Irish Film Portal

Finance Act - Section 481

2012-02-08T08:02:00.000-08:00

Some changes to the operation of Section 481 are buried in today's Finance Act - looks like a fair bit of tightening up on reporting and compliance. I wonder what triggered the Revenue's concern?

23.—The Principal Act is amended in section 481—
(a) in subsection (1) by inserting the following definition after the definition of ‘‘authorised officer’’: ‘‘ ‘director’ shall be construed in accordance with section 433(4);’’,
(b) in subsection (1), in the definition of ‘‘relevant investment’’, by substituting ‘‘qualifying company,’’ for ‘‘qualifying company.’’,
(c) in subsection (1) by inserting the following definition after the definition of ‘‘relevant investment’’: ‘‘ ‘specified relevant person’ means any director or secretary of the qualifying company.’’,
(d) in subsection (2A)(g)(v) by substituting ‘‘subsection (2CA)’’ for ‘‘subsection (2C)(ba)’’,
(e) in subsection (2C)(b) by substituting ‘‘subject to subsection (2CA),’’ for ‘‘subject to paragraph (ba),’’,
(f) in subsection (2C) by deleting paragraph (ba),
(g) in subsection (2C) by deleting ‘‘and’’ before paragraph (d),
(h) in subsection (2C)(d) by substituting ‘‘fulfilled,’’ for ‘‘fulfilled.’’,
(i) in subsection (2C) by inserting the following after paragraph (d): ‘‘and (e) if any sum representing— (i) a repayment of a relevant investment, or (ii) an amount in connection with a relevant investment, out of the proceeds of exploiting the film — is paid to an allowable investor company or qualifying individual, as the case may be, before the Revenue Commissioners have notified the company in writing that a compliance report, as referred to in paragraph (d)(iii), has been received by them.’’,
(j) by inserting the following after subsection (2C): ‘‘(2CA) (a) Paragraph (b) of subsection (2C) shall not apply to financial arrangements in relation to a transaction, or series of transactions, where such arrangements have been approved by the Revenue Commissioners. (b) The Revenue Commissioners shall not approve financial arrangements, to which paragraph (b) of subsection (2C) would, but for this subsection, apply unless: (i) the arrangements relate to either or both—(I) an investment made in a qualifying film, and (II) the filming of part of a film in a territory other than a territory 5 referred to in clause (I) or (II) of subsection (2C)(b)(i), (ii) a request for approval is made by the qualifying company to the Revenue Commissioners before such arrangements are effected, (iii) the qualifying company demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Revenue Commissioners that it can provide, if requested, sufficient 15 records to enable the Revenue Commissioners to verify—(I) in the case of an investment, the amount of the investment made in the qualifying company and the person who made the investment, and (II) in the case of filming in a territory,the amount of each item of expenditure on the production of the qualifying film expended in the territory, whether expended by the qualifying company or by any other person, and (iv) they are satisfied that it is appropriate to grant such approval. (c) In considering whether to grant an approval under this subsection in relation to financial arrangements, the Revenue Commissioners may seek any information they consider appropriate in relation to the arrangements or in relation to any person who is, directly or indirectly, a party to the arrangements. (d) Where the Revenue Commissioners have approved financial arrangements in accordance with this subsection, no amount of money expended, either directly or indirectly, as part of the arrangements may be regarded, for the purposes of subsection (2A)(g)(iv), as an amount of money expended on either the employment of eligible individuals or on the provision of goods, services and facilities as referred to in that subsection.’’,
(k) in subsection (2E)(m) by substituting ‘‘subsection (2CA)’’ for ‘‘subsection (2C)(ba)’’, and (l) by inserting the following after subsection (2E): ‘‘(2F) Where a qualifying company fails to provide to the Revenue Commissioners a compliance report as 5 referred to in subsection (2C)(d)(iii), within the time provided for in regulations made under subsection (2E)(h), the specified relevant person shall provide such compliance report to the Revenue Commissioners within 2 months after that time.’’.

Spreading the word...

2012-02-01T04:39:00.000-08:00

Just caught up with an article We Are All Scabs: Some Contradictions in U.S. Independent Film Culture by Donal Foreman in 'The Brooklyn Rail'

This excerpt rings especially true of film conferences and industry events everywhere -
Out of over 100 panelists speaking at the Filmmaker Conference, it was striking how few were filmmakers and how many were agents, publicists, distributors, and festival programmers—reminding me of the quip that the most lucrative consumer base in the indie film world is indie filmmakers. The impression was that the New World hadn’t made these roles redundant so much as forced their renegotiation. Several of this year’s distributor-panelists stated that they weren’t interested in acquiring a film unless its makers had already “built” their audience and achieved a powerful social media presence, effectively offloading a layer of their marketing duties as a positive externality.

It is useful to reflect on this given the €1.8 billion that the EC is going to pour into its new Culture and MEDIA programmes - intended to support the exploitation of culture rather than the people who originate it.

Patrick Jolley - RIP

2012-01-31T04:54:00.000-08:00

I have just heard, belatedly, of the untimely death in India of Paddy Jolley.

Paddy was one of the most creative makers of the moving image that we have produced in this country. I will never forget the impact of his first short, Seven Days 'Til Sunday, when I first saw it in the Opera House in Cork at the Cork Film Festival many years ago.

I was not aware that he was a brother of the poet Kerry Hardie whose work I first discovered in an 'Introductions' submissions folder when working for Poetry Ireland about twenty years ago. Condolences to her and to the rest of Paddy's family.

I hope that one of the festivals mounts a full retrospective in his memory this year.

A Famous Five er Six.. no, Seven!

2012-01-24T06:25:00.000-08:00

It's ~~five~~, no ~~six~~, better make that seven Irish or Irish-related Oscar nominations.

Three for Albert Nobbs, best actress and best actress in a supporting role for Glenn Close and Janet McTeer respectively, and best makeup. Plus two in the short live action category for Peter McDonald's Pentecost and Terry George's The Shore.

The sixth is Peter Devlin's nomination for his work on Transformers

The seventh is Tom Johnson, resident of Roundwood and stalwart of Ardmore Sound, Best Sound Mixing for War Horse*

Congrats all round!

*hat tip to Alan Collins for alerting me to Tom's nomination, I missed it in the lists

Mary Raftery - RIP

2012-01-10T03:03:00.000-08:00

I was privileged to interview Mary Raftery about States of Fear for issue 71 of Film Ireland, June/July 1999.

It is rare to encounter a journalist who is as rigorous in their work as they are disinterested (in self-promotion). Mary Raftery was one of the few who could be so described and one of, if not the best among them.

Good Santa...

2011-12-19T03:52:00.000-08:00

Did I hear this correctly out of the corner of my ear the other day... Producers of The Guard have sent a DVD copy of the film to every member of the Oireachtas?

Well at least the TDs and senators will know what value to put on the gift when they report it to the folks at SIPO.
[update - this may be part of a copyright protection/anti-illegal downloading campaign reported here and here. I think the problem is overstated, given the weakness of Irish broadband infrastructure, while legal online purchase (Amazon/LoveFilm etc), downloading and Sky BO business is under reported. And in these instances is VAT payable in this jurisdiction?]

Other Irish interest titles being flogged by the multiples include the following (leaving out the TV and stand-up spin-offs)...

Lots and lots of Brendan Gleeson, and interesting to see oldie I Went Down selling for twice as much as the more recent Perrier's Bounty.

On the other hand you might prefer to gift someone a stake in a new Irish film rather than trawl through the back catalogue... in which case...

Mark O'Connor's producer has been in touch to say We are going do something a little less conventional and make a really low budget independent feature next February. We are trying to fund it through the "crowdfunding" website Fundit.ie. Mark's two previous feature length films (Between the Canals and King of the Travellers) were supported by the Irish Film Board and Broadcast Authority of Ireland. Peter Coonan (Love/Hate) and John Connors (King of the Travellers) will star in the new film.

We are mounting a viral campaign with the goal of reaching €15,000 in 42 days. If we are not successful and do not reach €15,000, everyone’s contribution will not be taken from their card and we won’t receive any donations, that’s how “crowdfunding” works. This is how you donate:

· Go to our Fundit page -
· Click the green icon that says: Fundit underneath our video clip
· Set up a fundit account (very easy), agree to the terms and conditions and press create an account button
· Click on how much € you want to pledge, then enter your debit/credit card details and fire away

Happy Christmas and New Year from Irish Film Portal!!

[32,514 page views... and counting]

Ardmore Studios

2011-12-08T05:39:00.000-08:00

In a post during October about the Irish Film Board's other capital spending in recent years I put together a table which included payments to Ardmore Studios totalling €500,000 for operational purposes over 2006/7.

There was no public discussion of these payments at the time. Nor was there any announcement made which explained the virtue or the necessity of this money being offered to Ardmore.

The payments were not made public until the annual reports for 2006 and 2007 were published, respectively, in 2008 and 2009. The annual reports record these as operating grants rather than recoverable loans.

In a 'Sounding Off' piece for the current issue of Film Ireland I mentioned several of the pressing issues in the film business that we do not openly discuss. Nor do we encourage any wider public discourse or engagement with these issues, one of which is Ardmore Studios.

This is what I wrote, The Irish public owns a piece of Ardmore Studios [32%] but its fate is not a matter of public discussion. What’s going to happen to Ardmore when the new studios open at Ballyhenry? Ardmore has been directly and indirectly supported by the Irish taxpayer in recent years but we won’t talk about that. Is Ardmore now going to cost us more money?

Ardmore raises another serious matter that is implicit if unstated in the 'Sounding Off' article - potential conflicts of interest in the sector and the perception that decision-making could be compromised by those potential conflicts.

In the 2006 annual report the Irish Film Board provides the following information on disclosure of Board Members' interests:
Board Members - Disclosure of Transactions
In the normal course of business the Irish Film Board may approve assistance to film projects and enter into other contractual arrangements with undertakings in which Board Members are employed or otherwise interested. The Irish Film Board has adopted procedures in relation to the disclosures by Board members and these were adhered to during the year. The members and the Board complied with the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies covering situations of personal interest. The members did not receive any documentation on the transactions nor did the members participate in or attend any Board discussions relating to the matters.
The report notes under the above:
Kevin Moriarty Ardmore Studios 400,000

The IFB annual report for 2007 notes:
Board Members - Disclosure of Transactions
In the normal course of business the Irish Film Board may approve assistance to film projects and enter into other contractual arrangements with undertakings in which Board Members are employed or otherwise interested. The Irish Film Board has adopted procedures in relation to the disclosures of interests by Board members and these procedures were adhered to during the year.
Kevin Moriarty Ardmore Studios 100,000

This is clear. What is less clear is how, for instance, a Board member who is the director of a film or TV project funded by the Board would not be part of the decision-making on that project for the reasons above. Whereas the owner or director or employee of, for example, a facility business which might benefit far more substantially (than a director) from IFB funding for a project would be permitted, as a Board member, to be involved in approving that project for funding.

In 2006, for example, an 'International Production Fund' loan of €500,000 was made by the IFB to The Tudors. Presumably this loan was a factor in the decision of the production to shoot in Ireland at a time when S481 was both less competitive and less generous than it is now. The series filmed at Ardmore.

However, the standard disclosure is not made in respect of this loan so did the Board comply with the spirit of the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies covering situations of personal interest?

A contact has brought an article by Gavin Daly in last Sunday's Sunday Business Post to my attention. The article is headed Ardmore in talks with Film Board and states, The issues under discussion are understood to include funding plans for Ardmore

To quote further from Daly's article, Kevin Moriarty, managing director of Ardmore, said that he was in constant contact with the film board but was "not in a position to comment" on any funding talks. "We always have discussions with the film board. We talk to them about upcoming film productions and they talk to us. That's normal," he said.
He said the studio was "very busy at the moment" despite the difficult economic environment. Filming began at Ardmore last week on Byzantium, a vampire film directed by Neil Jordan and starring Saoirse Ronan and Gemma Arterton.

It is not stated in the article that Mr Moriarty has been a member of the Film Board since 2005.

In recent months the IFB approved a production loan of €1,180,000 for Byzantium. One can only assume that Ardmore Studios will benefit substantially from this loan, and that the production would not be taking place, or would not be taking place in Ireland if this loan was not forthcoming.

One must also assume, in the ordinary course of events, that any number of facility and service providers will be contacted by producers who are pricing facilities for forthcoming productions and that this information will be part of the budget documentation that is submitted to potential funders for consideration.

One can only presume, notwithstanding the very many sound reasons for supporting Byzantium, that all necessary disclosures were made by any IFB Board member(s) who might either benefit directly or indirectly from the production, or be in competition with other providers to other productions who themselves might stand to lose out by virtue of this (or any) project being funded while others were refused.

Walking the walk vs talking the talk...

2011-12-07T08:20:00.000-08:00

Is anyone in a position to confirm information I have received during the last week from a few anonymous sources that crew are threatening to quit a project currently shooting because of delayed payment?

Budget 2012 - Film & the Arts

2011-12-07T04:25:00.000-08:00

There is something very strange when, this long after a Budget has been published, neither the Department or Arts, Heritage & the Gaeltacht, the Irish Film Board or the Arts Council has quantified and published a breakdown (current/capital) of their budget for the year ahead.

In former years there would have been a table published which set out the current and capital amounts allocated under each area of the Department's remit, inculding subsidiary boards and agencies. And those agencies would in turn have issued a press release or statement to acknowledge the funding for the following year.

But this year, so far, I can find only one account of the Film Board's capital allocation for 2012 - my own blog posting of yesterday afternoon. There seems to be no clarity on the Board's administration budget for 2012. Is it a straight cut of 5% or 11% or 15% on this year's allocation? Your guess is as good as mine. [actually it's a 4% increase - see update below]

Similarly, the budget for the Arts Council is not at all clear - there is a greatly reduced capital expenditure line with the implication that the balance is to come from Lottery funds. There is no statement of the Council's current spending budget for 2012.

Either I'm missing something or a basic and embarassing error has been made somewhere in the public service, possibly as a result of the decision to split the budget decision-making and publication between two Departments over two days. Or is it conceivable that they might still be juggling current spending allocations for next year within the D/AH&G?

If you can enlighten me, please do.

UPDATE
Department statement here, includes this quote: In line with reductions in the Public Capital Programme, the capital allocation for the arts, culture and film area has been scaled back. However, the current funding allocation for 2012 to the Irish Film Board at €2.54m represents a modest increase of 4% over the 2011 provision. “It is important to remember that for every €1 of IFB investment close to €10 is generated in the economy” added Minister Deenihan. [I wonder does this exclude S481 spend effects? I will revisit this question in a future post]
Arts Council statement here
Film Board statement here
Minister speaking in the Dáil http://debates.oireachtas.ie/dail/2011/12/07/00008.asp

Spending overview D/AH&G (€-,000)
----------2011Est--2011final--2012-----Reduction
A,H&G---306,089--308,170---275,585 -32,585 (-10.6%)
Breakdown
Current-245,274--245,355----231,585 -13,770 (-5.6%)
Capital---60,815---62,815-----44,000 -18,815 (-30.0%)

You can call him Herod

2011-12-07T03:16:00.000-08:00

Word just in that Al Pacino is going to bring his Salome project to the Jameson Dublin Film Festival in February. It's a working of Wilde's play and a meditation on the author, both as a film and as a record of its staging with Pacino playing Herod and also directing.

At a guess it's already the hottest ticket.

Budgetary Matters

2011-12-06T05:06:00.000-08:00

You have to dig a bit into yesterday's Budget (Day 1) paperwork to find the information relevant for the film sector. Here's what I've unearthed.

While there is a general statement of intent - through focus on supporting jobs in the film and TV sector through the Irish Film Board - the Board's exchequer funding is being cut from €16m to €13.15m. This is a significant cut - somewhat over 17% - and seems to refer only to the agency's capital budget for the year, the budget from which the Board's production and development funding is drawn.

There is an additional budget line for income derived from the Board's own activities, ie not from the exchequer. I presume that this refers in the main to loan recoupment. This brought in €300,000 in 2011 and is expected to bring in €500,000 in 2012.

I think this means that the Board will have an effective capital fund of €13.65m in 2012, contingent on that additional €500k coming in.

It remains unclear what budget the agency will be given for administration next year. The allocation for this year was €2.431m which was a cut of 12% on 2010. I'll update this post later when that information becomes available.

Update: 6pm, Dec 6 - Having perused the budget documentation that's been published this afternoon there still is no clear indication of what the IFB's current spending (administration) allocation will be for 2012.

That said, the omens aren't great, and not just for 2012. The total budget for current spending across the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (including all headings and subsidiary bodies) will be €232m in 2012, €218m in 2013, and €205m in 2014.

There is an interesting note on performance indicators in yesterday's documentation which refers in passing to film -
“Performance indicators” or PIs are measures of how well, or how poorly, a particular programme or scheme is achieving its objectives. The indicators may relate to effectiveness (“are the stated objectives being achieved?”), efficiency (“what are the unit costs associated with the programme?”) and may be expressed in absolute terms (“how many grants for programme X were processed in year 2011?”) or in comparative terms (“what is the international competitiveness ranking of Ireland’s public service?”).
For any programme, there are many different PIs that might be chosen. The challenge is to select indicators that are useful to policy-makers, and to those whose role is to scrutinise the effectiveness and efficiency of public spending. Less useful are indicators of mere activity or process, or “qualitative” measures that are hard to verify (e.g. “continue to provide high quality advice to Minister”).

Example of potentially useful PIs include the following:-
Sector: Arts & Culture
Output Indicator: Number of Irish films produced
Context and Impact Indicator: Export earnings from Irish films

I wonder how they will define Irish films?

Funding decisions - Irish Film Board

2011-12-06T04:38:00.000-08:00

A number of things about these listings, notified on 25 Nov 2011.

Firstly, it is the first time in a long time (if ever) that the IFB has press released a funding round (if that is what it is) which is all to the good.

Secondly, it is described as a 'quarterly' round, as if that were standard practice. Rounds were notified every two months before this, and if there were production funding decisions taken between times they were usually, but not always, tacked on to the next round's listings. That will presumably happen more often now that there is to be only four rounds notified per year.
There is still a considerable lapse between the publication of unquantified provisional offers of funding and the publication of the actual amount. We know, for instance, that Canderblinks Ltd, a production company in Northern Ireland, was made a provisional offer of production funding for Good Vibrations in June 2010. We know that a much later (Sept 7, 2011) quantified offer of €75,000 in 'Regional Support Funding' was made to the project, this time with the Dublin company Treasure Entertainment attached as co-producer. However, the main production funding loan has still not been quantified although the project has been filmed.

Thirdly, it would be interesting to know which if any of the production funding is directed primarily at post-production spend in Ireland. And lastly, is Into the West a remake?

