Film industry can provide a Hollywood ending to recession

A REPORT has identified the film sector as a key area of growth and employment in the Irish economy over the next five years.

The report, Creative Capital: Building Ireland’s Audiovisual Creative Economy, sets out recommendations aimed at doubling the turnover of the industry from €500 million to €1 billion and increasing employment in the sector from 5,000 to 10,000 jobs.

The main recommendations include extending the Section 481 tax breaks to 2020; a dedicated Irish film channel; an international TV co-production fund with high economic return; and developing Screen Training Ireland to ensure skills training is aligned with industry growth targets.

Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan welcomed the report. “The Irish audiovisual sector possesses world-class talent and this report is key to unlocking its potential,” he said.

Big budget productions such as Braveheart and Saving Private Ryan may be thin on the ground nowadays, but Ireland’s established creative infrastructure and geographical location still form an attractive package for overseas productions.

“The fact is there are fewer big Hollywood productions being made, full stop,” says Ed Guiney of Element Films, whose company has been responsible for the 2010 hit, His & Hers, as well as this year’s hugely successful The Guard, starring Brendan Gleeson.

“And while Eastern Europe and many other territories are now offering similar tax breaks, what attracts productions to Ireland is the quality of crews, the proximity of a huge variety of locations, and the fact that we are an English-speaking nation.”

As an example of Ireland’s success internationally in recent times, the animation industry, currently valued at €80m and employing several hundred skilled technicians, won two Oscar nominations — Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty and The Secret of Kells.

“We have a competitive advantage over most territories due to the availability of Section 481 for television drama on a five-year time-frame which allows us contend for features as well as develop and produce our own films,” says James Flynn of Octagon Films, whose projects include The Tudors, Camelot and The Borgias.

“There is a broad range of talent in Ireland which punches well above its weight and a lot of clever writers targeting film and television in a business-like manner. We need to continue to nurture and develop the less-obviously commercial film-makers, otherwise, as has happened in parts of Europe, you can only be left with a service industry.

“We need a voice for Irish films and Irish film-makers and cannot afford to lose this identity.”