We made a decision that we wanted to do everything in Cork,” says Mullin.

“It was ambitious, particularly with a budget of just €100,000 from the Irish Film Board. There were creative obstacles.

"There is a limited pool of talent in terms of crew, in particular, in Cork. We had to bring in some people, although not very many.

"As you start digging, particularly in West Cork, you find that there are some amazing people in the industry. Most of them commute to Dublin, Belfast or London.”

Mullin says that the Irish film industry is too Dublin-centric, but that’s somewhat inevitable. It makes sense to film in Dublin, as doing so outside of the capital still involves hiring from there.

“It’s a chicken-and-egg situation. If there were more productions in Cork, facility houses would open here and more people, such as film crews, would start to move here. The cost of living, and rent, is cheaper in Cork. It’s a viable option.”

Mullin welcomes the changes to the Section 481 tax incentive, which were introduced this year.

Tax reliefs will now allow production companies to include payments to non-EU personnel as eligible spend.

“It’s going to transform things over the next 12 to 24 months,” he predicts.

The fact that the latest Star Wars was partly filmed on Skellig Michael is expected to bring thousands of extra tourists to Ireland.

Other bright spots include the fact that Cork director John Crowley is tipped for an Oscar nomination for Brooklyn, adapted from Colm Toibín’s novel.

Dublin-based Cork native, Conor Barry, has made Pilgrimage, which is due for release next year.

While there’s plenty of talent originating from Cork, a successful film career is not feasible in the region.

Mullin says the area needs some kind of pop-up studio, initially.

“There’s no point in building a studio and hoping film productions will come here. You need to have a project and to make it commercially viable.”

Cork has a surfeit of film festivals, with five.

Mullin says that is “probably not a bad thing, as long as they’re not stepping on each other’s toes.

From a filmmaker’s perspective, it’s great, and it’s good for the punters, too.”