Project Director Writer Production Company Funding Award

Development
First Draft Loans
Shade Tom Cosgrove €12,000
The Bear On The Train Teemu Auersalo €12,000
Roll River John Butler €12,000
Fiction Development Loans
Dracula Son Of The Dragon Ciaran Donnelly Michael Scott T4 Productions €25,000
Into The West Jim Sheridan Jim Sheridan Ignition Film Productions €50,000
The Rules Of Engagement Darren Thornton Darren & Colin Thornton Calipo Pictures €20,000
She Bites Lee Cronin Lee Cronin Rank Outsiders Productions €22,000
Blue Guitar Paco Torres Paco Torres & Johnny Ferguson Grand Pictures €15,000
The Cherry Tree Brendan McCarthy Fantastic Films €20,000
The Canal Ivan Kavanagh Ivan Kavanagh Park Films €20,000
Moscow Never Sleeps Johnny O'Reilly Johnny O'Reilly Blinder Films €16,500
An Evening Of Long Goodbyes Thomas Martin Subotica Limited €24,000
The Steamroller Peter McDonald Peter McDonald & Michael McElhatton Treasure Entertainment €20,000
Byzantium Neil Jordan Moira Buffini Parallel Film Productions €50,000
The Gift / An Bronntanas Tom Collins Paul Walker & Eoin McNamee DeFacto Films & ROSG €20,000
Sligo J Conor McDermottroe Conor McDermottroe & Mark O'Halloran Florin Films €35,000
Not Cricket Robert Quinn Paul Howard Peer Pressure Productions €32,000
My Perfect Boybot Helen Falconer Telegael €9,000
She's My Dad Charlie McCarthy Charlie McCarthy Icebox Films €12,500
Tandem Kieron J. Walsh Shane O'Brien, James Walmsley & Damien Fox Blinder Films €20,000
The Sacred Island Gary Shore Jonathan & Garan Ware Darini Films €26,000
Animation Development Loans
Son Of The Sea Tomm Moore Tomm Moore & Will Collins Cartoon Saloon €17,894
Inis Spraoi Paul Shanahan Denis James Ryan Magpie6 Media Entertainment €45,000
The Wooden Sword Paul Bolger FM DeMarco Brown Bag Films €10,000
The Boy In The Bubble Kealan O'Rourke Will Collins Igloo Films €28,000

Production
Fiction Feature Films
Standby Rob & Ronan Burke Pierce Ryan Black Sheep Productions €600,000
Mister John Christine Molloy & Joe Lawlor Christine Molloy & Joe Lawlor Samson Films €350,000
Honeycomb Imogen Murphy Matt Reynolds Samson Films €500,000
Run & Jump Steph Green Ailbhe Keogan Samson Films €600,000
Byzantium Neil Jordan Moira Buffini Parallel Film Productions €1,180,000
Your Girlfriend & Me Brendan Grant Brendan Grant Fastnet Films Provisional Offer Of Commitment
The Ranger PJ Dillon PJ Dillon Fastnet Films Provisional Offer Of Commitment
Fiction Creative Co-Production
Controra / Midday Demons Rosella De Venuto Rosella De Venuto Ripple World Pictures €200,000
Nicholas North Annti Jokinen A. Jokinen, M. Wilder & E. Rochford Subotica Limited €300,000
Fiction International Production
Dancing On The Edge Stephen Poliakoff & Jim O'Hanlon Stephen Poliakoff Octagon Films €250,000
Vexed II Ian Fitzgibbon & Kieron J. Walsh Steve Coombes Newgrange Pictures €150,000
Ripper Street Richard Warlow & Declan Croughan Element Pictures €475,000
Animation
The Adventures Of The Young Marco Polo Paul Shanahan Tony Loeser Magpie6 Media Entertainment €200,000
I'm A Creepy Crawley Andrew Crotty Maria O'Loughlin, Richard Keane & Gerald Murphy Monster Distributes €80,000
Astrid Silverlock & The Staff Of Virtues Boulder Media €300,000
Documentary
The Polish Plumber Boris Despodov Boris Despodov Loopline Films €80,000
The Deadly Housewife Alastair Cook & Rob Davis Rise Films €100,000
Stuffing the Tiger Donald Taylor Black Poolbeg Productions €90,000
The Life Of Anton Corbijn Steve Benedict Fastnet Films €45,000
The Londoners Nobody Knows Mark Isaacs Crow Hill Films €50,000
Yemen's Reluctant Revolutionary Sean McAllister Underground Films €40,000

Completion Fund
Eliot & Me Fintan Connolly Fintan Connolly Fubar €40,000

First Stage Documentary
The Drunken Irish Shimmy Marcus Let's Not Lose It Productions €5,00
The Generation Game Andrew Gallimore John Kelleher Media €10,000
Why Men Have Babies Darragh Byrne Ripple World Pictures €10,000
A Captured Face John Corcoran & Rossa Mullin Poolbeg Productions €5,000
Roller Punk Laura McGann True Films €10,000
Circus On The Road Dieter Auner Ikandi Productions €10,000

Distribution
Print Provision
The Lactating Automaton Andrew Legge Andrew Legge Restoration Films €2,000
Marketing Support
Parked Darragh Byrne Ciaran Creagh Element Distribution €44,000
Sensation Tom Hall Tom Hall Element Distribution €44,500
Perfect Sense David MacKenzie Eclipse Distribution €5,000
Direct Distribution
Congo: An Irish Affair Irena Maldea Akajava Films €4,960
The Pier Gerard Hurley Gerard Hurley Black Equus Productions €13,000

Creative Europe?

2011-11-23T09:15:00.000-08:00

Press release just in...

European Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou has unveiled details of Creative Europe, the European Commission’s planned new Programme for the cultural and creative sector, as part of its proposal for the EU’s multi-annual budget for 2014-2020.

The Creative Europe Programme intends to support the cultural and creative sectors. With a proposed budget of €1.8 billion for the period 2014-2020, it will be a much-needed boost for the cultural and creative industries, which are a major source of jobs and growth in Europe.

"This investment will help tens of thousands of culture and audiovisual professionals to make the most of the Single Market and to reach new audiences in Europe and beyond; without this support, it would be difficult or impossible for them to break into new markets. Creative Europe also promotes cultural and linguistic diversity, as well as contributing to our Europe 2020 objectives for jobs and sustainable growth," said Vassiliou.

The Commission's Creative Europe proposal would enable:
- 300 000 artists and cultural professionals and their work to receive funding to reach new audiences beyond their home countries;
- More than 1 000 European films would receive distribution support, enabling them to be seen by audiences throughout Europe and the world;
- At least 2 500 European cinemas would receive funding enabling them to ensure that at least 50% of the films they screen are European;
- More than 5 500 books and other literary works would receive support for translation, allowing readers to enjoy them in their mother tongue;
- Thousands of cultural organisations and professionals would benefit from training to gain new skills and to strengthen their capacity to work internationally;
- At least 100 million people would be reached through the projects financed by the programme.

The new Programme would allocate more than €900 million in support of the cinema and audiovisual sector (area covered by current MEDIA programme) and almost €500 million for culture. The Commission is also proposing to allocate more than €210 million for a new financial guarantee facility.

The proposed €1.8 billion budget for Creative Europe represents a 37% increase on current spending level.

The current MEDIA Programme (2007-2013) has a budget of €755 million with an additional €15 million for MEDIA Mundus which supports international cooperation.

The Creative Europe proposal is now under discussion by the Council (27 Member States) and the European Parliament who will take the final decision on the budgetary framework for 2014-2020.

Further information on Creative Europe is available at this link.

I have to say I have reservations about the Commission's funding in this area.

For one thing the measurement of outcomes has, heretofore, been laden with political spin and interference. For another, the consultation survey on MEDIA was geared to business interests rather than cultural outcomes. And, lastly, the emphasis on businesses as the appropriate intermediary mode of production and delivery of culturally valuable endeavour is, in my opinion, deeply flawed.

This from the FAQ:
Are individuals eligible to apply for funding?
Creative Europe will not be open to applications from individuals. But around 300,000 individual artists and cultural professionals, as well as training institutions, will be reached through the projects submitted by cultural organisations. This is a much more cost-effective way to achieve results and a lasting impact.

And from the official Communication
The MEDIA Strand will increase resources for distribution, including increased and more focused funding for sales agents to allow for the emergence of stronger sales agents with higher buying and selling power on the international market.
Strengthening support to Europe-based international co-production funds will boost co-production between European and non-European producers, increasing the number and improving the quality of the works, and thereby contributing to further opening international markets.
Independent video games developers will benefit from new growth markets through facilitated access to funding. The result would be increased competitiveness of SMES, increased revenues, bigger market share, and widening the audience.
As well as increasing the global competitiveness of the European cultural and creative sectors and their scale, the Culture and MEDIA Strands will improve the offer of content available for consumers, with positive impacts on cultural diversity and European cultural identity.
New direct and focused support to audience-building measures is expected to generate new audiences and thereby increase consumer demand, although the scale of this effect is uncertain and will require a long-term approach. By reaching previously excluded social groups, this could also have benefits for social cohesion. The benefits of increased demand would flow through the value chain to stimulate increased circulation of works, new revenue streams and to improve the competitiveness of the sectors.
By improving access to finance for the cultural and creative sectors through improved investment and investor readiness, the new financial Facility will increase the capacity of these sectors to attract private finance, strengthen their financial capacity and the commercial potential of works, thereby strengthening their competitiveness and opening up new opportunities for growth and employment. It will also lessen SMEs' dependence on public subsidies in some cases, while opening up new revenue streams in others.
The support for transnational policy cooperation will help to increase the availability of comparable data which will facilitate more effective evidence-based policy-making. This can strengthen national policy environments for the cultural and creative sectors and contribute to systemic change. The possibility to test and share experience and knowledge on new business models will contribute to helping the sectors adapt to the digital shift, bringing new employment and growth opportunities.

Reads to this observer like a bad case of cultural needles amid 'commercial' haystacks.

Irish Film Board (Amendment) Bill 2011

2011-11-18T02:33:00.000-08:00

A correspondent has sent me on a link to the opening session (2nd stage)debate on this piece of legislation.

It is an essential piece of legislation to allow the IFB to continue to offer funding as it will otherwise have run out of money by the end of the year. I was aware of this but not of the exact timing.

As things stand the total funding available to the agency is €200million, increased from €101.5million since 2006. In other words, the IFB has spent €98.5million since the beginning of 2007. I do not know if this includes funds that have been recouped or refers only to annual budget vote from the Oireachtas.

It is now proposed to increase the ceiling to €300million. The debate does provide an opportunity to discuss the work of the IFB in the Oireachtas but there may be more pressing matters on Deputies' and Senators' minds.

Update - link to the full debate here. A little too much unquestioning acceptance of the figures produced by various reports in recent years.

Richard Boyd Barrett ended with -
I ask the Minister to comment on an issue that has been raised with me by a number of people in recent days. The individuals who contacted me pointed out that some of our tax incentive schemes amount to tax scams for certain wealthy elements in society as they are essentially a risk free investment on which wealthy people avoid tax. It was also suggested to me that Anglo Irish Bank was up to its neck in lending to companies in this area but is not chasing them up for the moneys owed to the bank, and these same companies are not paying what they owe to technicians and the people who actually make the movies. I would like the Minister to comment on that.

The Art of Counting

2011-11-17T12:09:00.000-08:00

An update report from Indecon, Assessment of the Economic Impact of the Arts in Ireland, was released by the Arts Council yesterday. We'll leave aside the general drift towards valuing or measuring the Arts in this way, particularly as an agenda-setter in the lead up to the annual Budget.

Consider instead the following information given with regard to film and see if it's possible to make the numbers fit with those contained in reports commissioned by the Irish Film Board in recent years.

Disparities may be down to several things, not least what's being counted and what the methodological basis is for the exercise. I can't help wondering if, for instance, the whole commercial cinema distribution and exhibition sector has been included or excluded.

Note particularly the last table which offers a subdivision by GVA (gross value added) of the 'Creative Industries'.

In order to determine the contribution of the wider arts sector to the Irish economy, it is necessary to consider both the Arts Council-supported organisations and individuals, and others not funded directly by the Council. In this chapter, the key impact variables assessed include Gross Value Added (GVA), expenditure, employment and exchequer tax revenues. (my emphasis in bold)

Gross Value Added (GVA) is defined as the difference between the value of goods and services produced for any given sector and the cost of intermediate inputs and consumption used in the production process. It is the nearest equivalent at sector level to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) when measured across the economy as a whole.
In Table 3.1 [above] we estimate the GVA contribution of the relevant sub-sectors within the wider arts sector, as outlined above. The overall GVA contribution of the wider arts sector to the national economy was estimated to be approximately €715.9 million during 2010.
The largest subsector in terms of its contribution to overall GVA impact is Literature and Publishing, which accounts for an estimated €372.2 million. The next largest contribution is that of the film and video sub industry, amounting to an estimated €108.4 million. Arts Council-supported organisations account for a significant portion of the overall gross value added by the sector, contributing an estimated €52.3 million of the overall wider arts sector GVA.

Table 3.2 [above] presents the estimates of the total expenditure of the wider arts sector for 2010. This expenditure impacts the economy directly, indirectly and through induced impacts. The total direct expenditure impact of the wider arts sector in the Irish economy is estimated to be approximately €1.2 billion in 2010. Taking into account the multiplier impacts of this direct spend, the overall aggregate impact amounts to €1.55 billion. The largest contributor to the overall direct expenditure impact of the wider arts sector is the Literature and Publishing sector, which accounted for €563.3 million of the overall direct expenditure impact. Other significant contributors in terms of expenditure impacts include Film and Video, and Library, Archives, Museums and Other Cultural Activities, which contributed €151.6 million and €181.7 million respectively to the overall direct expenditure impact during 2010.

Public service reform news...

2011-11-17T04:42:00.000-08:00

...actually there's little or no news for the film and broadcast areas in the Government's plans for public sector reform, which may be a source of relief.

So no abolition, merger or review is on the cards for the Irish Film Board (IFB) or the Irish Film Classification Office (IFCO). There was consideration given in the past to merging or folding IFCO into the BAI - a proposal that may have had the only merit of offering the BAI an additional source of revenue.

The Government's plan does include a possible merger of the Commission for Communication Regulation with the BAI, and a merger of the Digital Hub with the IDA/Enterprise Ireland.

Lastly, the decentralisation of the Arts Council to Kilkenny has officially been kicked into touch. It was never going to happen.

Magma - The last chapter?

2011-11-15T12:18:00.000-08:00

Magma European Scripting House Ltd (MESH), trading as Magma Films, is listed for strike off with most of the creditors no wiser than they were back in March when the company's difficulties (and liabilities) were made known. As to the fate of the monies owed to creditors - including the Revenue, Anglo Irish Bank, and Galway City Council - your guess is as good as mine.

From the Company Registration Office:
Type Company
Number 239014
Name MAGMA EUROPEAN SCRIPTING HOUSE LIMITED
Address 16 MERCHANTS ROAD, GALWAY
Registered 04/10/1995
Status Strike Off Listed
Effective date: 13/11/2011
Last AR Date 30/09/2009
Next AR Date 30/09/2010
Last Accounts to Date 31/12/2008

Magma Films is a business name of MESH so presumably its fate will be determined along with that of the company. Both names still give a registered address at Merchants Road, Galway although no part of the business has been at that address for some time.

Meanwhile, to add to the confusion, a new business name, Magma Productions, was registered in September. Regular readers will recall that Magma Productions Ltd changed its name to Tidal Films Ltd earlier this year.

Type Business Name
Number 449400
Name MAGMA PRODUCTIONS
Address MAYORALTY HOUSE, FLOOD STREET, GALWAY
Registered 21/09/2011
Status Normal
Effective date: 21/09/2011

Previous Magma posts -
Magma - Section 481
Keeping company...
Abbeygate...
Dear Ralph...
Ralph replies...
Assets, Rights & Responsibilities
The Magma Saga - ep #5...

(and some more info in the comments below)

Much ado about Noth etc.

2011-11-14T09:05:00.000-08:00

Useful bit of PR pick up in the press last week on Minister Deenihan's set visit to of Titanic - Blood & Steel. It's always interesting to see how the mainstream papers report the industry. As usual there is a concentration on the stars - Chris Noth aka 'Mr Big', in this instance - and the numbers.

The headline numbers given for the show were €22m production, €12m Irish spend, and €12m raised in Ireland through Section 481 and a 'grant' of €300,000 from the Irish Film Board.

However, there is no mention of this production funding in the IFB's lists of decisions made over the last year. Nor is there any mention of the IFB involvement in the lead producer's information on the project.

No mention either in the press reports of the pickets which were a problem at one stage during prep in Dublin. I hear Minister Howlin, ICTU, SIPTU et al are working to clarify some of the issues and misconceptions that gave rise to several rancorous industrial relations situations this year.

---------------------
The Light House Cinema belatedly re-entered the public consciousness with a report from Laura Slattery and Ronan McGreevy in the Irish Times on Friday last. Use the search box above (top left) to find my previous posts on the cinema's closure earlier in the year.

Still difficult to see how the situation might be best resolved given the potentially competing interests of the landlord (who has an obligation to NAMA in respect of the development) and the State, which has invested some €2m in the venture through the Arts Dept, the IFB and the Arts Council, (and is also carrying NAMA). IFCO also contributes an annual fee of €120,000 to use the cinema for classification screenings.

There may be questions of competitive supply of 'product' to other cinema outlets should either of the two reported potential bidders be successful, since both of them are also film distributors. There is no indication given in the report that any of the personnel previously involved in the cinema might be associated with either bid.

-------------------------------
Here's some reading material you may have missed in recent years. It's a Departmental Irish Film Board expenditure review concluded in August, 2008.

Pro Bono... really?

2011-11-09T04:35:00.000-08:00

This notice is doing the rounds...

Open Auditions for TV3 television production
Looking for actors/extras both male and female between the ages of 21 and 40 for re-enactments in the TV3 television series “Crimes that shook Ireland”
Auditions will take place on Sunday the 13th of November between 11am and 2pm in: Muzzle music rehearsal studios, Unit G6A Chapelizod Industrial Estate, Dublin 20
All work will be pro-bono
For more information please contact Joe on 087 611 6327
or e-mail joepanama555@gmail.com

Wikipedia defines pro bono as follows - "Pro bono publico (English: for the public good; usually shortened to pro bono) is a Latin phrase generally used to describe professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment or at a reduced fee as a public service... Pro bono service, unlike traditional volunteerism, uses the specific skills of professionals to provide services to those who are unable to afford them."

Poor TV3, doubtless it will be offering its advertising time free, pro bono before during and after these programmes.

BAI Sound & Vision 2012 Deadlines

2011-11-02T06:52:00.000-07:00

The following release just in from the BAI.

The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has announced the 2012 closing dates for applications to Sound & Vision II [The Broadcasting Funding Scheme] during 2012.

The Broadcasting Funding Scheme aims to increase public access at national, local and community level to television and sound broadcasting programmes in English and Irish which explore the themes of Irish culture, heritage and experience, in contemporary or historic contexts. The Scheme provides funding to broadcasters and independent producers to enable them to produce such programmes.

Four open rounds will be operated during 2012, each with funding of up to €3.5m available towards the production of television and/or radio programmes. The closing dates for the rounds, which will accept radio and television applications, are as follows: 27th January; 13th April; 13th July; 14th September.

The revised round structure has been developed based on stakeholder feedback. The increased number of closing dates is intended to make it easier for applicants to submit fully developed projects at different stages throughout the year.

Speaking about the announcement, Michael O’Keeffe, Chief Executive of the BAI said, The Authority is delighted to be able to make between €12-14 million available for new, quality programming in 2012 especially given the funding challenges that the broadcasting sector is facing. In recent years the competition for funds has understandably increased. To secure funding from the scheme, applications must be fully developed and ready to go into production.

In addition, the Authority is highlighting the fact that funding a diverse range of programming, in terms of genre and formats, is a strategic objective of the Scheme. This will be measured within individual rounds and across the year. The BAI expects that the new round structure will help the Scheme to achieve a greater mix in this regard.

Sound & Vision II is a grant funding scheme – not a commissioning process. The BAI hopes that the shorter timeframe between closing dates will increase the standard of the applications being submitted in any one round. We also believe this new approach will allow the Scheme deliver to a greater extent the core scheme objectives of increasing audience access to high quality programmes across a range of genres and formats, said Michael O’Keeffe.

Further information on the Scheme is available on www.bai.ie

Time for Cork

2011-10-27T08:50:00.000-07:00

Cork Film Festival has unveiled an excellent programme for this year's event which runs from the 6th to the 13th November. Strong docs, strong Irish line-up, the usual superabundance of shorts, interesting industry and art/film crossover events, and a doubling of the 'Made in Cork' section which demonstrates the great growth of local film-making in the region.

Eumirages

2011-10-25T12:50:00.000-07:00

The Eurimages Board of Management met in Dublin last week and deliberated on the final round of project applications for 2011.

I have posted previously about the relative lack of success of Irish-originated applications to the fund while many other, non-Irish projects with Irish minority co-producers attached have been successful. Most of these latter projects were then also supported by the Irish Film Board and availed of our tax break.

It is arguable that this may represent a drift of accumulated resources away from indigenous projects or, with regard to Eurimages, that Irish-originated projects have not applied in any significant numbers and/or have not been of sufficient standard to merit the fund's support.

A question also arises about the actual benefit to the Irish audiovisual economy from these projects. Is it just a question of substantial fee income for Irish co-producers or is there any tangible, sustainable business created by this co-production activity?

