'We are in competition with Northern Ireland for films and we have lost productions to them'

THE REPUBLIC HAS lost film and television projects to the North – and will continue to do so if the disparity in support for the industry isn’t addressed, according to the sector’s main lobby group.

In its recently published annual report, Screen Producers Ireland said that the Republic has fallen behind on backing the industry compared to its Northern neighbour.

Last year, the state’s film agency, the Irish Film Board, received Oireachtas grants worth just over €11 million, and it is expected to get about €12 million in 2016.

In contrast, Northern Ireland Screen’s annual investment in productions has been budgeted at close to £12 million (€14 million at today’s rates) for each of the years from 2014 to 2018 despite representing a significantly smaller market.

Speaking to Fora, Barbara Galavan, the chief executive of the SPI, said that the Republic has missed out on film investment and needs to support the local industry more if it is to compete.

“The reality is that projects have been lost to Northern Ireland,” she said. “We are in competition with Northern Ireland and the more productions that we can attract to the Republic the more beneficial it will be for the sector.”

Northern Ireland has been successful in attracting a number of high-profile films and TV shows, including the Game of Thrones series.

A Northern Ireland setting used in Game of Thrones

Pre-crash investment

Screen Producers Ireland is pushing for the film board’s funding to be restored to pre-crash levels. It received a peak figure of €20 million in 2008.

During 2014, the board contributed a total of €12.4 million towards dozens of film, documentary and animation projects such as international hits Room and Brooklyn.

Screen Producers Ireland said these projects involved production spending worth €42 million, so increasing the industry’s budget would “permit Irish producers to leverage this funding” and double the overall expenditure – creating more jobs in the sector.

Room was partially funded by the IFB

Indigenous films

Galavan said that the Republic needs to follow the North’s lead to support Irish film makers, as well as to attract international productions.

“Pretty much all European territories offer state support to the film sector and we need to be able to offer the necessary support to productions,” she said.

“It is not just international productions, indigenous productions are the real losers when when the film board funding is reduced.

“It is very important to the ecosystem to make sure that we have new entrants into the sector that have the skills to help new projects.”

The film board has already been lobbying strongly for an increase in its funding, recently gathering some of the biggest names in Irish film to help push its message.

Overall, the board made a loss of just over €700,000 during the year, although it is still in a decent position financially with cash reserves of €8.4 million as of the end of 2014.

The new programme for government includes a general commitment to ”progressively increase funding to the arts … as the economy continues to improve”.

It mentions the Irish Film Board as one of the organisations in line for further support, although no specific figures are attached to the pledge.