03/01/2006

In the 2005 report ‘Audiovisual Federation Review of Film Production in Ireland’ just published by the Irish Audiovisual Federation IBEC, a gloomy snapshot is made of the local audiovisual industry hit by a drastic downturn in feature film production over the last couple of years: feature film expenditure into the Irish economy dropped by 62,2% between 2003 and 2004, and by as much as 82,5% between 2003 and 2005, from €100.4m to an estimated €17.5m.

The absence of major inward film productions in the last 18 months-apart from Paramount’s The Honeymooners [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse produced by the UK’s Tiger Aspect- explain this significant fall. The main reasons identified are the continuing weak US dollar, increased competition for film location from other European territories and sudden changes to UK film tax schemes. And in spite of the success of local films at the Irish box office and at international festivals such as Man About Dog, Adam And Paul, Tara Road or Pavee Lackeen [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the future of the Irish production sector will continue to suffer if drastic measures are not taken to increase Ireland’s international competitiveness according to producer James Flynn (Octagon Films), chair of the Audiovisual Federation.
"Given that the UK spend requirement has been doubled from 20% to 40% under the new legislation effective from April 2006, the previous pattern of shooting a film in Ireland and editing in the UK to access both incentives –a key factor in attracting major Hollywood films to Ireland in the past five years- will now slow down", he stated.

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Flynn therefore called on the Irish government to adopt three key measures:the removal of the Section 481 cap of €15m to enable Ireland to attract bigger productions, the abolition of the 55%/66% rule in Section 481 which limits funds to be raised to just 55% of the production budget on bigger budget films, and the restoration of 100% relief for individual investors in line with all other EU tax reliefs.