It's clear that Irish writing and directing talent does not benefit from projects originated elsewhere, yet those projects are raising substantial funding in Ireland. Are Irish film makers having to compete for scarce Irish resources with film makers from other countries?

It would be interesting to see a balance sheet that compares Irish public funding for indigenous and offshore production over the last five years. A glance at this list suggests that a growing proportion of available resources have gone toward the offshore, 'service' sector.

We joined Eurimages because it was supposed to give our film-makers access to foreign sources of funding. It seems to be working in reverse. So, the important questions are - what is the policy position, where is it set out, how was it arrived at, and are the outcomes as predicted?

A list of all 'Irish' feature film projects supported by Eurimages in recent years.
Titles in bold are Irish originated.
* - projects also supported by the IFB.
# - projects also availing of Section 481

Eurimages - 'Irish' Co-productions 2006-2011

2011
Dark Touch
By Marina De Van (France)
Feature Film
Awarded: €390 000
Co-producers:
EX NIHILO Srl (FR)
ELEMENT PICTURES Ltd (PRODUCTION) (IE)
FILMGATE FILMS (SE)

Life's a Breeze*
By Lance Daly (Ireland)
Feature Film
Awarded: €300 000
Co-producers:
FASTNET FILMS (IE)
ANAGRAM (SE)

Niko - Family Affairs*#
By Jorgen Lerdam (Denmark) et Kari Juusonen (Finland)
Animation film
Awarded: €600 000
Co-producers:
ANIMAKER OY (FI)
ULYSSES GMBH FILM – UND FERNSEHPRODUKTION (DE)
A.FILM PRODUCTION (DK)
MAGMA PRODUCTIONS (IE)

2010
A Royal Affair/Caroline Mathildes AR* [IFB prov. offer]
By Nikolaj Arcel (Denmark)
Feature Film
Awarded: 600 000 €
Co-producers:
ZENTROPA ENTERTAINMENTS 25 Aps (DK)
TROLLHÄTTAN FILM AB (SE)
SIA FILM ANGELS (LV)
SUBOTICA LIMITED (IE)

The Moon Man*
By Stephan Schesch (DE)
Animation Film
Awarded: 600 000 €
Co-producers:
SCHESCH FILMKREATION (DE)
LE PACTE (PRODUCTION) (FR)
CARTOON SALOON (IE)

This must be the place*#
By Paolo Sorrentino (Italy)
Feature Film
Awarded: 600 000 €
Co-producers:
INDIGO FILM Srl / LUCKY RED Srl (PRODUCTION) (IT)
ARP S.a.s (FR)
ELEMENT PICTURES Ltd (PRODUCTION) (IE)

2009
As if I'm not there*#
By Juanita Wilson (Ireland)
Feature Film
Awarded: 220 000 €
Co-producers:
WIDE EYE FILMS Ltd (IE)
STELLA NOVA FILM (SE)
SEKTOR FILM DOOEL (MK)

Essential Killing*
By Jerzy Skolimowski (Pologne)
Feature film
Awarded: 400 000 €
Co-producers:
SKOPIA FILM (PL)
CYLINDER PRODUCTIONS AS (NO)
ILIADE ET FILMS (FR)
ELEMENT PICTURES LIMITED (IE)

The Last Furlong*#
By Agnès Merlet (France)
Feature Film
Awarded: 600 000 €
Co-producers:
FIDELITE FILMS S.A (FR)
OCTAGON FILMS LIMITED (IE)

All Good Children*#
By Alicia Duffy (United Kingdom)
Feature Film
Awarded: 300 000 €
Co-producers:
ELEMENT PICTURES LIMITED (IE)
CINEMA DEFACTO (FR)
ARTEMIS PRODUCTIONS SA (BE)
[Caveman Films - UK]

Thor -The Edda Chronicles*#
By Gunnar Karlsson (Iceland), Toby Genkel (Germany)
Feature Film - Animation
Awarded: 480 000 €
Co-producers:
CAOZ STUDIO Ltd (IS)
ULYSSES GMBH FILM – UND FERNSEHPRODUKTION (DE)
MAGMA PRODUCTIONS (IE)

2008
La Mula*#
By Michael Radford (United Kingdom)
Feature Film
Awarded: 650 000 €
Co-producers:
GHEKO FILMS (ES)
WORKHORSE ENT. LTD (UK)
[SUBOTICA LIMITED (IE)]

Neka Drige Price
By Hanna A Slak (Slovenia), Marija Dzidzeva ("The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"), Ana Rossi (Serbia), Ivona Juka (Croatia), Ines Tanovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Feature Film
Awarded: 190 000 €
Co-producers:
SEE FILM PRO (RS)
STUDIO MAJ PRODUCTION d.o.o. (SI)
4 FILM (HR)
DOKUMENT (BA)
SKOPJE FILM STUDIO (MK)
DIG PRODUCTIONS Ltd (IE)

Triage*#
By Danis Tanovic (Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Feature Film
Awarded: 650 000 €
Co-producers:
STRADBROOK PRODUCTIONS Ltd/PARALLEL FILMS (IE)
ASAP FILMS Sarl (FR)
FREEFORM SPAIN (ES)

2007
Dorothy Mills*#
By Agnès Merlet (France)
Feature Film
Awarded: 500 000 €
Coproducers:
FIDELITE FILMS (FR)
OCTAGON FILMS LIMITED (IE)

Occi vs. the World*#
English title: Swansong
By Conor McDermottroe (Ireland - Germany)
Feature Film
Awarded: 280 000 €
Co-producers:
ZANZIBAR FILMS (IE)
FLORIN FILM & FERNSEHPRODUKTION & Co. Kg. (DE)

2006
Dot.com – Luis Galvao Teles (PT)*
Feature film
Awarded : 322 000 €
Coproducers :
FADO FILMES (PT)
ALTA PRODUCCION (ES)
ZANZIBAR FILMS (IE)
IPSO FACTO FILMS (GB)
VIDEOFILMES (BR)

Little Foxes*#
Original title :Listicky
French title : Petits Renards
Directed by Mira Fornayova (SK)
Feature Film
Awarded: 140 000 €
Coproducers:
NEGATIV (CZ)
GRAND PICTURES (IE)
MIRAS (SK)

Summer of the Flying Saucer*#
– Martin Duffy (IE)
Feature Film – for children
Awarded : 200 000 €
Coproducers :
MAGMA FILMS (IE)
FIDO FILM AB (SE)

Niko - Way to the Stars*#
Original title : Tie Tähtiin
Directed by Michael Hegner& Kari Juusonen (DK & FI)
Feature Film for children
Awarded: 600 000 €
Coproducers:
ANIMAKER OY (FI)
ULYSSES GMBH FILM- UNDFERNSEHPRODUKTION (DE)
A FILM (DK)
MAGMA EUROPEAN SCRIPTINGHOUSE (IE)

Capital grants!

2011-10-24T04:57:00.000-07:00

While the Irish Film Board's production and development loans are usually published and archived there is perhaps an area of IFB spending which doesn't attract as much attention and is seldom tracked, partly because of the two-year gap between the decisions being made and their later publication in the IFB annual reports.

This is a listing of the Board's other capital payments (they might be better described as grants since they're non-recoverable) for the years 2006-2009.

Notable, I think, is the €500,000 paid to Ardmore Studios. The substantial contribution to IFTA and the Guilds. The annual Eurimages subscription - a fund which has largely been captured by the co-production service sector. And the extent of investment in Cultural Cinema, Digital Exhibition and, especially, the Solas Picture Palace cinema project in Galway.

Click to enlarge...

Magma - Section 481 - Etc

2011-10-06T05:46:00.000-07:00

A commenter on my post detailing Section 481 amounts raised in 2010 says, Magma Films didnt get 481 money for Jack Taylor. Finder films did, a completly different company so your source is not correct and I dont see you point in putting this info out or where you got it...

I think it worthy of a more detailed reply than I was able to make to the comment so here goes.

Firstly, the information comes separately from the Revenue and the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. The Department gives a list of projects and companies that have availed of the tax incentive, as it does gross figures for the scheme output in 2010, as follows -
Year 2010
Projects 57
Total spend €346.3m
Irish spend €164.6m
Section 481 Amount €160.2m

It's important to note that 'Irish spend' includes finance other than that raised through Section 481. It will include other local public sector monies such as Irish Film Board, BAI, and broadcaster funding. And possibly some MEDIA and Eurimages public funding, in addition to other public or private sector funding from outside the jurisdiction.

The 28% net benefit to these 57 productions from Section 481 was €44,869,843.20. whereas the 41% exchequer cost was €65,702,270.40.

To come back to Magma, the commenter refers to Finder Films. Finder Films Ltd was, I believe, the Special Purpose Vehicle company established in September 2009 by Magma to produce Jack Taylor: The Guards. It availed of €1,336,000 raised in Section 481 in 2009, some 28% of which would usually have been the net benefit to the production. This company was wound up in March of this year.

Finder Films 2 Ltd was, I believe, set up in August 2010 as the SPV company by Magma to produce Jack Taylor - The Magdalen Martyrs/The Pikemen. It availed of €2,370,000 Section 481 funding, some 28% of which would usually have been the net benefit to the production. This company is still in existence.

Both companies' registered addresses were 16 Merchants Road, Galway, the location of the offices of Magma Films which is the trading name of Magma European Scripting House Ltd (MESH).

MESH was the principal tenant of the building and had sub-let offices to some unrelated companies. It was liable to Galway City Council for rates on the premises. On 2 February 2010 the Council obtained a decree against Magma European Scripting House Ltd (MESH) in Galway District Court for outstanding commercial rates of €27,000 owing up to end 2009. That decree is still in place. The Council will not confirm if the total rates now owed is in excess of €60,000 but added in response to an email:

We understand from a letter by MESH Ltd to all creditors that although they had considered going into voluntary liquidation earlier this year, MESH now intends not to liquidate and to continue to exploit existing and future rights on its intellectual property. We also understand that Mr Paul Mee of Mazars in Galway is currently in discussion on behalf of MESH with the Revenue, with Anglo Irish Bank and others in relation to outstanding debts and other issues.

I have been told that no 'Magma' companies now remain at 16 Merchants Road. Magma Productions Ltd changed its name to Tidal Films Ltd and subsequently moved to Mayoralty House, Flood Street, Galway. It is producing Thor - the Edda Chronicles through the SPV company Thorsday Films Ltd and Niko - Family Affairs through another SPV company Niko Film Productions Ltd. A further company, Tidal Niko Films Ltd was registered on the 22nd September.

While the directors of Magma Productions Ltd changed before it changed its name to Tidal Films Ltd earlier this year it is not clear if the shareholdings in the company have been altered. Magma Productions Ltd shares were held 30% by the two newest directors, 40% by a former director (German), 28% by an Austrian/German shareholder, and 2% by a holding company associated with the 28% shareholder.

I am told that the 40% shareholder is the sole director of the German company that has co-produced the Jack Taylor projects.

This brings us to the task being undertaken by Mazars in Galway to establish what MESH rights assets might be used to repay the monies owed to the company's creditors which include the public interest through the Revenue, Galway City Council, Anglo Irish Bank, Enterprise Ireland and, presumably, loans outstanding from the Irish Film Board.

These are the Section 481 amounts raised by Magma projects in recent years:
2006 Feature 1,400,849 The Summer Of The Flying Saucer
2007 Feature 1,850,000 Niko - Way To The Stars
2007 TV series 2,459,478 Simsala Grimm 2
2009 TV movie 1,336,000 Jack Taylor : The Guards
2009 Animated film 1,015,664 Thor - The Edda Chronicles
2010 TV Movies x 2 2,370,000 The Magdalen Martyrs/The Pikemen
The tax revenue foregone on these projects is about €4.3m

The Magma website is headed MAGMA FILMS - 16 Merchants Road, Galway, Ireland - Phone +353 91 569142. Copyright is accorded at the foot of the page to Magma European Scripting House Ltd.

Production and development properties cited on the website include:
Summer of the Flying Saucer, Foreign Exchange, Paisean Faisean, Adharca Fada/The Grass is Greener, Lynch, The Pipeline, The Courtship Gift, Eco Cops, Beauty & the Beast, Mostly Ghostly, Morturi, Jack Taylor,
The Ugly Duckling and Me (feature and series), Niko and the Way to the Stars, Zombie Hotel, Lilly the Witch, Norman Normal, Things You Think, Simsala Grimm 2, Oops Noah is Gone (Feature & series), Bug Muldoon (feature & series), Dr Ella, Thieves, Thor the Edda Chronicles, R4U, The Cloud Scout.

Any contention that not all of these properties belong to MESH would seeem to rest on the premise that rights may have been legitimately assigned from one company to another, perhaps temporarily for the purpose of funding applications, on the basis of memorandums of understanding between companies which may have shared directors at the time of the assignment.

This just in...

2011-10-05T09:37:00.000-07:00

Not a local matter but you can expect it to go global in the next hour...

A Statement from Lars von Trier
Today at 2 pm I was questioned by the Police of North Zealand in connection with charges made by the prosecution of Grasse in France from August 2011 regarding a possible violation of prohibition in French law against justification of war crimes. The investigation covers comments made during the press conference in Cannes in May 2011. Due to these serious accusations I have realized that I do not possess the skills to express myself unequivocally and I have therefore decided from this day forth to refrain from all public statements and interviews.
Lars von Trier
Avedøre, 5. October 2011

Meanwhile... Roman Polanski has been sheltered from justice and feted in France for nearly forty years.

Untitled 1916

2011-10-05T02:56:00.000-07:00

The Irish Film Board and the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival have announced that their partnership on the Untitled screenwriting competition will return for the 10th anniversary of the festival in February, 2012.

Shortlisted writers will be invited to give a public presentation of their screenplay proposal to a panel of industry professionals who will then decide on the winning project. The event provides an opportunity to receive an IFB 'First Draft Loan' for the winning screenplay of €12,000 or €16,000, subject to the usual loan conditions. The deadline for entries is November 4th.

Individual or teams of writers are invited to submit a one page summary for a feature film with the theme of '1916'. This will be narrowed down to a shortlist of five entries and the shortlisted writers will then be asked to write the first few scenes of the script. The writers will present the shortlisted projects to an independent panel of international industry professionals in front of a public audience.

As regards the ‘1916’ theme the Festival says, This year’s theme is something of a challenge. There are endless ways to interpret the Irish story; especially this, the most debated and notorious time in our history, and that’s the point. We’re not looking for literal tales torn from dry textbooks. We’ll favour lateral thinking; new and confident ways of telling oft-told stories; as well as sideways glances at neglected moments from that ‘interesting time’. All we ask is that the stories are grounded in historical fact. Otherwise, please surprise us.

Entry conditions are as follows...
1. Entry: Submit a one-page summary of your film along with a completed entry form (available from www.irishfilmboard.ie or www.jdiff.ie) and your CV to untitledscreenwritingcomp@gmail.com by Friday November 4, 2011.
2. Script: Five shortlisted projects will be announced on December 13, 2011. The successful applicants will be invited to write the first scenes of their screenplay (up to 25 pages in final draft format) by the opening night of the JDIFF on February 16, 2012. The five shortlisted projects will be selected by the IFB and Festival representatives along with an independent assessor.
3. Interview: The five shortlisted writers (or writers teams) will take part in a public interview with an independent panel of industry professionals (date TBA) during the festival. After a presentation and question and answer session, the panel will select the winner. The winner will be announced at the JDIFF Closing Night.

The winner will receive a First Draft Development Loan from the IFB. The four runners-up will win a season pass to JDIFF 2013. The competition is open to writers or teams of writers currently residing in Ireland or holders of a current Irish passport.

Section 481 - 2010

2011-09-29T08:49:00.000-07:00

This is a full breakdown, by project, of the total raised through Section 481 in 2010. It is information that is not routinely made available in the public domain. I do not know why it is not published each year along with details all other public funding for the sector, on a project by project basis.

I intend to add further detail to the table in due course - tax revenue foregone, net benefit to each production, additional public sources of funding, duration of Irish shoot, and those instances where spend was mostly on post-production.

Please get in contact if you spot any errors.

The metaphysics of Section 481 or...

2011-09-28T06:04:00.000-07:00

...film finance as a game of cards.

Publication of the annual report of the Audiovisual Federation of IBEC presents an opportunity to wrestle once again with the knowability of Section 481. It is, superficially, an investment incentive for film and television production. However, the act of investing is largely symbolic.

Those of you who play cards will know simple games like Beggar My Neighbour, Snap or Rummy. And then there are the more complex games like Bridge which has a codified structure of suit and trick values with a variety of attacking and defensive bidding systems agreed between partners. Section 481 appears simple like Beggar My Neighbour but plays more like Bridge.

According to the Revenue the total amount raised in Section 481 'investments' for film and TV projects over the last five years is as follows:
2006 €107,783,710 (39 projects)
2007 € 94,841,717 (34 projects)
2008 €102,894,935 (38 projects)
2009 €109,209,238 (44 projects)
2010 €160,249,440 (57 projects)
---- €566,979,040 (212projects)

We know from the way the scheme is marketed that the net benefit to producers is now 28% (since the 2009 changes) of the total 'invested'. So:

2009 €30,578,586.64
2010 €44,869,843.20

And we know that the cost to the exchequer is now 41% (the tax foegone) of the total 'invested'.

So in 2010 it cost the State €65,702,270.40 (41%) to give €44,869,843.20 (28%) to 57 productions.

For now, the first question that arises is... what about the €20,832,427.20 difference between the two amounts?

Just out, the AVF Annual Review...

2011-09-26T10:28:00.000-07:00

The annual review published by the Audiovisual Federation of IBEC is published today.

Ok, I'm going to have to think about this... the net amount raised under Section 481 is counted, not the full amount. A matter of assuming that the cost is the same as the net benefit, I suppose.

Incidentally, I understood the full amount raised through Section 481 in 2010 to be €160,249,440 for 57 film and television projects.

Finally...some action?

2011-09-23T09:40:00.000-07:00

Shooting crew and construction crew meeting: SIPTU, Liberty Hall. 11am tomorrow, Saturday 24th September.

It is hoped that this will address some of the issues that have arisen on productions this year. Even Indian newspapers have picked up on the unofficial and unreasonable picketing of a Bollywood film shooting in Dublin.

Catch up post...

2011-09-22T03:13:00.000-07:00

While keeping continuity on the Magma posts I've neglected some other news so this is a quick update.....

A timely look at adaptations of John Le Carré's work is the main focus of the annual 'Adaptation Festival' in Dromahair, Co. Leitrim - October 14-16
....................................

Seven projectionists - they used be called 'operators' in the old days - are being made redundant this coming weekend at the Cineworld complex in Dublin. They are being replaced by an IT technician and servers as the 17-screen cinema goes fully digital. This phase of the conversion process began in July at what is one of the busiest and most profitable cinemas in Britain and Ireland. The days of celluloid are truly numbered.
....................................

Several weeks ago there was a very interesting letter to the Irish Times from Rosaleen MacDonagh about issues of representation of her culture and community in the documentary film Knuckle. In voicing her concerns about stereotyping she doesn't refer to the fact that remake/adaptation rights have been sold in America. She ends her letter with this:
We need to tell a different story. We need to hold the camera ourselves and, more importantly, we need to find pride in our community, not just in upholding our family name.
It's a view that can be applied equally to the wider society and culture.
....................................

