Taking place today at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, a Media Production Workshop with representatives from the film, broadcast and animation industry will be hosted by Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Heather Humphreys TD.

Taking place today at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, a Media Production Workshop with representatives from the film, broadcast and animation industry will be hosted by Minister for Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Heather Humphreys TD.

Part of the Creative Ireland Programme, over 150 representatives from across the film and media production sector, including the Irish Film Board, RTÉ, Animation Ireland, Screen Producers Ireland, TG4, as well as award-winning independent production companies, gather in Dublin today to focus on building Ireland’s potential as a global leader in film production, TV and radio drama, and documentary and animation.

The outcomes of today’s event will form the basis of a major strategic Government-led initiative to promote and develop Ireland as a Centre of Excellence in Media Production, a core objective of the Creative Ireland Programme.

Speaking at the workshop in Kilmainham today Minister Humphreys noted:

“Ireland is a nation of storytellers; I want us to maximise these skills to drive significant growth in the film, TV and animation production sectors in the years ahead.

Today’s workshop is about bringing all of the key figures involved in the audiovisual sector together to maximise the potential of the industry as a whole. For example, I believe there are greater opportunities for the State broadcaster to work with independent film production companies. If you consider just the last number of years, Irish filmmakers and animators have had incredible success on the global stage.”

Last year, Minister Humphreys commissioned an economic analysis of Ireland’s screen-based creative industries, which is examining the economic impact and potential of the our film, TV and animation sector. Preliminary findings from the study, which is being conducted by Olsberg SPI Ltd in association with Nordicity, reveal that:

• The audiovisual sector supported nearly 15,000 full-time jobs last year (including direct and spin-off jobs)
• 6,700 Irish residents work as cast or crew in live action film and TV
• Over 800 Irish residents work in the post-production and VFX sectors and more than 1,000 Irish residents work in the animation sector
• Ireland’s audiovisual sector attracted over €150 million in inward investment in 2016
• The international market for Irish produced content has increased substantially with a growing capacity for significant further growth

James Hickey, Chief Executive of the Irish Film Board also added:

“Creative Ireland is a very welcome initiative placing creativity at the centre of Government policy in Ireland. Irish storytelling on film and animation is as important to the lifeblood of Ireland as any of Ireland’s other cultural and economic endeavours. The IFB is working with the Department of Arts on the Olsberg/SPI economic report which will present a detailed and robust analysis of the film and screen content production sector, together with policy initiatives, which we believe is an important step in terms of achieving the potential growth for the film and animation sector.

There are huge opportunities for Irish creative talent working in film and screen content and we look forward to this enormous potential being fully realised making Ireland a centre of excellence for media production in the years to come.”