A €200 million action plan will give Limerick’s Troy Studio the ability to attract bigger budget film productions and double its workforce over the next five years.
With the film, television and animation industries worth more than €1 billion to the Irish economy, the Creative Ireland Programme will look to capitalise on the country’s growing appeal as an international location for top-end production.
Under the plan, it is proposed to extend the life of the tax relief production companies can avail of as well as increasing the expenditure ceiling, revising the regulations and extending the relief to Ireland’s games sector.
It is also proposed to increase capital funding for the film sector including co-production and development funding, a specific fund for the development of films and TV drama, a fund for new Irish TV drama, a regional production fund and additional training of film workers and crew.
Troy Studios chief executive Siún Ní Raghallaigh said that new challenges will still arise for the industry and developing infrastructure will be key.
“As the demand for content is growing daily with increased spend by the major streaming companies such as Netflix and Amazon, the strategy is timely but what was a particular focus two years ago when the research was carried out, may have changed and new challenges arise.
“Infrastructure is key to building an industry of scale and we are disappointed that, without sight yet of the full report, this does not appear to have been recognised.
“The aspiration of the doubling of turnover and employment will only happen if the necessary infrastructure is in place and this means the expansion of studio facilities to a scale that is currently being demanded.
Speaking to the Limerick Post, Ms Ní Raghallaigh said that the issue of training is one that is key, particularly to regional development such as Troy Studios.
“In that context, our experience with third level institutions in Limerick, the ETBs and Screen Training Ireland has been very positive and should be a model for how, on a practical level, training is undertaken in conjunction with the needs of a major production.
“For Irish producers, the challenge of raising finance for projects is all the more difficult given the lack of solution and debate for the funding of our public service broadcasters, TG4 and RTÉ, on the one hand and on looking at satellite and cable rebroadcasting fees. The recommendations relating to regulatory reform are welcome and should be a priority,” Ms Ní Raghallaigh.
At present, the production of the television adaptation George RR Martin’s Nightflyers novel began at Limerick’s Troy Studio’s in Castletroy last year and completed filming this month.
The much-anticipated Syfy series, being produced by NBC Universal and Universal Cable Productions, along with Wild Atlantic Pictures, is set to be made available on Netflix this Autumn. The €53 million budget production had a 91 per cent Irish crew with an average of 320 employees on site in Limerick each day.