The Film Board announced the following loan decisions as of 7th September.
Project Director Writer Production Company Funding Award

Development
First Draft Loans
Margaret Rebecca Daly Rebecca Daly & Glenn Montgomery €16,000
Monsters & Magic Jason Butler & Brendan Butler €16,000
The Adventures Of Super Frank Chris O'Dowd & John O'Dowd €16,000
Sixty Eight Naomi Sheridan €12,000
A Key To The Suite Morgan Bushe €12,000

Fiction Development Loans
Big Silver Lining Brian Durnin Brian Durnin & Mark Doherty Red Rage Films €16,500
The Valentine Gang Darragh Byrne Mark Doherty & Darragh Byrne Ripple World Pictures €20,000
Crossing Salween Brian O'Malley Brian O'Malley Nine Rivers Media €30,000
Harm's Way Cathal Black Adam Rynne Blinder Films €9,000
The Absence Sonata Thomas Martin Rainmark Films €25,000
Devlin Aisling Walsh Kate Gartside & Aisling Walsh Subotica Limited €17,000
Reeling Anne Marie Casey Parallel Film Productions €15,000
Twelve Twenty Three Stuart Townsend Eoin McNamee Parallel Film Productions €20,000
Memorabilia John Butler Kevin Barry Parallel Film Productions €9,000
Brian Rua Finola Geraghty Finola Geraghty Parallel Film Productions €30,000
Stags Declan Recks Eugene O'Brien Samson Films €20,000
Beautiful Noise Damien O'Donnell Helen Seymour Coastguard Films €25,000

Animation Development Loans
Pillage & Sons Nicky Phelan Nicky Phelan Brown Bag Films €9,000
The Overcoat Jeremy Purcell & Hugh O'Connor Hugh O'Connor A Man & Ink €29,000

International Development
Galway Bay Jim Sheridan Naomi Sheridan & Mary Pat Kelly Hells Kitchen International & Jean Doumanian Productions €25,000

Production
Fiction Feature Films
Life On Mars Ruairí Robinson Clive Dawson Fantastic Films €500,000
Life's A Breeze Lance Daly Lance Daly Fastnet Films €750,000
What Richard Did Lenny Abrahamson Malcolm Campbell Element Pictures €720,000
Grooskill Mark O'Connor Mark O'Connor Vico Films & Black Sheep Productions €275,000

Documentary
The Craic Morag Tinto Soho Moon Pictures €10,000
The Doctor's Sword Gary Lennon Gambit Pictures €12,000
Icarus 3D Joel Conroy Fastnet Films Provisional Offer Of Commitment
Beyond The Endgame Trevor Birney & Ruth O'Reilly Below The Radar €100,000
Showrunners Des Doyle Black Sheep Productions Provisional Offer Of Commitment
Silent Majority Mark Byrne & Robert Dennis Planet Korda Pictures €10,000

Completion Fund
Finding Joy Neil Dowling Neil Dowling True Films €15,000
State Of Suspension Clare Langan Clare Langan Productions €15,000

Regional Support Fund
Good Vibrations Glenn Leyburn & Lisa Barros D'Sa Glenn Patterson & Chris Carberry Treasure Entertainment €75,000
Love Eternal Brendan Muldowney Brendan Muldowney Fastnet Films €120,000
Sanctuary Norah McGettigan Norah McGettigan & Gabriel Vargas Vasquez Venom Limited €120,000

Keeping company...

2011-09-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

It is decidedly tricky to keep track of all the company names, dates etc in the unfolding situation regarding Magma - be it Magma Productions or Magma Films/Magma European Scripting House Ltd.

Magma Productions Ltd began life as Seylu Ltd back in 2003. It changed its name shortly after incorporation to Ulysses Film Productions Ltd. Then five years later, in February 2008, this company's name was changed to Magma Productions Ltd - note reference to the formal consent to the name change from allied companies at the same address with 'Magma' in their names.

Three years later, in April of this year, Magma Productions Ltd changed its name to Tidal Films Ltd, But not before its auditors resigned on 04 January 2010.

And after a change in director/secretary was notified to the CRO on February 1st. Note that this was presented by Magma Films, the trading name of Magma European Scripting House Ltd whose auditors resigned most recently on 20 July 2011.

Notwithstanding the name change to Tidal Films, and a change of address to Flood Street in Galway, note the entry for Magma Productions (and Molten Rock) in the listing of Irish exhibitors at MIPCOM 2011 - as of September 10, and also cited on the Irish Film Board website.
MIPCOM 2011
Registered exhibiting companies, as of 10 September 2011
IRELAND
ANIMO TELEVISION
AXONISTA
BIG MOUNTAIN PRODUCTIONS
BROWN BAG FILMS
CARTOON SALOON
DUBLIN FILM DISTRIBUTORS
ENTERPRISE IRELAND
IRELAND ON SCREEN
IRISH FILM BOARD
JAM MEDIA LIMITED
KITE ENTERTAINMENT LTD
MAGMA PRODUCTIONS MOLTENROCK
MONSTER ENTERTAINMENT
NETWORK IRELAND TELEVISION
RTE
RTE PUBLISHING
SIDELINE
TANGERINE (Programme MEDIA)
TELEGAEL
TILE FILMS LTD
VIDEOELEPHANT.COM
VISION INDEPENDENT
WHACKALA (Programme MEDIA)
WINDMILL LANE ENTERTAINMENT
WINDMILL LANE PICTURES LTD

Interestingly Molten Rock Media GmbH is not separately listed as a German exhibitor.

Magma Productions and Molten Rock Media (Bremen) have co-produced the 'Jack Taylor' adaptations of Ken Bruen's crime novels, the rights to which appear to have been held initially by Magma European Scripting House Ltd/Magma Films.

Certainly it was Magma European Scripting House/Magma Films that are recorded as successful recipients of public funding for 'Jack Taylor' projects from the MEDIA programme in 2009 and the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland in 2010.

I believe ZDF have committed to further episodes of the series. It will be interesting to see if the balance of production (and ownership) shifts from Ireland to Germany.

Abbeygate...

2011-09-14T17:54:00.000-07:00

Abbeygate Productions Ltd... Simsala Grimm 2... Filipa Ltd... Matheson Ormsby Prentice... Anglo Irish Bank Corporation... Magma European Scripting House...

It would probably take a conference call with a producer, an accountant, a lawyer and the Revenue Commissioners to work this out. Even then I suspect I wouldn't quite grasp if what follows is standard procedure or somewhat unusual. So don't be shy if you can shed some light on what seems to be an unecessarily opaque area of production financing.

Abbeygate Productions Ltd is a company that was set up in October 2007. It is, I believe, a 'Special Purpose Vehicle' company established as the Section 481 funding mechanism for Simsala Grimm II, a 26x26min animation series for TV to be co-produced by Magma Films with Millimages in France and Greenlight Media in Germany. This is the relevant, over-riding clause in the company's Memorandum of Association. [click to enlarge]

Generally a 'Special Purpose Vehicle' company has a relatively short lifespan. The Section 481 funding is raised and managed by the banking, accounting and legal fraternity, released to the production and spent on Irish goods and services. The project wraps and meets delivery criteria and regulatory compliance and then the SPV company is neatly wound up, usually not too long afterwards.

Filipa Limited is a non-trading company established in 1997 to act as a nominee in respect of 'Special Purpose Vehicle' companies for which it held shares. I believe the value of the shares corresponds to amounts raised through Section 481, and the individual shares in the listing below are given a cost of €2.00 each.

Filipa was based at the legal firm Matheson Ormsby Prentice. Here is a listing of Filipa's nominee share holdings as of 31 December 2008. It is a sizeable proportion of Irish film and TV production over a twelve month period and the total cost of the shares listed is very considerable. It comes to €82,812,002 - or let's just call it €83m.
[click to enlarge]

There's a lot of interesting information here that doesn't often come into the public domain. You'll see that the last entry in the list is Simsala Grimm Ltd but since there is no record of a company of that name, and since the number of shares corresponds with that later filed by Abbeygate Productions Ltd, and since MOP has filed much of the documentation for Abbeygate with the CRO I am of the belief that this is what became Abbeygate Productions Ltd but that the name was not updated in this Filipa filing.

I am also of the belief that the projects listed were all facilitated by Anglo Irish Bank in raising Section 481 finance. This is lent credence because Filipa Ltd is named in the schedule (ref 255) attached to S.I. No. 15 of 2010 ETHICS IN PUBLIC OFFICE (PRESCRIBED PUBLIC BODIES, DESIGNATED DIRECTORSHIPS OF PUBLIC BODIES AND DESIGNATED POSITIONS IN PUBLIC BODIES) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS 2010. *

Filipa Ltd is listed in the schedule among the many subsidiaries of Anglo Irish Bank Corporation Ltd which (as we are unlikely to forget) had been taken into public ownership by that time. It may be in this context that Ernst & Young resigned as auditors to Filipa Ltd on 16 March 2010.

The listing of Filipa nominee share holdings for Simsala Grimm (sic) is 1,229,739 shares at a total cost of €2,459,478. This you would expect is the Section 481 financing mechanism to be utilised in the Irish spend on Simsala Grimm II.

You would then expect the SPV company, Abbeygate Productions Ltd, to be neatly wound up and consigned to the dusty archives. What you might not expect - and what I find hard to understand - is a Statutory Declaration filed with the CRO dated as recently as January, 2011 as follows... [click to enlarge]

This may well be standard procedure, tell me if it is. But given the state of finances at Magma European Scripting House Ltd it seems potentially problematic, particularly since the company's most recent annual accounts were for 2007.

Within a couple of months Magma European Scripting House Ltd/Magma Films had called a creditors meeting for March 18 and the extent (if not the detail) of its difficulties became more generally known. If this in-house, inter-company transaction was underway at the time (and not due to be concluded until after July 31st) might that be why Magma Films' creditors have yet to receive a detailed account of the company's affairs?

You will note that the number of Non-Voting Ordinary Shares in Abbeygate to be redeemed via the arangement with Magma European Scripting House Ltd is 1,229,739, the exact number of shares in the Filipa listing for Simsala Grimm. Perhaps this is the usual way in which ownership in a project is vested back in the producing company. Although in this case the company has debts of millions of euro, including debts to Anglo Irish Bank and the Revenue.

As I mentioned earlier, Magma European Scripting House Ltd/Magma Films was the Irish co-producer on Simsala Grimm 2 with Millimages in France and Greenlight Media in Germany. Irish co-production on European animation (where the Irish party has not originated the project) tends to be concerned primarily with producing the English language version. I wonder what the Irish spend on this project amounted to and why it took so long to complete.

Something must have concerned one of the co-production partners, Millimages, because it registered a charge against Magma European Scripting House Ltd in September 2009. This was the 22nd charge registered against the company at that time. [click to enlarge]

* Thanks to Gavin Sheridan at TheStory.ie for this source.

Dear Ralph...

2011-09-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

Thank you for your reply which I posted here yesterday. I was happy to post it but find that many questions remain unanswered.

Here's a page from Magma European Scripting House Ltd/Magma Films own publicity material which gives some idea of the corporate complexity which creditors are trying to understand. See all of the different companies! [click to enlarge]

You see, there is no mention of Magma European Scripting House Ltd at all. And one might therefore be forgiven for thinking that Magma Films was the company group name and that the other companies were subsidiaries.

But, as you say, Magma Films is not a limited company, it is a trading name. But is it a trading name solely of Magma European Scripting House Ltd?

Of course this information (still on the Magma website today) is probably somewhat dated now. It was accurate in early 2008, which is around the time that Niko - Way to the Stars aka The Flight Before Christmas was completed.

Although the project originated in Finland I believe Magma Films/MESH Ltd had a significant co-production role on both the English language and German versions.

Am I right in thinking that Eglinton Street Productions Ltd was the Special Purpose Vehicle company through which the film utilised our Section 481 tax break? Its accounts shed some light on Irish spend and fees. [click to enlarge]

With fees like these I wouldn't have thought that the key people in the company would have had any difficulty buying shares in any Magma business. In any case, what would the shares be worth now?

You say Magma European Scripting House Ltd sold Ulysses Filmproduktion GmbH, Germany, "to the key people in 2008."

You don't say what the consideration was but perhaps you can advise me if it was greater than €50,000 and if the price took account of the value of Niko rights and merchandising in Germany which I presume were held by Ulysses Filmproduktion as German producers of the film?

Nor do you intimate that Ulysses Filmproduktion GmbH's managing director, possibly one of the "key people" to whom the company was sold, is related to you.

Ulysses, presumably, would be one of the co-producing companies to whom MESH's rights would revert were it to be wound up?

And perhaps it's worth observing too that Ulysses has a subsidiary office in Bremen which shares an address with Molten Rock Media GmbH, co-producers of the 'Jack Taylor' series.

That's the company actually founded two years ago, in 2009 according to its website, where you say you are "part time employed" although the company's website today says you are the CEO: http://moltenrock.eu/Credits.html Molten Rock Media GmbH, Feldstraße 58, 28203 Bremen, Germany. T +49 421 69 62 55 20 F +49 421 69 62 55 29 info@moltenrock.eu www.moltenrock.eu HRB 25760 Bremen USt-IdNr. DE 815104900 CEO Ralph Christians

It's possible that it is a part time position although a number of pictures like this on the internet may suggest it is a little more hands-on. [click to enlarge]

[filmecho/filmwoche 04/02/2011]

You have said that rights to the 'Jack Taylor' productions and other projects "were never in Mesh", even if they have been characterised as such by funding agencies such as the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland or MEDIA?

I don't think there's any doubt that back in 2006 the rights holder in Niko - The Way to the Stars was MESH Ltd? Certainly Eurimages credits it as follows: Way to the Stars (The) Original title : Tie Tähtiin Directed by Michael Hegner& Kari Juusonen (DK & FI) Feature Film for children Awarded: €600 000 Coproducers: ANIMAKER OY (FI) ULYSSES GMBH FILM- UNDFERNSEHPRODUKTION (DE) A FILM (DK) MAGMA EUROPEAN SCRIPTINGHOUSE (IE).

It would appear, therefore, that MESH then owned the production in two ways - firstly as Irish co-producer, and secondly through its ownership of the German co-production subsidiary.

So, how were rights in story, characters etc assigned to Magma Productions Ltd (renamed Tidal films Ltd in April of this year) so that it could apply for funding and raise Section 481 finance for Niko 2? Especially when, as you say, "in animation the back catalogue and the spin-off and remake rights have a long shelf life."

Ralph replies...

2011-09-12T07:01:00.000-07:00

I had an email from Ralph Christians in response to my last post. I replied to him as follows -
Where a funding agency has officially noted 'Magma Films', or 'Magma European Scripting House', or 'Magma Productions' as the beneficiary of a decision then that is what I have written. This accounts for the information I have given for the BAI decision and MEDIA decisions in favour of the 'Jack Taylor' project(s).
I will add your statement that these were never MESH projects. If there is anything I have written that is inaccurate or requires a rebuttal from you then please advise me.
I think confusion has arisen because the name 'Magma Films' was the name in general usage for all your undertakings in Galway athough it may not have been the production vehicle for all of your output and, in any case, it is a business name rather than a limited company.
I appreciate what you are saying in respect of production and foreign investment over the years and, to be fair, a lot of that is from public sources of funding, including MEDIA, Film Institutes, Eurimages and public broadcasters. I also appreciate that you have been candid over the years about the viability of the production sector in Ireland.
I have written previously - without any reference to Magma - about what I believe is a fundamentally flawed business model in the industry (and not just in Ireland), in particular about how there is hardly any self-sustaining business after 18 years' State support.
I have looked into what value remains in the winding up of other companies in the business, companies with what might be termed 'back catalogues'. What I have learned is that it's one thing to have 'back catalogue' assets which are valued on the books for accounting purposes and it is quite another to find out, independently, what the rights might actually realise in the market. Almost inevitably the market price is a fraction of the accounting valuation.
Then there is the matter of charges, mortgages and debentures of one kind or another held by lending agencies, financiers and insitutions all of which have to be discharged either from earnings or by further borrowing. And any revenue that flows from rights is almost inevitably shared to greater or lesser extent with co-producers and/or co-financiers.
I would be happy to publish any response from you to these general issues, together with any clarification of the position with regard to MESH/Magma Films, its co-production partners and financiers, and the assets at the company's disposal.

To which Ralph has replied -
The situation is not so complicated.

Magma European Scripting House (MESH), with the CRO-registered trading name "Magma Films", had gathered rights (mostly on international animation series) and live action co-productions like "Foreign Exchange" for many years. All coproducers were from USA, the Nordic Countries, Benelux, France, UK and Germany and not corporately linked to MESH. Especially in animation the back catalogue and the spin-off and remake rights have a long shelf life.

Then we decided to make MESH the rights holding company and founded Magma Productions Ltd.

One of the resons was, that the MESH assets were valued by our auditors at 5 Million Euro, which gave a very high value to the company. But I wanted to introduce a social system where the key people in the company would own shares as well. This was only possible through a new company, otherwise they would have had to pay hard cash for paper value.

From then on all productions were developed and produced by Magma Productions.

Ulysses Northern Ireland is a Magma Productions subsidiary for producing in NI.

Ulysses Music Publishing Ltd is a subsidiary of MESH, because it had gathered music rights.

Ulysses Films Germany was founded by MESH eight years ago and sold to the key people in 2008.

Molten Rock Media GmbH in Germany was founded 3 years ago and is not linked to MESH or MP, I am part time employed there because of my experience in international coproductions. And every production Molten Rock has done so far brought benefit to Irish projects and employed Irish people even in Germany.

For every Section 481 operation in the last 16 years we had to found a Special Purpose Vehicle (according to Irish Revenue regulations) and we never ever had any difficulties with compliances.

Magma has contributed over 80 Million Euro to the economy in the West of Ireland, most of it market money from broadcasters and distributors, most of it foreign investment.

I wish that more companies would be so creative, pro-active and professional to get more projects done in the West on an international level with global exploitation potential. And put Ireland on the map.

Best regards
Ralph

Assets, Rights & Responsibilities

2011-09-08T06:53:00.000-07:00

Local press in Galway has reported on a letter sent to Magma Films creditors at the end of August.

The letter was issued not long after Magma was obliged to file accounts for 2008. Had it not done so it might have been struck off by the CRO. To be clear, the company concerned is Magma European Scripting House Ltd (MESH) which trades as Magma Films. According to local press it owes creditors €5.5m and made a loss of €4.2m in 2008.

Magma Productions Ltd, a company which shared directors and an address with MESH/Magma Films, changed its name to Tidal Films Ltd back in April, about a month after creditors became aware of the extent of financial difficulties at MESH/Magma Films.

Around the same time the Irish Film Board clarified a number of loan decisions on its website, changing the recipient from Magma Films to Magma Productions. This may have been in response to queries from creditors who wondered how a company in difficulty that had not filed annual returns for three years could still be a beneficiary of loan decisions.

Apparently Magma Films was not a beneficiary of the listed decisions but the inaccuracy might well have inadvertedly given a false impression of the company's well-being.

Tidal Films Ltd (Magma Productions) is currently co-producing Niko 2 - A Family Affair with public funding support from Eurimages, MEDIA, and the Irish Film Board, among others. It is a Finnish/Danish/Irish co-production.

In addition a Section 481 vehicle company, Niko 2/Niko Film Productions Ltd, was established last month to access the tax break for Irish spend on the film, believed to include areas of animation, voice casting and recording, post-sound and original score. Budget is reportedly over €7m.

I have gone into this detail to try to bring some clarification to the confusion that may exist between interelated companies that had similar names and personnel and may have shared offices in Galway.

Indeed there are other interelated companies that may, as occasional co-producing partners outside the jurisdiction, have some bearing on the situation concerning MESH/Magma Films creditors. Ulysses in Belfast and Ulysses GMBH Film-Undfernsehproduktion in Germany, for instance, and Molten Rock also in Germany. (See some of my earlier posts on Magma for more detail).

The main point of the recent letter to creditors from company director Ralph Christians is to tell them that they stand to get nothing if a liquidator is brought in and MESH/Magma Films is wound up. This would result because, the letter maintains, rights in the company's productions would revert to its co-producers if the company were to close.

The letter claims that this is a standard clause in co-production agreements. The upshot is that creditors are being asked to waive interest on the full amount they are owed in the hopes that sales will bring in some revenue if the company is not wound up. I have heard that MESH/Magma Films did something like this previously when some people who worked on The Summer of the Flying Saucer (2007) were asked to waive some of the amount they were owed.

The letter does not state if there is or was any shared corporate relationship - directors or shareholders, for example - between MESH/Magma Films and any of its co-producing partners overseas - partners to whom some of the rights might revert.

Nor does it give an independent valuation of its rights or IP assets and, crucially, it does not detail the extent to which its assets are subject to charges arising from production loans, borrowing, etc. Nor does it state if any rights, assets, properties or shares in other companies have been disposed of by MESH/Magma Films in recent times. In fact it seems unusual that the proposal is being put to creditors without fully up-to-date accounts.

