Irish Film Board head for the hills to lure Hollywood

IT’S A tough job but somebody has got to do it! Jonathan Loughran will get to meet some of the top movie directors and film stars in Hollywood over the next few years… and all on behalf of the Irish taxpayer.

The Irish Film Board yesterday announced that the Dublin-born marketing executive is to set up the organisation’s first ever overseas office in Los Angeles in a bid to attract a share of the multi-billion euro industry for Ireland.

The IFB believes that a presence in the heart of Hollywood will help to lure some major film and TV productions to use Ireland as a location for their project.

Loughran, who has worked with Enterprise Ireland in Los Angeles for the past two years, will formally take up his new role next month. The office which will be called the Irish Film Commission US was first announced by tourism minister, John O’Donoghue at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

IFB film commissioner, Naoise Barry, said the office will target US producers and build on existing relationships established over the past decade.

“Our new office in the heart of Hollywood will enable us to better compete for mobile US film and television production, creating new business opportunities for the Irish film industry,” predicted Mr Barry.

The value of such business is already estimated to be worth €80 million this year with several major projects already in production in the Republic including a prime time TV series, The Tudors.

Other projects due to film in Ireland in the future are believed to be worth an extra €44m.

Mr Barry pointed out that a recent Fáilte Ireland survey showed that 10% of overseas visitors had cited the influence of a film for their reason to visit Ireland.

Meanwhile, Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, yesterday visited the set of one of the types of films which the IFB hopes to attract to Ireland.

The Taoiseach took a brief time-out from politics to visit Whelan’s pub on Camden Street to see work in progress on the film version of a novel by his daughter, Cecilia Ahern.

PS I Love You featuring Oscar-winning actress, Hilary Swank is being shot on location in Dublin and Wicklow.