How Hollywood Productions Came to Shoot in Ireland – MASHAHER

It is a great year for Ireland at Cannes, with five Irish films world premiering at the festival. Among the crop are Yorgos Lanthimos’ highly-anticipated “Kinds of Kindness,” Ariane Labed’s feature debut “September Says” and Ali Abbasi’s Trump biopic “The Apprentice.”

Not only does Ireland have a slew of high-profile talent like actors Cillian Murphy and Ruth Negga, cinematographer Robbie Ryan and director Lenny Abrahamson, but the country also boasts locations that have attracted recent productions such as “Cocaine Bear” and “Abigail.” “We are a small country to get around but very diverse,” head of U.S. production and partnerships Steven Davenport told Variety.

“We can double as the U.K. and U.S.,” Davenport added. “We have modern locations now since the headquarters of Google, Facebook, Twitter and Apple are all based in Ireland. You get this modern look with a futuristic feel to it and five minutes away you get beautiful cobblestone streets primed for period dramas.”

Such diversity and convenience are major attractions for international productions looking to shoot in Ireland. Ruth Treacy, co-founder at Tailored Films, says that today, Ireland can also offer state-of-the-art studio facilities on top of a wealth of locations so productions can be entirely based in the country. “The country is famous for the natural scenery, but we do have great studio facilities that are becoming more regionally based and there are regional incentives for production outside of Dublin.”

Tailored Films is arriving at Cannes with “The Apprentice,” which was entirely post-produced in Ireland. They are also behind Chris Andrew’s directorial debut “Bring Them Down,” starring Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbott, which was shot in Wicklow. Treacy acknowledges Screen Ireland’s support of “The Apprentice” and sees the Cannes competition title as a “massive opportunity for the industry” in terms of being able to attract post-production on other films to the country.

“Production has picked up over the last few months,” she added of the industry post-U.S. strikes. “Netflix’s ‘Wednesday’ is shooting here, Paramount shows are shooting here. Ireland has bounced back quicker than most because there is a constant influx of projects coming through.”

Ireland is particularly attractive in terms of tax incentive schemes. “The tax credits are a big incentive for Ireland,” emphasized Davenport. “It’s a very straightforward tax credit, a flat rate of 33% on all your goods and services and cast above and below the line. We had recent changes in the budget that have just been signed into legislation. The per-project cap used to be 70 million euros [$75.4 million] and is now 125 million, which is worth 40 million of your budget in tax credit. It is quite a significant increase that allows us to look at bigger productions.”

Demand for shooting in Ireland is on a steady rise. In 2013, the Dublin City Council launched a Film Office to help support the influx of requests to film in the city. “For a little country in the west of Europe, we are punching well above our weight,” remarked film officer Lynn Daly, who said requests for shooting permits have more than doubled in the last decade.

“We take advantage of being a small European city. Take London, for example, they have 13 film offices and everything is more complex. We are one office and have been here for a decade so our process is very straightforward and fine-tuned.”

Can Irish crews support such demand? Most certainly, assures Davenport, who says their problem at the moment is retaining the level of talent Ireland has to offer. “The difficulty has been keeping talented Irish crews in Ireland because they’re in demand all over the world.”