One can add to all the confusion the situation concerning projects like, say, the 'Jack Taylor' adaptations of Ken Bruen novels. The second series, currently airing on TV3 is, I believe, credited to Magma Productions (now Tidal Films) but MESH/Magma Films must have had the rights when it initially received €150,000 in funding from MEDIA (Broadcast) for the project. *(update below) Furthermore, the co-production company is Molten Rock, a related company in Bremen, Germany.

So, which Irish company holds the option and owns the rights to these Ken Bruen books and characters? And if that company were to be wound up would that mean that these rights would automatically revert to the German co-producer - a related company? And could the German company not waive the relevant clause in the co-production agreement?

And a bigger question - if intellectual property assets are commonly heavily burdened with charges and rights in them are ceded to co-producers if a production company is wound up, then surely some of the major planks and processes of public funding policy in the sector have to be re-examined?

In particular, since Magma Films and Little Bird (two of its substantial beneficiaries) have collapsed, the history of the IFB's Company Development Initiative established with Anglo Irish Bank needs to be examined before any scheme of funding is put in place to bolster production company sustainability.

*update
Under the MEDIA scheme Support for Television Broadcasting of European Audiovisual Works Magma European Scripting House received approximately €150,000 for The Guards (aka Jack Taylor) in 2009.
In November 2010 Magma Productions received €384,000 under the same scheme for Jack Taylor: The Pikemen/The Magdalen Martyrs which is the series currently running on TV3. This amount was reportedly 12.47% of the co-finance.

Round 9 of the BAI Sound & Vision fund (June, 2010) included the following decision - Jack Taylor - The Magdalen Martyrs. Magma Films. English. Drama. Contemporary. TV3. €200,000 12% (of budget); 2 x 45 mins

This information is from the officially announced funding decisions. My understanding is that most funders will only offer money to the rights holder. Where creditors would like some transparency is whether or not the rights were initially acquired or optioned in one transaction by one company.

12/Sept/2011 Ralph Christians has emailed me to say, "Magma Productions Ltd was founded seven years ago and produced shows like Paisean Faisean or the animated movie Thor or the Jack Taylor films. The rights for these projects were never in Mesh."

From the series production home page http://jacktaylorfilms.com/contacts/
MAGMA PRODUCTIONS: Clodagh Freeman, Producer,
16 Merchants Road, Galway, Ireland. Tel: +353 (0)91 569142. Fax: +353 (0)91 569148 E-mail: clodagh@magmaworld.com Web: www.magmaworld.com

MOLTEN ROCK MEDIA GmbH: Ralph Christians, Executive Producer
Feldstrasse 58, 28203 Bremen, Germany. Tel. +49 (0)421 69625522 Fax +49 (0)421 69625529 E-mail: ralph.christians@moltenrock.eu Web: www.moltenrock.eu

The full letter follows.

Page 1

Page 2

BAI Sound & Vision Round 11 drama results

2011-09-06T07:49:00.000-07:00

Announced today. Drama projects listed here by: Title, production company, language, genre, broadcaster- public or commercial, amount, max percentage of total budget. Interesting that At Swim Two Birds is with TG4.

An Bronntanas
ROSG
Irish
Drama
Contemporary Society
TG4 Public
€725,000.00 (26%)

At Swim Two Birds
Parallel Films
English
Drama
Arts/Culture
TG4 Public
€500,000.00 (8%)

In Denial
Fubar Ltd
English
Drama
Contemporary Society
TV3 Commercial
€155,000.00 (85%)

Life's A Breeze
Fastnet Films
English
Drama
Contemporary Society
Setanta Sports Commercial
€420,000.00 (21%)

Oícheanta Sí
Abú Media Teo
Bi-lingual
Drama
Arts/Culture
TG4 Public
€375,000.00 (30%)

Scup
Stirling Film and TV Productions Limited
Irish
Drama
Contemporary Society
TG4 Public
€225,000.00 (22%)

Trivia - Series 2
Grand Pictures
English
Drama
Contemporary Society
RTÉ Public
€320,000.00 (32%)

Another fine mess...

2011-08-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned in previous posts the depths to which industrial relations have descended in film and television production. A bad case - if ever an example were needed - of the tail wagging the dog.

I'm posting below the letter issued by Screen Producers Ireland to Irish film and television crew members.

Bear in mind, as you read it, that the interests of the few are not the same as the interests of the many. A statement that applies as much to producers as it does to crew members.

Page 1 - click to enlarge

Page 2 - click to enlarge

Page 3 - click to enlarge

Previously on this issue...
More Shop Talk
A Plea For the Facts
Minimum Rates
Closing the Shop

No one shouted Cut!

2011-08-20T07:48:00.000-07:00

I was in the process of writing a lengthy post in response to the Creative Capital report when despair got the better of me.

Suffice it to say there is no examination in the report of the profitabiltiy of Irish audiovisual companies, nor of their sustainability in the absence of State support.

Nor is there any accounting for where all the public money has gone over the last 18 years, a sum greater than half a billion Euro. Yes, it can be said that it mostly went into development and production but what value remains? A very few good films but is it, in effect, a bad loan book?

The report concludes with forty-two recommended initiatives under six headings. Only one of these initiatives is to be led by industry - IBEC is tasked with establishing a piracy prevention and policy group. The other forty-one initiatives are to be undertaken by agencies in the public sector either singly or in combination.

The entitled folks of the Irish film industry ask not what they can do for the country but what the country can do for them.

The title of this post paraphrases the title of a book written by John Healy, 'No One Shouted "Stop"'. He was writing about a period of decline in his homeplace, Charlestown, Co. Mayo and the political system which failed to address it. An irony insofar as he was very much a chorusmaster for the kind of politics which has the country where it is today.

Our film policy is no different in its deficiencies and there is remarkably little questioning of it. We are easily distracted by Sean Penn's funny hairstyle, Steven Soderbergh's action antics, Glenn Close's gender-bending, or Gerard Depardieu's shakes on a plane. It's easy to forget that we're footing the bill, whether the PR be good or bad.

At a time when industrial relations in the business have descended to something near anarchy - an outcome, in part, of gross failure to examine the effects of an overly generous co-production policy and of pursuing that policy as if the state were itself a producer - the last thing we should be doing is wasting the little money we have on profligate or hubristic policies.

The late Peter Mair's talk at the MacGill Summer School is printed in part in today's Irish Times. I'm not convinced that many people involved in film will read it and perhaps even if they did read it they might think it has nothing to do with them.

This line from his talk is as valid for our film policy as it is for so many other areas of our public spending - Partly because of the tradition of being hostile to the State and wanting to take advantage of it, we see the State as something you can milk for your own benefit, rather than something you sustain and contribute to.

Practices in the Irish film industry are, right now, as mendacious and meretricious as they have ever been. It's a veritable audiovisual milking parlour and the Creative Capital report does nothing to address the endemic problems.

Nobody wants to go on the record about bullying, intimidation and harassment, or golden co-production handshakes, or the sort of corporate sleight of hand that closes one door against creditors while opening another door to carry on business as usual with the State.

There is of course a contradiction to the title of this post. Someone did shout, Cut!. That someone was Colm McCarthy and we all recoiled in horror because it would be wrong to do away with the Irish Film Board.

It would not be wrong, however, to change the way the IFB does business, to restrict and re-focus policy, to address issues of transparency and accountability, to prevent even the perception that some applicants might be favoured more than others.

In fact it would be folly not to make these changes and contrary, therefore, to the broader interests of the Irish audiovisual sector.

Asterix et Obollix...

2011-08-17T07:18:00.000-07:00

Well what else can we call it after M. Depardieu's aerial faux pis?

Report published...

2011-07-28T05:39:00.000-07:00

The new audiovisual industry report has just been published - final title: Creative Capital - Building Ireland's Audiovisual Creative Economy.

Read it at this link and see what you think.

Shop Talk

2011-07-27T06:10:00.000-07:00

Back in April I wrote a post, 'Closing the Shop?', triggered by stories I had heard about the implementation of the agreement reached by producers' organisation (SPI) and the freelance film technicians' union (SIPTU) in early Autumn last year. This was after ten years of on-again off-again negotiations.

Since then, at the beginning of June, I wrote an as yet unpublished piece for Film Ireland in connection with some of the issues around which there is almost a code of silence in the industry. One of the things I cited was the new agreement. I wondered that it had not been published (I published the pay rates myself here). And I went on to surmise that Clause 3 of the agreement might not have been shown to the Competition Authority.

Now there is a briefing in circulation for producers on the implementation (or should that be the impossibility of implementing that aspect) of the agreement. If this was crystal clear to this layman then how can it possibly have escaped the notice of everyone involved in a process which took all of ten years to conclude?

The briefing goes as follows -
In August 2010, Screen Producers Ireland and SIPTU signed the Comprehensive Agreement for the Feature Film both TV & Cinema & Television Drama Industry in Ireland. This agreement governs the rates of pay and the terms and conditions of shooting crew employed in the production of feature films and TV drama in Ireland.

Since signing the agreement a fundamental issue has arisen with the implementation of Clause 3. This clause is titled “Recognition of parties to this Agreement” and part of that clause reads as follows: ‘For its part the Company agrees to recognise SIPTU as the sole negotiating body for all shooting crew workers covered by this agreement. It shall be a pre entry condition of employment for all shooting crew covered by this Agreement that they become and remain benefit members of SIPTU’.

In discussing the implementation of this clause, SIPTU were of the view that any crew member who was not a member of the union, could not be employed on productions being made by SPI members.

SPI now understands that it would not be constitutional for our industry to impose union membership on existing or future employees, particularly if those employees have worked in the industry for a long period of time. Therefore we cannot agree to the implementation of this clause as proposed by SIPTU. We have set out to the union how we intend to operate Clause 3 and it has also been referred to the Film Industry Arbitration Tribunal which is the dispute mechanism under the agreement. If it is not possible to reach agreement at the Film Industry Arbitration Tribunal, it will go through the normal dispute procedures under the LRC and the Labour Court and SPI will undertake that its members will comply fully with any recommendations issued.

In the interim period, it is important that producers operate Clause 3 in accordance with what we have outlined to SIPTU. That is;
1) Production companies will employ crew subject to them being suitably qualified;
2) Production companies will inform crew in writing of the agreement and particularly Clause 3 (this can be done when start forms are being issued);
3) Production companies will facilitate SIPTU in arranging on-set meetings with crew;
4) Production companies will provide unit and cast lists to the union per Clause 15 (telephone numbers, addresses and any other personal data should not be included as this is a breach of the Data Protection Act);
5) If requested, production companies will obtain consent from employees that their contact details can be passed to SIPTU and they will pass this information on;

To be clear, SPI understands it is a matter for crew alone whether they wish to join a union. The industry does not and cannot discriminate on the basis of membership or not of a trade union.

Under Clause 15 of the same agreement it is important that every production provides SIPTU with the pre-production information set out in the agreement and that this is done at least four weeks prior to the proposed shoot date.

SPI is committed to the 2010 Shooting Crew Agreement and hope that the issue surrounding Clause 3 can be agreed by the parties.

Put this sorry tale together with some of the other 'issues' I hear of - the employment of stand-bys, for instance - and you get a picture of mutually assured dysfunction in an industry already under tremendous competitive pressure from overseas.

The film industry 'Get A Grip!' campaign starts here.

New Report....

2011-07-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

Building Ireland's Audiovisual Trade & Economy 2011-2016

Due any day now...

The Guard steals a bundle

2011-07-13T05:08:00.000-07:00

A very, very successful opening for The Guard from Element Pictures over the weekend. It launched at 55 cinemas in the Republic and 16 cinemas in Northern Ireland. The total, with Thursday previews, came to €528,817.

This bodes very well for its longer term prospects in Ireland - an estimate up to €2.5m seems reasonable, particularly if it plays well with the older demographic throughout the country.

If there is a slight note of caution it must be that only 5% of the total was earned in Northern Ireland, which is well below the average for most successful releases. It might also serve to dampen expectations of major success in the UK when the film is released there in a month's time.

That said, time, word of mouth and counter-programming might all work in its favour.

Funding decisions

2011-07-13T04:56:00.000-07:00

July 7th production and development funding decisions from the Irish Film Board

[Project Director Writer Production Company Funding Award]

Development
First Draft Loans
Found Ailbhe Keogan & Michael Kelly €16,000
The Good Heart Darragh Byrne Eoin McNamee & Darragh Byrne €16,000

Fiction Development Loans
The End Of Romance Trish McAdam Soho Moon Pictures €26,000
Mount Vernon Paul Mercier Anne Gately & Paul Mercier Mary Hick Productions €14,000
City Of Bohane Kevin Barry Parallel Film Productions €50,000
Moscow Never Sleeps Johnny O'Reilly Johnny O'Reilly Blinder Films €15,000
Grooskill Mark O'Connor Mark O'Connor Vico Films €10,000
The Vehicle John Butler John Butler Treasure Entertainment €18,000
30 Eggs Eoin J. O'Connor Treasure Entertainment €18,000
The Price Of Desire Mary McGuckian Mary McGuckian EG Productions €20,000
An Bronntanas/The Gift Tom Collins Paul Walker & Tom Collins DeFacto Films €20,000
An Ocean View Richie Smyth Richie Smyth The Cannibal Corporation €24,000
Byzantium Neil Jordan Moira Buffini Parallel Film Productions €30,000
Good Vibrations Lisa Barros D'Sa & Glenn Leyburn Glenn Patterson & Colin Carberry Candervibes Limited €12,000
Run & Jump Steph Green Ailbhe Keogan Samson Films €10,000
Where We'll Never Grow Old Ivan Kavanagh Ivan Kavanagh Ripple World Pictures €15,000

Animation Development Loans
Whiplash Darragh O'Connell Shane Morris & Ben David Grabinski Brown Bag Films €30,000

International Development
Faultline Terry George Ed Burns Enough Dynamite Productions €30,000

Production
Fiction Feature Films
The Vehicle John Butler John Butler Treasure Entertainment Provisional Offer Of Commitment
The Clown Conor McMahon Conor McMahon Fantastic Films €600,000

Animation
Song Of The Sea Tomm Moore Tomm Moore & Will Collins Cartoon Saloon €750,000
Documentary
Unbreakable Ross Whitaker True Films €10,000
Shem The Penman Sings Again Padraig Trehy Poolen Productions €15,000
A Travellers Tale Sé Merry Doyle Loopline Films €10,000
America: The Irish Continent Anna Rodgers CR Entertainment €8,000
Panti Conor Horgan Blinder Films €5,000

Prices, what prices?

2011-07-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Back in March, in a brief scan through the new 'Progamme for Government' looking for film-related nuggets I mentioned that the exhibition trade would be glad of the proposed reduction in the 13.5% VAT rate.

The Government yesterday confirmed a reduction in the rate to 9%. This will mean a reduction in the VAT take from cinema tickets of about €5.3m (from around €15.9m to €10.6m) in a full year.

A €10 cinema ticket should now be €9.60, or less if the trade really want to reverse what appear to be faltering admissions this year.

Culture and the stories we tell ourselves...

2011-06-21T06:56:00.001-07:00

Stories We Tell Ourselves is a study undertaken for the UKFC (now folded into the BFI) which examines the Cultural Impact of UK Film 1946-2006. Its authors were invited to Dublin by the Irish Film Board for a panel event Beyond the Box Office which took place in the IFI a week ago. It was intended, I think, as a possible point of departure for a discussion about Irish film culture, a discussion we seem to have assiduously side-stepped for nearly two decades despite the fact that film is an aspect of cultural policy rather than industrial policy.

The first point to reflect on here is that the resolute focus is 'film', not 'cinema'. It's a fundamental distinction because it separates the art form from the social aspect of the audience's initial engagement with it. I worry that there's a subtext here which seeks to downgrade the cultural importance of the cinema audience. Yes, it's undoubtedly true that our film and cinema culture is highly permeable to external cultural forces but that is all the more reason to admit its influence and to challenge it with our own output.

The title of the event itself - Beyond the Box Office - reinforces the film/cinema distinction but it is ambiguous as whether this has to do with cultural legacy, and its measurement, or a concession of the social arena, the cinema, to the output of an other, dominant culture. And it's not suprising, perhaps, that such a debate should be taking place at a time when the cohesive social audience for cinema, and television, is at once breaking down and reshaping itself across national borders, especially in the anglophone world.

Here in Ireland the heavy stress on measurable cost-benefit analysis of state funding and spend in the economy has long been a way to avoid discussing market outcomes, the quality of the films that have been made with public money, and their cultural value. If we are to begin a real discussion of Irish film culture then please let it not be for strategic political reasons.

The UK study was set in motion by the then UKFC Chair, Stewart Till, but we were not told why the study was commissioned. Nor is it readily evident in the study itself. It is a critical question.

Perhaps the answer can be found between the following lines in the study: Films are routinely reviewed and judged according to their commercial performance, and their impact is also assessed by the marketing sector intent on maximising awareness in order to increase revenues. The idea of identifying and measuring cultural impact is relatively new and less well established. To some extent it challenges commercial performance as the sole measure of a film’s success, recognising that films may have many different kinds of impact beyond triggering the willingness to pay to see them. Films may create extraordinary characters, who live in the memories and conversations of people who have seen them on screen, and perhaps even in those of people who have not actually seen them. (p.23)

The point is undoubtedly true, and it is a point worth making but why is it being made? Not, I hope, as a kind of defense of poor contemporary films which deservedly fail at the box office. Moreover, the point's validity hinges upon how one interprets culture, its impact (and how it's measured, over time), and nationality.

Let's face it, the stories we tell ourselves will sometimes try our patience. The inner voice will tell us we've heard this one before, or that the teller of the tale should stop beating around the bush. Sometimes we seek comfort in the familiar. Occasionally the drip of unrewarded time is part of the storyteller's delivery. They may have a discursive style or a particular way in which they form their tales. It comes - usually if not always - to a question of trust that will be answered either with the audience's engagement or disengagement and, by the end, either a sense of reward or of having been let down.

If we are to start a conversation about Irish film culture then we have to start talking about the quality and content of what we produce, and whether our screenwriters, directors and producers are rewarding the trust being placed in them by the Irish people.

A plea for the facts!

2011-06-17T07:58:00.000-07:00

Almost a month ago I received the following email -
A protest of taxpaying film workers will be held on Thursday 26th May at the offices of Samson Films who have benefited to the tune of almost €3m this year and have not created one quality job in the film industry in contravention of the Film Regulations.
The protest will then move to the offices of the Irish Film Board at Lord Edward Street. The Irish Film Board is, we believe, the last surviving "quango" of the Fianna Fail, Anglo Irish Bank, Galway Tent brigade and their latest stated aims to "actively pursue" foreign co-production investment in Irish films means the bells are tolling for film jobs in Ireland, as it is there are currently approx 40 crew working in this country since 3 weeks ago, not a single crew member worked in film since mid December.
The Film Regulations, SI 357 clearly lay out the conditions for the application of Section 481 Relief. These conditions have not been met on a single film todate and as the Irish Film Board is peopled by industry professionals and lacks balance or indeed transparency film crews who are Irish taxpayers have been left with no alternative but to try to tackle this situation by means of peaceful protest and political lobbying.

I replied with some questions to try to establish exactly what was being alleged:
1. You say Samson Films have "benefited to the tune of almost €3m this year and have not created one quality job in the film industry in contravention of the Film Regulations". Could you expand on this? Is the amount entirely comprised of S481 funds, and for what particular project(s)? And, how do you believe the company has breached the regulations?
2. When you refer to those crew members who may now be working but have not worked in film since mid-December, are you referring to every category of crew and technician or is it an issue only for craft union workers?
3. In respect of SI 357/2008 and the regulations applying to Section 481 Film Relief, what evidence have you for your contention that "these conditions have not been met on a single film to date"?
4. If you have any other factual info to support your campaign I'd be glad to hear it.

I didn't get a reply although I have since been sent a set of photographs of the picketing in Irishtown and Dublin city centre.

I do not know if there is a legitimate basis for this protest. It could be that the eligible spend on particular projects is actually being delivered in the post-production phase. It may be that the protesting workers are not aware, for instance, that workers from other Member States of the EU share the right to work on Irish productions and their wages are considered eligible spend under the S481 regulations. But who knows, unless the facts are out in the open.

What is something of a paradox, however, is the possibility that eligible spend on wages (and any possible tax return to the Exchequer) could legitimately be taken out of our economy by the people who earn it. It would be useful to know to what extent this is occuring on Irish productions and the effect, if any, that it might have on the cost/benefit analysis of public funding which is undertaken each year.

So, the facts and the money trail, if you please!

Solas Picture Palace back out to tender

2011-06-15T05:05:00.000-07:00

The Solas cinema project in Galway has been put back out to tender following various setbacks since the sod was first turned on the site in July 2009. The new tender includes the demolition and reconstruction of a nearby building which, it was claimed, had been damaged during the course of the initial piling for the cinema.

Candidate contractors must first pass a selection procedure before being invited to tender or negotiate. Expressions of interest should be sent by mid-day, July 1st. Invitations to tender will then be issued on (approximately) August 8th.

There are 19 documents associated with the tender on the eTenders website along with further details on qualifying standards and how and where to register an interest in the tender notice.

Title - Construction of Cinema Building, Merchants Road, Galway
Description of the goods or services required - The works will comprise the demolition and re-construction of an existing dwelling on the corner Merchants Road, and the construction of a new four-storey over basement cinema building (total gross floor area approximately 1,150m2) to include 3No. cinemas comprising approximately 330 seats, cafe, bar, bookshop and ancillary facilities together with all associated external works including piled basement and all connections to existing mains services.

from my post about Solas on Jan 19:
The sources of funding I am aware of for the Galway project include, so far -
€2,000,000 ACCESS II (Dept Tourism Culture & Sport, 2007)
€ 1,960,000 Site value, 15 Lr Merchants Rd (Galway City Council, 2009)
€ 750,000 Cultural Cinema Consortium (Film Board/Arts Council, 2005)
€ 650,000 (loan) Western Development Commission, Investment Fund
€ 75,000 Irish Film Board (2007)
€ ?+
-------------------
€6.5m (approx total)

Notes
(i) As of Nov. 2010 Solas had been paid €720,468 in 2009 and €143,642 in 2010 by the Dept. TC&S, presumably as instalments of the €2m ACCESS II capital grant;
(ii) the Arts Council annual accounts for 2008 show capital development grants under the Cultural Cinema heading of €70,000 for Solas Galway Picture Palace and €672,500 for Galway City Council.
(iii) An EC MEDIA Consultation (Oct/Dec 2009) on cinema digitisation states: "For example, in Galway, the local authority invested €2m in the purchase of a site to facilitate the building of a 3 screen arthouse cinema. The Arts Council and the Irish Film Board invested €1.25m; and the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism invested €2m. These investments were for the development of the cinema including fit-out and digital projection equipment."

You Make the Movies

2011-06-15T03:53:00.000-07:00

Fresh press release just in about the 'You Make the Movies' campaign that I mentioned in a post on June 3rd.

Thank YOU For Making The Movies!!!
A pro copyright campaign

The Irish Industry Trust for Intellectual Property Awareness would like to say a huge ‘Go raibh mile maith agat’ to the Irish public, who support the film industry and enable great films to be made. In support of the industry and in acknowledgement of the vital contribution of the Irish public, the Trust are launching You Make The Movies, a pro copyright campaign. Copyright issues are one of the most challenging issues for the movie industry today.

Actress and author Amy Huberman is in full support of the campaign, “Illegal downloads and piracy are killing the film industry. If you love the cinema, keep supporting the real industry and pay for the movies that you want to see. Pirated DVD's contribute to criminal cartels involved in pornography, drug dealing and people trafficking and illegal downloads will simply reduce the number of good films it will be possible to make and for you to see as they take money directly from the film makers' pockets. Help us to protect film making in Ireland so we can all enjoy the films we want to see!"

The You Make The Movies campaign, with a media value in excess of €500k, will be rolled out across outdoor, print and online platforms in an initiative to protect the creative rights and livelihoods of those people working in the Irish film industry. The campaign will include trailers paying homage to some of the most famous film moments in cinema history: Lord of the Rings, The Life of Brian, Sixth Sense, Jerry Maguire, and Jaws. These trailers, directed by Steve Bendelack (League of Gentleman, Little Britain), all feature the line You Make The Movies in acknowledgement of the vital role the public plays in ensuring the continued success of the film and entertainment industry.

Trish Long, Vice President and General Manager of Disney Ireland comments “The campaign is unique in that it involves various sectors of the industry working together to recognise the importance of protecting creative ideas & in helping secure the livelihoods of approx 18,000 people who work in the film & entertainment industry throughout Ireland. We hope that movie & entertainment lovers nationwide will enjoy the campaign & take to heart the message, of which we are absolutely convinced, which is very simply: YOU Make The Movies.

With talent like Michael Fassbender, Neil Jordan, Saoirse Ronan, Colin Farrell and Jim Sheridan renowned on the world stage, the support by the Irish public of the 18,000 people who work in the Irish film industry [incl. exhibition] has a crucial impact, enabling Irish stories and talent to be brought to a global audience.

“The initiative highlights the importance of intellectual property rights in also sustaining the wider Irish film and gaming industry which has a turnover in excess of €700 million” says Tom Byrne, Country Manager-Ireland, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. “The home entertainment side of the business is a key contributor to the total revenue of a film and it directly employs over 2000 people in retail stores around Ireland. We are greatly encouraged by the positive message of this campaign and believe that the Irish public will respond equally positively to that message and think more carefully about the consequences of purchasing illegal content.”

Mark Doherty of The Independent Cinema Association of Ireland, heartily agrees speaking at grass root level. “Your local cinema has been an integral part of the community in Ireland for generations; it employs over eighteen thousand people from Malin Head to Mizen Head. From Dublin Bay to Galway Bay, young and old, from the usher who takes your ticket to the projectionist up in the booth. We all depend on you! Every time you buy a cinema ticket you help to keep our industry alive. Thank You.”

The Irish Industry Trust for Intellectual Property Awareness campaign would like to thank the following for their support: Carlton Screen Advertising, Delta Display, Bravo Outdoor Advertising, Clear Channel, Creative partnership.

The Industry Trust for Intellectual Property Awareness was set up in 2004 to help promote copyright and inform movie and television fans everywhere of its vital importance. Funded by more than thirty member companies, ranging from film studios to retailers, together the Industry Trust is spreading the word about the positive role copyright plays in protecting creative ideas.

To view the ads and video clips, and for more information on the campaign, check out www.youmakethemovies.ie

Guess the quote!!

2011-06-15T03:18:00.000-07:00

Have a guess - don't use Google! Who said this and when did they say it? The emphasis (in bold) is mine. I do think it's ironic to be asking to be considered as an industry when the industrial argument is actually less convincing than the cultural argument.

Being part of an art form is regarded as being some nebulous, cloudy, self-sustaining bubble that does not need any help. We point out that we are a cost-efficient, cost-positive industry worth more than €500 million euro and employing in excess of 6,000 people, so we need to be regarded slightly differently. We need to include the word “industry” as well as “art form” when we talk about the arts because it is too easy to dismiss it otherwise.

Classic night out

2011-06-14T03:30:00.000-07:00

One of the really interesting aspects of film exhibition that has taken a noticeable turn for the better over the last two years is the growth of specialist or interest group screening nights in diverse venues, mostly in our cities but also around the country.

Shorts, classics, genre titles, undergound and avant garde, experimental, local - small groups of people are gathering to watch and discuss films in a revival of the essentially social quality of cinema. It's something of a renaissance in a particular kind of cinema-going and perhaps it provides the basis for some of what will be discussed at the event outlined in my previous post.

The newest club screening night is the Anti Room Film Club organised by the group of bloggers at the Anti Room prompted by member Megan McGurk who brings a keen, feminist outlook to her film watching.

Every month, we’ll knock heads, select a classic film and invite you all to watch it with us over a drink (sadly, the Anti Room kitty doesn’t extend to buying you all booze, but there may be some treats and prizes). The films will include classics, cult hits, new and old movies, some female-focused, some not. Afterwards, we hope to meet lots of you and have a chat about the film.

Our first film is 1953′s Mogambo, starring Ava Gardner, Clark Gable, Grace Kelly and directed by John Ford. The screenplay was written by John Lee Mahin, based on a play by Wilson Collison. For more background on the film, read Megan’s recent post about it.

The Anti Room Film Club.
Wednesday, July 6th at The Workman’s Club, Wellington Quay, Dublin 2
7.30pm doors open for lights down at 8pm sharp.

'Beyond the Box Office'

2011-06-14T02:58:00.000-07:00

Interesting event at the IFI next Monday.

The British Film Institute and Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board (IFB)

present

BEYOND THE BOX OFFICE
A presentation and debate on the cultural impact of film and its relevance to our lives.

Hosted by the Irish Film Institute

Monday 20th June 2011
3.00 - 5.30: Presentation and Debate
5.30 - 7.00: Drinks Reception

Speakers include:
Pippa Cross - Producer, CrossDay Productions
Ian Christie - Professor of Film and Media History, Birkbeck College, London
John Kelleher - Producer and Former Film Certification Director
Andrew Meehan - Development Executive, IFB
Carol Comley - Head of Strategic Development, British Film Institute
Bertrand Moullier - Senior Consultant, Narval Media
Lenny Abrahamson - Director (Adam & Paul, Garage)

Cinema 3, Irish Film Institute, 6 Eustace Street, Dublin 2
Please note that capacity is limited therefore RSVPs will be based on a first come first served basis. RSVP to marketing@irishfilmboard.ie

The bubble of self-delusion

2011-06-08T03:27:00.000-07:00

I didn't see Fintan O'Toole's documentary on Irish theatre last night but I read his article on the subject in yesterday's Irish Times, here. It's a discussion we should also be having about Irish film.

An excerpt: Apart from anything else, lots of things got better in Irish theatre in the boom years, the variety of forms and companies and the overall standard of production included. It is obvious, nonetheless, that something happened to Irish culture in the era of seemingly endless economic growth. It failed in the most basic way. It was unable to create for Irish people even a vaguely accurate narrative or image of who and where they were.

Mainstream culture ceased to be challenging or confrontational. There were heroic exceptions, but art in general failed to burst the bubble of self-delusion that had such catastrophic long-term consequences.

Film technician minimum rates

2011-06-07T07:13:00.001-07:00

These are the minimum rates of pay for film crew agreed between Screen Producers Ireland and the Film & Entertainment section of SIPTU last year. I thought I'd post them here since they are almost impossible to find online. It also sets out the budget levels for 'small', 'medium' and 'large' productions.

Click to enlarge -

Long Weekend - catch up post

2011-06-03T07:40:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the absence of new content, I've been busy and my ISP has pointed their service in another direction. This catch-up post is coming to you from the side of a small road in rural Ireland. Oh, and the next time someone rabbits on about 'cloud' computing ask them how they rate Irish ISP infrastructure.

-----------------------------
'You make the Movies'
The 'You make the Movies' campaign, a pro-copyright initiative, will be launched on June 8th at the Irish Film Institute in Dublin. It is described as a multi-platform cinema and outdoor campaign with a media value in excess of €500k. An acknowledgement of and a thank you to the public without whose support and backing, great films couldn’t get made. Hence the title of the initiative “You make the movies”. A big thank you from the 18,000 people employed in the Irish Film industry from cinema ushers to film crews to DVD retailers, we couldn’t survive and thrive without public support.
Update: just got word that the launch has been cancelled due to technical issues. More info here
----------------------------
IFI Open Day
The IFI is holding its annual Open Day on June 11. Tickets to a great variety of films will be available on a first-come first served basis. Tickets will become available at 11am on June 11th at the IFI. Tickets will not be available online or by phone. There is a maximum of four tickets per person.
Irish interest includes Tom Hall's Sensation and the new archive acquisition I Can’t... I Can’t.
Arrive early!
Schedule
Jack Goes Boating (12.30pm)
Labyrinth (12.30pm)
Sunrise (12.30pm)
Life, Above All (2.20pm)
Donnie Darko (2.30pm)
I Can’t... I Can’t (2.30pm)
Pierrot le fou (4.15pm)
Meet the Programmers (4.30pm)
A Night at the Opera (4.40pm)
Cell 211 (4.45pm)
The Honeymoon Killers (6.20 pm)
Who’s Afraid of Virgina Woolf (6.40pm)
Sensation (7.00pm)
Armadillo (9.00pm)
Audience Choice Film (9.10pm)
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (3D) (9.20pm)
----------------------------------------
Film Board Funding decisions May 27
Project Director Writer Prodn Co. Loan
First Draft Loans
Belinda Elisabeth Gooch €12,000
Fiction Development Loans
Julia Here Sonya Supple Gildea Sonya Supple Gildea Newgrange Pictures €12,000
Fury Neil Jordan Ronan Bennett Littlewave Productions €50,000
The Ones You Do Juanita Wilson Juanita Wilson Octagon Films €50,000
Purgatory Colm McCarthy Colm McCarthy Fantastic Films €30,000
Dark Zone Tom Cosgrove Fantastic Films €10,000
Mister John Christine Molloy & Joe Lawlor Christine Molloy & Joe Lawlor Samson Films €10,000
The Clown Conor McMahon Conor McMahon Fantastic Films €10,000
Objects Of Interest Stephen Burke Stephen Burke Mammoth Films €25,000
Echo Chamber Rupert Wyatt Rupert Wyatt Parallel Film Productions €44,346

Animation Development Loans
Cosmo Jason Tammemagi Jason Tammemagi Monster Animation & Design €34,000

Fiction Feature Films
Devlin Aisling Walsh Kate Gartside & Aisling Walsh Subotica Limited Provisional Offer Of Commitment
Wayfaring Strangers Stephen Bradley Stephen Bradley Treasure Entertainment €600,000

Fiction Creative Co-production
Sean Fabien Suarez & Juliette Sales Fabien Suarez & Juliette Sales Blinder Films €320,000

Documentary
The Disappearance Ciaran Cassidy Fastnet Films Provision Offer of Commitment
Perverts Guide To Ideology Sophie Fiennes Blinder Films €100,000
Man Versus America Morag Tinto Soho Moon Pictures Provisional Offer Of Commitment
Men At Lunch Sean O'Cualain Sonta Films €50,000
One In Kate O'Callaghan Montrose Media Services €5,000
Deputy Ming Mike Casey & James Finlan Big Yes Productions €15,000
Jimmy Van Damme Ciaran Deeney El Zorrero Films €15,000
The Runner Saeed Taji Farouky Still Films €10,000
The Egg & The Chicken Steve Lock Monford Limited €15,000
A Childish Place Tom Slater Still Films €10,000
----------------------
Weekender
Karl Golden's new film, made in the UK, will be premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival on 23 June. It is being released by Momentum on 2nd September.
----------------------
Cordil
Cordil Construction, a major contractor in the West of Ireland, laid off workers on its sites in mid-May, citing cash-flow difficulties on several major public contracts.
Cordil was the lead contractor on the Solas cinema project in Galway which has suffered significant delays over the last year and a half, and which I posted about here some months ago. It has been reported in Galway that Cordil will not now be involved in bringing Solas to completion.
-----------------------
Xtra-Vision
The leading home entertainment chain is currently almost one month into 100 days examinership, approved by the High Court on May 13. Already some branches have been identified for closure and while illegal downloading has been ascribed some of the blame for the company's travails I would imagine that the general retail downturn and upward-only rent reviews are more of an issue given the poor broadband infrastructure in many parts of the country.
It would be interesting to compare the company's profitability on both sides of the border - 45 of its 180 outlets are in Northern Ireland - and control for local factors such as rents, personnel costs, broadband speeds, etcetera.
---------------------------
Copyrights and Wrongs
The ISPs vs Rightsholders debate is moving once more into the policy arena with a review of the issues announced by Richard Bruton, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation. Dr Eoin O’Dell of TCD is chairing a copyright review committee details of which are available here. Submissions should be sent to copyrightreview@deti.ie by close of business on Thursday, 30 June 2011.
---------------------------
Lighthouse Latest?
The Light House Cinema & Distribution Company Limited (In Receivership). Expressions of interest are sought in respect of the acquisition of the business and assets of The Light House Cinema Exhibition and Distribution Company Limited (In Receivership) by the Receiver, Mr. Neil Hughes. The Light House Cinema, located at Smithfield, is a four-screen, 600-seat, fully equipped state of the art cinema.
Expressions of interest should be forwarded immediately to the Receiver, Mr. Neil Hughes at neil.hughes@hughesblake.ie or alternatively contact (01)6699999
Mr Hughes was appointed jointly by The Arts Council and the Irish Film Board on April 27 according to Minister Deenihan, answering questions in the Dáil on May 11.

Testing...testing...testing... again...again

2011-05-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

Technical issues with Blogger... new posts finally appeared below... it seems it was an upstream cache issue with my ISP.

The State of European Cinema Pre-Cannes

2011-05-09T07:36:00.000-07:00

The European Audiovisual Observatory does valuable work in trying to put some statistical shape on the European distribution and production markets in advance of Cannes each year. The following tables were released today.

It's not an easy task, and while there must be various caveats attached to the tables below they do provide a useful set of data around which to begin a discussion of where the theatrical medium is at in Europe today. I'll have a look at the figures in some detail in my next post.

Table 1: GBO, admissions and national market share in European countries 2009-2010 (est)

Table 2: Breakdown of admissions in the European Union according to the country of origin

Table 3: Number of feature films produced in the European Union (est)

Table 4: Top 20 films by admissions in the European Union in 2010

Table 5: Top 20 European films by admissions in the European Union in 2010

Weekend Trim Bin

2011-04-16T06:20:00.000-07:00

Notice... Due to technical issues with Blogger this new post is not appearing on the opening page, although it is here... somewhere...

---------------------------------------------------

A number of questions linger in the wake of the corporate demise of the Light House cinema in the High Court yesterday:
1. What becomes of the State's €1.95m investment?
2. What happens IFCO's viewing facilities?
3. What of the developer/landlord's 'cultural use' planning obligation?
4. Who are the two competing cinema operators interested in the site?
5. Can any programming restrictions be placed on a new leaseholder of the cinema?
6. Can any small cinema pay €200,000 rent each year and be commercially viable?
7. Are circumstances so changed for 'art house' exhibition and distribution that the numbers no longer add up, especially in leased premises?
8 Does it make sense to divide the audience for 'niche' films between four or five different cinemas in Dublin City Centre?
9. Is the Smithfield location currently too forbidding for a predominantly night-time activity?

update
An anonymous commenter on my last post has contributed the following (lightly edited with my own comments [interposed]):
The "rent increase" line being spun on this now appears to have been a complete red herring, put out to cover up for the unviability of the undertaking from the outset. What is not being reported is that the Balance Sheet for the Light House Cinema at the end of June 2009 showed an accumulated deficit of €241,189, or almost a quarter of a million euro.
[Presumably a good portion of this relates to start-up costs in the first year of operation - IFP]
This loss was made on a *discounted* rent level for 2009 of €100,000 as part of the lease agreement, which it now appears was signed on a discounted rent basis (Zero rent payable in 2008, € 100,000 in 2009; € 200,000 in 2010; € 400,000 in 2011; € 500,000 in 2012 - information from thepropertypin.com). So it appears the landlord was actually subsidising the rent.
[If this is true I have to say it does not seem commercially realistic at all - IFP]
The income from IFCO has been quoted at €120,000 per annum (same source). But even coupled with increased box office receipts, this would not appear to offset either the agreed rent increases or the accumulated deficit to a sufficient degree.
It has also been mentioned that there was no mention of the trading performance of the wider Smithfield Market area in the lease agreement - is this yet another red herring? (Source: propertypin.com)
[This might just be hearsay - IFP]
The mystery remains as to why ongoing revenue support from the state - clearly essential from the outset in order to ensure viability - was not part of the deal.
There is now a pressing need for a full and thorough investigation into the "Cultural Cinema Consortium" - who are people behind it, and how have they been able to mobilise millions of euro of taxpayers' money apparently without any accountability? And further questions need answering - why did Cork's Kino Cinema have to close apparently simply by applying for a grant from this body? What about the Galway project? Is this another folly, another Light House debacle in the making?
[As I understand it the closure of the Kino in Cork arose from a number of issues, including the substantial cost entailed in trying to redevelop a site which offered no economies of scale. The Solas cinema project in Galway is different to the extent that there are no landlord or tenancy costs - IFP]

------------

From the beginning of May the O'Gorman family will be taking a back seat at the Ormonde Stillorgan, a cinema with which they have had an association going back more than fifty years. They will now be concentrating on the Movies@ sites they established with the Spurling family.

It is remarkable the extent to which the Irish cinema trade is still a collection of family-run businesses, aside from occasional interlopers from across the water! The brothers Colm and Ciaran Butler will be taking over the running of the Stillorgan cinema.

The Butlers made their money from Leisureplex (and from the Quasar craze with Ossie Kilkenny and Paul McGuinness) and bought out UCI for some €90m several years back. The Tallaght UCI site was sold for redevelopment and there was talk of their developing new cinema sites in Belgard and Finglas.

Planning for a new cinema complex in Dundrum on former Airfield Estate lands that the Butlers jointly own with Bernard McNamara was knocked on the head last September.

-------------------------

The latest twist in the Magma Saga, following the cancellation on Tuesday, is that the much delayed / protracted Creditors Meeting will now take place 'later this month'.

There are rumours that the ODCE is taking an interest, and some suggestions too that the Revenue might be about to act. One can only assume that any and all professional advisors connected to this affair are anxious that matters now proceed without delay and according to the rulebooks for such things.

It seems extraordinary that the Light House can have been put out of business so quickly and easily over outstanding rent of €157,000 while part of the Magma group of companies owes considerably more, for a longer period, and yet creditors are no wiser now, officially, than they were months ago.

The Light House goes dark

2011-04-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

Following a successful winding up petition sought by landlord/developer John Flynn in the High Court in Dublin this morning the Light House Cinema has ceased trading with immediate effect.

I wrote about the situation previously here and here.

Mr Flynn claimed he was owed €157,000 in unpaid rent and that his tenant was unable to pay it. Mediation between the parties had failed to resolve the dispute which seems to have been forced by the landlord's obligations to NAMA and by the cinema's difficult trading circumstances in the incomplete regeneration of the Smithfield area.

A sad day.

CISAC Dublin 2011

2011-04-14T05:03:00.000-07:00

Here follows a release just in concerning the CISAC international directors and writers 'Authors Conference' taking place yesterday and today in Dublin.

IRELAND CEMENTS ITS PLACE ON THE INTERNATIONAL FILM STAGE AT FILM & TV CONFERENCE IN DUBLIN

As the world of traditional writing and film making collides with the modern age of gadgets, delegates from the film world descend on Dublin for a major international conference

Dublin, 14 April 2011 The Screen Directors Guild of Ireland (SDGI) welcomed a large number of directors and writers from across the globe at a high-profile international conference in the Morrison Hotel, Dublin today. The conference has a particular focus on the issue of authors’ rights as many directors and writers are struggling to have their voices heard amidst the technological clatter and noise.

Irish director and Chairman of SDGI, Ciarán Donnelly, left work on his $20 million TV series “Titanic”, currently filming in Dublin, to welcome these important filmmakers from around the globe who have made some of the most memorable films of the last decade. The conference demonstrated to the international film community that despite a difficult Irish economic climate, and the increasing influence of technology, the Irish film, documentary television and animation sector in Ireland is thriving, and generating significant employment and revenue.

“There is much to celebrate with the amazing success of Irish film and TV recently. Last year was a particularly strong year for Irish film. We punch above our weight time and time again so it comes as no surprise for Irish directors to play such a central role in this international conference. SDGI is a powerful voice for directors in Ireland and now, as the hosts of such a prestigious and influential conference, we can make our presence felt even more strongly internationally,” said Birch Hamilton, Executive Director of SDGI.

She continued, “In the age of gadgets and technological novelty devices the voice and rights of Irish writers and directors are being swept under the carpet. We are here to show that we are a collective voice to be recognised. Nothing evokes passion and emotion like the written word. No gimmick or gizmo can ever be better then the words written by a writer or film made by a director. Smart phones and e-books come and go but the true passion is in the story itself. If content is at the heart of digital culture then it is true that writers and directors are its lifeblood.”

Minister Deenihan said “This conference provides an important platform for writers and directors from across some 35 countries to discuss important global issues relating to the rights of creative authors. It will be an opportunity to share experience and explore issues such as supports to artists, payments for writers and directors, the use of new technologies through to creating a supportive policy environment for artistic endeavour. The economic impact of the creative sector is significant and the arts and innovation are key to rebuilding Ireland’s global reputation and driving recovery.”

This event, the Authors Council of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) took place at the Morrison Hotel in Dublin on the 13th and 14th of April 2011. It is the first time the annual event has been held in Ireland.

Minister of Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht Affairs Jimmy Deenihan, TD, was the keynote speaker and was joined by leading Irish directors such as Darragh O’Connell from Oscar nominated Brownbag Films, Lenny Abrahamson, Oscar nominated filmmaker Juanita Wilson, Shimmy Marcus, award winning Spanish director Imanol Uribe, and Ian Power.

Speaking about the event coming to Dublin, Michael Stubbs Assistant City Manager of Dublin City Council said “We warmly welcome this group of international authors to Dublin. Artists are a critical part of the cultural capital and the economic success of Dublin. Dublin City Council is working very closely with the film industry to support writers and directors making films in Dublin, generating employment and raising the profile of the city internationally."

The event commenced with an evening reception hosted by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr Edie Wynne, in the Mansion House on Wednesday April 13th. This gave Irish directors the unique opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the most influential European film directors and writers alive today.

This historic and prestigious event focused on important common concerns for directors and writers such as how we watch films today, how to remunerate directors and writers for their work and the impact this has on the creative process. In light of new technology developments such as Apple Films, Blu-ray and 3D which are significant for the filmmaking community in all its variety, and ultimately for the public, the conference certainly provoked fascinating questions from the diverse audience.

ENDS

Cannes must be the place...

2011-04-14T04:12:00.001-07:00

Robert Smith, eat your heart out!

Cheyenne is a former rock star. At 50 he still dresses "Goth" and lives in Dublin off his royalties. The death of his father, with whom he wasn't on speaking terms, brings him back to New York. He discovers his father had an obsession: to seek revenge for a humiliation he had suffered. Cheyenne decides to pick up where his father left off, and starts a journey, at his own pace, across America.

It was a foregone conclusion but confirmation comes this morning of a Cannes Premiere for Paolo Sorrentino's This Must Be the Place which had a three week shoot in Dublin last year.

According to France's CNC Ireland contributed 10% to the €20m co-production, meaning - €500,000 from the Film Board and the balance, presumably, from Section 481.

The full Cannes 'Official Selection' -

Opening Film
Woody ALLEN MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (Out of Competition) 1h40

Competition
Pedro ALMODÓVAR LA PIEL QUE HABITO 2h00
Bertrand BONELLO L'APOLLONIDE - SOUVENIRS DE LA MAISON CLOSE 2h02
Alain CAVALIER PATER 1h45
Joseph CEDAR HEARAT SHULAYIM (Footnote) 1h45
Nuri Bilge CEYLAN BIR ZAMANLAR ANADOLU'DA (Once upon a time in Anatolia) 2h30
Jean-Pierre et Luc DARDENNE LE GAMIN AU VÉLO 1h27
Aki KAURISMÄKI LE HAVRE 1h43
Naomi KAWASE HANEZU NO TSUKI 1h31
Julia LEIGH SLEEPING BEAUTY - 1st film - 1h44
MAÏWENN POLISSE 2h14
Terrence MALICK THE TREE OF LIFE 2h18
Radu MIHAILEANU LA SOURCE DES FEMMES 2h15
Takashi MIIKE ICHIMEI (Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samuraï) 2h06
Nanni MORETTI HABEMUS PAPAM 1h42
Lynne RAMSAY WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN 1h50
Markus SCHLEINZER MICHAEL - 1st film - 1h34
Paolo SORRENTINO THIS MUST BE THE PLACE 1h58
Lars VON TRIER MELANCHOLIA 2h10
Nicolas WINDING REFN DRIVE 1h35

Un Certain Regard
Gus VAN SANT RESTLESS - Opening Film - 1h31
Bakur BAKURADZE THE HUNTER 1h50
Andreas DRESEN HALT AUF FREIER STRECKE 1h35
Bruno DUMONT HORS SATAN 1h50
Sean DURKIN MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE - 1st film - 1h41
Robert GUÉDIGUIAN LES NEIGES DU KILIMANDJARO 1h30
Oliver HERMANUS SKOONHEID 1h38
HONG Sangsoo THE DAY HE ARRIVES 1h19
Cristián JIMÉNEZ BONSÁI (Bonsaï) 1h42
Eric KHOO TATSUMI 1h34
KIM Ki-duk ARIRANG 1h40
Nadine LABAKI ET MAINTENANT ON VA OÚ ? 1h50
Catalin MITULESCU LOVERBOY 1h35
NA Hong-jin YELLOW SEA 2h20
Gerardo NARANJO MISS BALA 1h53
Juliana ROJAS, Marco DUTRA TRABALHAR CANSA - 1st film - 1h40
Pierre SCHOELLER L'EXERCICE DE L'ETAT 1h55
Ivan SEN TOOMELAH 1h46
Joachim TRIER OSLO, AUGUST 31ST 1h35

Out of Competition
Xavier DURRINGER LA CONQUÊTE 1h45
Jodie FOSTER THE BEAVER 1h40
Michel HAZANAVICIUS THE ARTIST 1h40
Rob MARSHALL PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES 2h20

Midnight Screenings
CHAN Peter Ho-Sun WU XIA 2h00
Everardo GOUT DIAS DE GRACIA - 1st film - 2h13

Special Screnings
Frederikke ASPÖCK LABRADOR - 1st film - 1h30
Rithy PANH LE MAÎTRE DES FORGES DE L'ENFER 1h45
Michael RADFORD MICHEL PETRUCCIANI 1h30
Christian ROUAUD TOUS AU LARZAC 2h00

Funding decisions - April 13

2011-04-13T13:14:00.000-07:00

Irish Film Board loan decisions released today - some interesting and familiar titles and names in the list, including Neil Jordan (twice) and John Boorman.

Project Director Writer Production Company Funding Award Development
First Draft Loans
Commonwealth Tom Hall Christian O'Reilly & Tom Hall €16,000
A Crack In Everything Mary Kate O'Flanagan €12,000
Miles To Go Patrick Kenny €12,000

Fiction Development Loans
The Grass Arena Brock Norman Brock Screenworks Limited €12,500
The Last Snows Of Spring David Gleeson Jenny Roche Wide Eye Films €5,500
Shrooms 3D Jure Matjazic Brian O'Neill & Paul Bushe Treasure Entertainment €20,000
Life's A Breeze Lance Daly Lance Daly Fastnet Films €15,000
Dead As Doornails Lance Daly Lance Daly Fastnet Films €20,000
Easy Does It Marian Quinn Marian Quinn Janey Pictures €10,000
Secret Scripture Dearbhla Walsh Johnny Ferguson Ferndale Films €15,000
Love Eternal Brendan Muldowney Brendan Muldowney Fastnet Films €15,000
Skippy Dies Neil Jordan Neil Jordan Octagon Films €50,000
The End Of Sleep John Crowley Mark O'Rowe Parallel Film Productions €30,000
Break Point Nick Kelly Nick Kelly Zanita Productions €16,000

Production
Fiction Feature Films
Bailout Roy Knyrim Denis Bartok & Tom Abrams Fantastic Films Provisional Offer Of Commitment
Sanctuary Norah McGettigan Norah McGettigan & Gabriel Vargas Vasquez Venom Limited €600,000
Broken Dream John Boorman John Boorman & Neil Jordan Merlin Films Provisional Offer Of Commitment
The Shadows Colin Downey Colin Downey EMU Productions €100,000
Grooskill Mark O'Connor Mark O'Connor Vico Films Provisional Offer Of Commitment

Fiction Creative Co-production
Call Girl Mikael Marcimain M. Von Hausswolff Von Baumgarten Newgrange Pictures €25,000
Sean Juliette Sales & Fabien Suarez Juliette Sales & Fabien Suarez Blinder Films Provisional Offer Of Commitment
Flowers Of Desire Simon Staho Peter Biro & Simon Staho Subotica Limited €360,000
The Moth Diaries Mary Harron Mary Harron Samson Films €25,000

Animation
The Wordles Owen Stickler Andrew Kavanagh Kavaleer Productions €150,000

Documentary
A Stranger In A Strange Land Pamela Drynan Subotica Limited €100,000
Nightdancers Emille Dineen Still Films €85,000
The Cause Of Progress Chris Kelly Zanzibar Films Provisional Offer Of Commitment
Get The Picture Cathy Pearson Ferndale Films €15,000
The Last Hijack Femke Wolting & Tommy Pallota Femke Wolting & Tommy Pallota Still Films €280,000

Completion Fund
Hammer To Bell Christina Grangos Three Legged Dog Films €10,000

Distribution
Print Provision
Snap Carmel Winters Carmel Winters Samson Films €6,450
Crossing Salween Brian O'Malley Brian O'Malley Rad Rage Films €3,942
Noreen Domhnall Gleeson Domhnall Gleeson El Zorrero Films €465
Pentecost Peter McDonald Peter McDonald EMU Productions €400
Switch Thomas Heffron Thomas Heffron Warrior Films €465
The Crush Michael Creagh Michael Creagh Purdy Pictures €665.50
Shoe Nick Kelly Nick Kelly Zanita Productions €735

Marketing Support
Snap Carmel Winters Carmel Winters Eclipse Distribution €9,780
The Runway Ian Power Ian Power Element Distribution €75,000

Direct Distribution
One Hundred Mornings Conor Horgan Conor Horgan Blinder Films €15,000

Closing the Shop?

2011-04-13T02:22:00.000-07:00

On March 9 I emailed SIPTU's communications section as follows (italics below). I have not received a reply. I may be wrong but I'm getting the impression that there are some efforts being made to enforce the new technician's union and producers' agreement by, in effect, creating a new 'closed shop' in the industry and that there is a degree of collusion in this on the part of producers, SIPTU and the Irish Film Board.

I hope I'm wrong because I do believe in fair conditions for workers and in their right to collective bargaining but I do not believe that union membership should be compulsory.

Email to SIPTU, March 9 -
I'm looking into the current extent of union organisation among freelance technicians working in film and television production in Ireland.

I have heard anecdotally that some 70% of people now working on a freelance basis in the sector are not union members and that this has become a hindrance to the working of the new, recent agreement between SIPTU and the producers' representative organisation Screen Producers Ireland. I have also heard that producers are having to urge non-union member technicians to obtain status with SIPTU, in the absence of worker organisation, when the producers are hiring them.

I note that the SIPTU website (Film & Entertainment Branch) contains no information on the new agreement or on the terms and working conditions that now obtain in the industry. Nor does it make any reference to agreements on 'Special Projects' (those productions with particular budgetary constraints), to Irish language production, or to the extent to which the new agreement applies - is it a national agreement or is it only regionally appropriate (to Dublin).

I have also heard, again anecdotally, that disputes are still arising on productions and, it has been said, that SIPTU representatives have been somewhat heavy-handed in their approach to dispute resolution.

I would appreciate any comment on the above together with a breakdown of paid-up (in benefit) Freelance Technician member numbers for the last five years.

The Magma Saga - ep #5...

2011-04-11T05:46:00.000-07:00

Previously on The Magma Saga...

ep #1
ep #2
ep #3
ep #4

And Now... ep#5
Meeting? What Meeting?

I am reliably informed that the Magma European Scripting House Creditors' meeting scheduled for tomorrow, April 12, will not be taking place. It was to have dealt with matters which were not addressed at a two-minute meeting cancelled or adjourned - depending which part of the room you sat in - on March 18.

Local press in Galway has since reported that the County Sheriff has sent bailiffs on a number of occasions to Magma's premises in order to sieze goods to the value of €14,000, an amount owed to Peninsula Business Services.

It's hard to see how the bailiffs would know which goods they could justifiably seize since there are several Magma companies at the Merchant's Road address and it is, reportedly, only Magma European Scripting House that is in financial difficulties.

The report also states that Magma owes €60,000 in unpaid rates to Galway City Council and that trade creditors are owed €700,000.

If any of these trade creditors are owed money for work on specific Magma film or TV projects they will be wondering why they were not paid in the first instance from project budgets.

Ballyhenry's Seven Year Itch

2011-04-11T04:16:00.000-07:00

Almost seven years ago - July 2004 - Joe O'Connell of Universal Innovations received planning permission for a new film studio complex at Ballyhenry outside Ashford in Co. Wicklow. It was during a period of hotly contested and heavily politicised planning matters debated by Wicklow County Council.

It was said that Ardmore Studios had given its blessing to the new development and would move to the new site but this was later disputed. There were vocal concerns expressed about Ardmore's loss to the local economy in Bray and in October 2004 the permission for the new studio complex was rescinded by the county council.

In November 2009 World 2000 Entertainment was granted permission for change of use of warehousing on the same (now smaller) site just off the M11 and some 35km south of Dublin. These were commercial buildings that were built under the terms of the original July 2004 permission, perhaps with a view to later conversion under change of use, if it were (as it subsequently was) granted.

The November 2009 permission also allows for additional modular buildings for ancilliary studio services to be located on an adjoining site owned by Wicklow County Council: Change of use of approved warehouse building (Reg Refs 04/474 and 09/629) from warehouse use to use as a film making facility, together with use of adjoining Wicklow County Council lands for purposes ancillary to film making to include single storey modular buildings to accommodate set construction - paint shop, plaster shop, metal shop, timber shop, electrical, special effects, chemical store, set assembly, staff canteen and toilets, totalling approx 2536 sqm with associated car parking (approx 40 car spaces) and truck delivery / set down area. Inchanappa South, Ballyhenry, Ashford, Co. Wicklow.

The permission allows for a more realistic 120 car spaces and it came with a particular condition with respect to the ancilliary buildings: The permission for the proposed 3 No. workshops and associated canteen and toilets and holding tanks shall be for a period of 5 (five) years from the date of this order. The workshops and canteen and toilets and holding tanks shall be removed at the end of this period unless, prior to the end of this period, planning permission has been granted for retention for a further period.

The new sound stages will considerably improve on what Ardmore has to offer and if they are up and running in time for, say, a second Camelot series later this year, one would have to wonder if there is enough incoming production spend to support two full-time studio operations?

Would the Irish Film Board be likely to financially support Ardmore again if it were to find itself in difficulty, or perhaps Ballyhenry is Ardmore MKII and the historical Ardmore/National Film Studios of Ireland facility is finally succumbing to obsolescence?

Ballyhenry Film Studios

Irish releases

2011-04-07T03:18:00.000-07:00

A short update on Irish films and co-productions in distribution, many of them feature film director débuts.

At the moment Rewind, Killing Bono, Essential Killing and Wake Wood are doing the rounds. They will be joined by Snap (8th April), Your Highness (15th April), One Hundred Mornings (6th May), The Runway (10th June), and The Guard (8th July).

Lockout - S481 Offer

2011-04-06T04:53:00.000-07:00

Below (in italics) is the text of Dolmen Securities - Wealth Management Section 481 Offer last year in respect of Lock-Out (aka Section 8), James Mather and Stephen St. Leger's film in the works for Luc Besson's EuropaCorp.

The 'Offer' is interesting for the insight it gives into the workings of the tax break in the current taxation climate.

-------------------------------------------

Reducing Your Tax Bill
Did you know that you can get up to €4,000 back in tax relief using the S481 film investment scheme? This tax break provides funding to the Irish film industry. From an investor point of view, it gives valuable tax relief that can be availed of every year under current tax legislation. Last year legislation was enhanced so that an investment of up to €50,000 will receive 100% tax relief in a qualifying S481 film scheme. If you have a single income of €90,000 or a joint income of €105,000 you can qualify for maximum relief.

The process is as follows:
1. You sign all relevant documentation and include a €200 administration fee cheque/bank draft payable to Dolmen Securities Limited.
2. You receive a Film 3 Form confirming the investment in the scheme.
3. You claim back the tax refund direct from Revenue.
4. The result is net tax relief of up to €4,000 (based on 100% relief).

Investors can claim their tax refund as follows:
• PAYE Worker - The Film 3 Form can be forwarded to the relevant tax district and the film relief can be included in the 2010 tax credit certificate. The tax relief will therefore be delivered monthly via payroll in the period up to December 2010.
• Self employed - The film relief can be taken into account when paying your preliminary tax in October 2010.

Borrowing Alternatives
Rather than investing all the capital from your own cash reserves you can borrow:
A. 67% of the total amount i.e. invest €16,500 and borrow €33,500. The €33,500 borrowing is full recourse to the investor but it is insured by funds placed in a defeasance deposit account to cover the capital and interest due on the investor borrowing. These funds are released once Revenue are satisfied the scheme has been conducted in accordance with the regulations for Section 481 (See Risk factors overleaf).
B. 100% of the amount. This has to be structured as two separate loans due in part to the insurance structure of the defeasance account, with a higher interest rate on the smaller €16,500 loan. Repayment of the Capital & Interest on this smaller loan is entirely the responsibility of the individual investor. Most investors use the tax relief to repay this loan and simply retain the excess relief once the loan has
been repaid.
Under options A and B (which are used by almost all investors), Dolmen will arrange the borrowings for you through Bank of Ireland this is subject to the normal credit approval process.

Single Income €90,000 Joint Income €105,000
Investment €50,000 €50,000
Tax Relief €20,500 €20,500

Section 481 operates to provide a return of €4,000 for an investor with €50,000 of income taxable at the top income tax rate (or €2,000 for someone with €25,000 at the top rate). We set out below details of our latest project.

Name ‘Lock- Out’
Type of Production - Full length theatrical Feature Film
Synopsis - "Lock-Out” takes place in a prison orbiting 50 miles above the Earth, which houses 500 of the world's most dangerous criminals. Not only are these wrongdoers kept in orbit, they're also kept asleep by sophisticated technology - until they suddenly all wake up."

Budget
The total budget is €20,000,000

Section 481 Funding
€ 5,800,000 (approximately 116 investors at €50,000 each)

Financed by Europacorp – International French Studio and Distribution company, listed on Euronext Paris, Europacorp specialises in the production of English Language films for worldwide distribution. Founded by its President Luc Besson, Europacorp is one of France’s largest producers releasing between 10 and 15 major feature films every year. Lockout will be fully funded by Europacorp and Section 481 investors.

Writer/Directors
Stephen St Leger and James Mather
Stephen Saint Leger and James Mather have been working together as writers, directors and cinematographers for twenty years. Stephen has been directing commercials since 1994. In the past ten years he has notched up a couple of hundred commercials both in Ireland and abroad. His directing has brought him to many locations including Russia, Australia, East Africa, The Middle East, All over Europe and to the USA, Including major campaigns for Amstel, Vodafone and Permanent TSB.
James Mather was also the Director of photography on numerous features and TV dramas including, the award winning Adam and Paul, Cold Feet and Prosperity. In 2005 James and Stephen wrote, shot and directed the award winning short “Prey Alone” With the success of the short film, Stephen and James were hired to write the screenplay for Universal studios “Lost Squad” based on the highly successful comic book series. In 2009 Stephen and James were hired to co-write, shoot and direct the sci-fi “Lock-Out” with the highly successful Luc Besson and his film studio EuropaCorp.

Producers
Luc Besson The Producer of Lockout is France’s most successful international Producer/Director with Directing credits that include
The Fifth Element starring Bruce Willis and Joan of Arc. Recent Producing credits include Taken starring Liam Neeson and
the international blockbuster movies Transporter, Transporter 2, and Transporter 3 starring Jason Statham.
Marc Libert Line Producer – Marc has been with Europacorp for the last 9 years, initially as personal assistant to Luc Besson and
more recently as a Producer in his own right on Europacorp funded projects.
James Morris Irish Co-Producer – James Morris is the chairman of Windmill Lane Pictures and founder of the original Windmill Lane Recording Studios. He was the lead Promoter in setting up TV3 in Ireland and its first Chairman until the sale of the network in 2006. He is currently Chair of the Irish Film Board

Considerations when choosing a specific section 481 scheme:
A. Track Record
Dolmen is using leading advisors Mazar Tierney and Matheson Ormsby Prentice, both of whom have a proven track record on structuring successful projects such as this.
B. Risk Factors
The only risk factors are non-delivery by the Production Company or non-acceptance by the Broadcaster. We mitigate this risk as much as possible by partnering with Producers who have a strong track record with S481 schemes. This is generally regarded as a medium risk tax based investment. In recent years all Revenue approved standard S481 film schemes have been completed successfully.

Illustration of cash flow under borrowing Option A:
** Assumes investor has at least €50,000 of income taxable at 41%
Any person acting on the information contained in this document does so at their own risk. This investment may not be suitable for all investors. Individual circumstances should be considered before a decision to invest is taken. The information contained in this document should not be taken as an offer or solicitation of investment advice. Approval of loan facility dependent on credit rating.

Amount Invested €50,000 (Maximum annual investment permitted)
Financing Loan €33,500 This is arranged with Bank of Ireland by Dolmen Securities Limited. Own Funds €16,500 Under Option B this too is borrowed.
Total €50,000
Gain on Investment (after receipt of tax credit)
Own Funds (€16,500) This portion is never returned to the investor
instead the tax relief (below) covers this.
Tax Relief €20,500 100% of amount invested qualifies for tax relief
Total Gain from 100% relief ** €4,000

Dolmen Securities Limited is a Member Firm of The London Stock Exchange. Dolmen Securities Limited is regulated by the Financial Regulator. Dolmen Stockbrokers is a Member Firm of The Irish Stock Exchange and The London Stock Exchange. Dolmen Stockbrokers is regulated by the Financial Regulator.
Dolmen Securities Limited, 75 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2. Telephone: 01 633 3800 Fax: 01 633 3618
Warning: Past performance is not a reliable guide to future performance. The value of investments may go down as well as up. This investment is not readily realisable. Forward looking statements and forecasts may not be realised.

A trip down Merlin lane...

2011-04-05T02:18:00.000-07:00

In the context of the currently unfolding Magma story I found myself giving out about corporatised film-making in Ireland the other day. It comes in the wake of Merlin, Little Bird and the various other corporate messes since 1993. Very few people, myself included, have the time, energy or motivation to follow the vast sums of money - public money - that have vanished over the years.

Vanished insofar as there is hardly any self-sustaining enterprise resulting from all the expenditure. It remains, basically, a glorified 'hiring fair' that is hugely subsidised by public money, makes a small number of contractors quite wealthy and gives a tax break to the comfortably well-off.

So, Merlin Film Group, the Concorde Anois studio, the tax relief that had to be clawed back... you can read all about it here. It doesn't get half enough attention and Boorman's involvement in the company was not mentioned at all in the extensive press release announcing his lifetime IFTA gong last year. Funny that, just one year after the judgement.

The Revenue claimed at the start of a long, tortuous legal process that a total of about €23 million in tax relief had gone awol in a number of Section 35/481 funds. This 2009 judgement, Fortune v Revenue Commissioners, followed an earlier case, Bartondale v Revenue Commissioners, in which Merlin failed to convince the court that the Revenue were wrong to withdraw its tax relief. The Revenue won both cases.

The link above is to a specimen case taken by an individual who had his tax relief clawed back because the Revenue claimed the money could not be shown to have been spent in the jurisdiction. They said money was inexplicably transferred to a Phillipines company. The film Angela Mooney Dies Again gets a mention, a film that hasn't been seen much since it was made and ironically, if memory seves me correctly, began life as a project backed by the Arts Council.

There was a great story doing the rounds at the time that Tommy Tiernan wore an un-cleared (un-licensed) Superman t-shirt in the film that later had to be air-brushed out in post production. If it's true it's a text book example of trade-mark and brand clearance issues in film.

Window on Wake Wood

2011-04-03T13:43:00.000-07:00

In the distribution game it is, generally, all about the 'window' - the amount of time a film is available to be exploited on each platform.

In recent times 'windows' have been severely contracting, especially at the niche end of the market. Smaller release titles are increasingly using the marketing push of a theatrical cinema release with reviews and editorial coverage to piggy-back a simultaneous release on other platforms.

In the recent instance of Ken Loach's Route Irish, the film was in cinemas, on Sky Box Office and on two VoD platforms as of March 18.

Here we have the Irish/UK title Wake Wood, from Fantastic Films and Hammer. It was launched in two Irish cinemas on March 25 by small UK distribution outfit Vertigo Films and took €909.00 at the box office on its opening weekend.

Lo and behold the week was hardly out and the Momentum DVD release was available to buy in Tesco for €10.95. It'd be interesting to know how many 'units' they shifted.

The devil is in the detail...

2011-03-31T06:41:00.000-07:00

I see that the Irish Film Board has altered or corrected the funding decision of December 14 last offering a production loan of €150,000 to 'Magma Films'. The entry now cites the recipient as 'Magma Productions Ltd'.

Can we conclude therefore that Magma Productions Limited is a going concern and that 'Magma Films', as some people have discovered to their cost, may be a letterhead rather than a specific company?

I have a copy of this letterheading on a letter that says Magma European Scripting House Ltd. at the footer. I wonder is it also found on correspondence that says Magma Productions Ltd. at the footer?

Northern Exposure

2011-03-30T05:32:00.000-07:00

Ciarán Hinds in Terry George's short film, The Shore

With Ireland's longest duration film festival kicking off in Belfast on Friday I've been sent a timely release about about film activity in Northern Ireland.

Three features - Jump, Whole Lotta Sole and Good Vibrations - are at various stages of production while the new titles Killing Bono, Behold the Lamb and Terry George's short The Shore will all be screened during the Belfast Film Festival.

Jump is in Belfast in the final stages of its shoot. Lisa McGee's script has been a hot project in Northern Ireland for a number of years and Brendan Byrne at Hotshot Films has shown his persistence in getting it off the ground, together with Katie Holly of Blinder Films in Dublin. The director is Kieron J Walsh, also of Blinder, and the film is backed by NI Screen, the Irish Film Board, Firefly Film Sales, BBC Northern Ireland and Bentico Trading Ltd. AV Films will handle international sales.

Whole Lotta Sole is a comedy heist film from Terry George which will film in Belfast in April and May, produced by Mark Huffam of Generator Entertainment. In it hapless gambler Martin McCann falls foul of mobster Brendan Fraser (yes, that Brendan Fraser) and depends on his hostages to get him out of a tight spot. Other cast includes Colm Meaney, Yaya Dacosta and David O'Hara.

Next up is Good Vibrations, the second feature from Cherrybomb directors Glen Leyburn and Lisa Barros D'Sa. Produced by Chris Martin and exec'd by Andrew Eaton the film is based on the true-life exploits of legendary Belfast punk promoter Terri Hooley. The cast is led by Michael Fassbender and Liam Cunningham, and David Holmes is music maestro on the project.

Killing Bono, which filmed Belfast last year as 80s Dublin, is the opening night premiere at the Belfast Film Festival and goes on immediate general release from Paramount. Directed by Belfast native Nick Hamm the film is produced by Generator’s Mark Huffam.

Terry George’s short The Shore will have a gala screening during the festival. The film, which sounds somewhat autobiographical, is the story of an Irish exile (Ciarán Hinds) who brings his adult daughter back to Belfast from which he fled 25 years earlier.

Behold the Lamb, a quirky road movie which won Northern Ireland Screen’s Ultra Low-Budget Fiction Fund finance in 2010 will be the closing night film at the festival. It's directed by John McIlduff who has moved home to Belfast from Paris to launch Dumb Productions.

All of the productions were backed by the Northern Ireland Screen fund supported by Invest NI and part funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

Magma - the tangled MESH in Galway

2011-03-29T02:01:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to work through the intricacies of the Magma meltdown.

Anyone trying to disentangle the myriad companies will find there's a large number of distinct entities in the knot - connected, affiliated or otherwise in business with each other in Ireland and elsewhere. Some of them dissolved (Magmacharta Ltd), others seemingly disposed of (Ulysses Filmproduktion Gmbh), and numerous production service vehicle companies (Thorsday Films Ltd) most of which are dissolved.

The main players in Ireland appear to be Magma European Scripting House Limited (often trading under the business name 'Magma Films') and Magma Productions Limited. Magma European Scripting House Limited (MESH) is the business that is in trouble but it is not entirely clear if any other associated companies may be going out of business.

The creditors meeting called for 9am on March 18 was over (or adjourned) by 9.02am. There was no liquidator present and the many creditors who attended were left pretty much in the dark about the company's affairs. One might be forgiven for thinking it was a fiasco.

It emerged that there are quite a few individuals and service companies working in the film business that are owed what are, to them at least, significant sums of money on foot of work they did for MESH Ltd/Magma Films.

To these creditors can be added the Revenue, Anglo Irish Bank, Allied Irish Bank and other businesses. It is uncertain whether funding sourced from Forbairt and Enterprise Ireland would be subject to a claw-back provision in the event of the closure of MESH

The Irish Film Board is but one of many entities that hold security, debentures or charges against MESH or other Magma companies' assets and productions. The others include Millimages SA and Anglo Irish Bank. It is hard to see how film assets with projected revenues of €5.8m in MESH's 2007 accounts could be realised to meet the company/ies' liabilities if they are already to some degree mortgaged or assigned.

Magma's introduction to Anglo Irish Bank may have been through the Company Development Initiative (CDI), a scheme established by the Irish Film Board and Anglo in late 2001. It was intended to boost the development and business capacity of five production companies, one of which was Magma Films. The three-year scheme was launched in November 2001 with the IFB contributing €3.175m and Anglo contributing €1.9m.

Millimages (Fr) was a co-producer with Magma and Greenlight (De) on a 26x24" animation series called Simsala Grimm 2, a protracted project which I believe started in 2007 and concluded only late last year. The IFB did not back the project and it is unclear if it accessed Section 481 funding.

Creditors are wondering how a company that has not furnished annual accounts since 2007 has successfully applied for loans from the Irish Film Board. One would have thought that an up to date tax clearance certificate and previous year's annual accounts would be a pre-requisite both for applying for IFB loans and for official co-production validation.

Yet Magma Films, the trading name of MESH Ltd, is credited with an IFB production loan offer of €150,000 in December 2010, a development loan of €10,000 in July 2010, a production loan of €85,000 in April 2010, and a production loan of €450,000 in May 2009. Meanwhile, MESH effectively writes off €873,218 of IFB loans in its 2007 accounts, saying repayment is contingent on film earnings that are unlikely to materialise.

MESH is also a beneficiary of financial support from the MEDIA programme of the EU in respect of Oops, Noah is Gone (€50,000 2009), and The Guards/Jack Taylor (c. €100,000 2009).

As to whether another company - Magma Productions Limited (co-recipient this month of €600,000 from Eurimages) - is a viable business, one notes on the register of submissions to the companies office: B47 NOTICE(LETTER) OF RESIGNATION OF AUDITOR REGISTERED 18/01/2010.

This might lend some credence to the story doing the rounds that auditors to MESH Ltd resigned in Spring 2009. Not long after the set of abridged accounts for 2007 were submitted.

The MESH Ltd creditors' meeting has been rescheduled for April 12.

Light House of the Oireachtas

2011-03-28T03:17:00.000-07:00

While we await the outcome of John Flynn's High Court petition to wind up the Light House Cinema in Dublin here's an interesting Q&A exchange between Joe Costello TD and Minister Jimmy Deenihan in the Dáil last Thursday.

The Minister concludes, I hope the Light House will remain open and will do as much as possible to ensure it does. Obviously, I must await the outcome of the High Court hearing next week. In that regard, the Office of the Chief State Solicitor has been informed and is examining the relevant legal documents. It is important to acknowledge that the State’s investment is protected through a charge on the property. This charge allows that if the Light House ceases to operate from the premises in Smithfield in the first five years of its operation - as it opened in 2008, we are well within the five year window - the Minister can choose either the repayment of the State grants or can agree with the Cultural Cinema Consortium which would occupy the building for the remainder of the lease in order that the premises will remain in use as an arthouse-cultural cinema centre.

This is beginning to play out a little like the untimely demise of the Irish Film Theatre (it used to be in the premises now occupied by the Sugar Club) many moons ago. There is no mention of IFCO's lease/rent of Lighht House facilities. A few questions come to mind:
Who would be responsible for the repayment of the State grants, the property owner or the cinema company? Or both of them, jointly and severally as they say in legalese?
Can the Minister reasonably believe that the Film Board and the Arts Council have the resources to occupy the building for the remainder of the lease and run the cinema?
How long is the lease?

Aside from these points the Dáil debate is worth reading for a few other nuggets of information - that it's an absentee, Florida-based landlord, and that pressure from NAMA may have led to the demand for the May 2010 rent increase provided for in the lease.

Update - the High Court has granted the Light House request for an adjournment on the hearing of the landlord's petition. The adjournment is until April 15 and should allow time for the sides to reach agreement. The matter should never really have come to court and I wonder if either party had proposed or rejected a mediated solution.

Rent Hike Threatens Light House

2011-03-23T06:23:00.000-07:00

There's a worrying report in yesterday's Irish Times about a landlord and tenant dispute which is threatening the Light House Cinema with closure. The report does not refer to the potentially serious consequences for IFCO were the Light House forced to close.

In 2009 IFCO moved to Smithfield from its own premises in Harcourt Terrace which it had occupied for 64 years. Those premises and the adjacent Garda Station were the subject of a property exchange by the State for the provision of 215 affordable housing units in the greater Dublin area. The Harcourt Terrace premises have still not been transferred to the developer, however, and are now the subject of a claim against the State amounting to €39m.

Having to move, and faced with the cost of having to build its own new screening facilities, IFCO arranged to lease cinema space from the Light House and it made sense then to lease its new office space nearby.

It may be that IFCO's payment for the use of Light House screening facilities is the revenue pressure point being squeezed by the landlord's insistence on doubling the rent to €200,000 per annum in May 2010.

In the case of the Kino Cinema in Cork the rent paid for use of its facilities by UCC was a critical factor to the cinema's survival for some time. If IFCO's hire of Light House screening facilities is crucial to the cinema's ongoing viability then the thinking about the provision of 'cultural' cinema facilities needs to be re-examined with a view to the running costs of such outlets and the need for regular programme support in the absence of other income.

Update: Thursday March 24 - from the Light House
EVENT OF THE WEEK
This coming week’s main event isn’t a film at all. Most of you know by now that our landlord, John Flynn, has presented a petition for the winding up of Light House Cinema to the High Court, which will be heard by the Court on Monday next week. We’ve been overwhelmed by the expressions of support which we have received from patrons, which we really appreciate. We are hopeful that a settlement with the landlord will prove possible, which will ensure that we can stay. In the meantime, it’s business as usual.

Magma - Eumirages

2011-03-16T03:29:00.000-07:00

A further twist in the Magma tale took place yesterday when Eurimages announced its latest round of co-production funding.

One of the 16 approved feature projects is Niko - Family Affairs by Jorgen Lerdam (Denmark) & Kari Juusonen (Finland). The animation feature was awarded €600,000. The named co-producers are ANIMAKER OY (FI), ULYSSES GMBH FILM UND FERNSEHPRODUKTION (DE), A.FILM PRODUCTION (DK) and MAGMA PRODUCTIONS (IE). Ulysses and Magma are affiliated companies.

It was the only approved project in this round with an Irish-based co-producer. And it is yet another Eurimages round in which there is no Irish-originated project.

The only Irish originated feature film project that has been approved in recent years is As if I Am Not There, an outcome which runs counter to the generous policy of support and reciprocity being offered to non-Irish European projects by the Irish Film Board and Section 481.

I think you'd have to go back four years or more to find an Irish-originated project that filmed in Ireland that was supported by Eurimages. Or should that be Eumirages?

St. Patrick's film

2011-03-15T11:27:00.000-07:00

Quite a few filmy things happening for the National Holiday on St. Patrick's Day. Check the Screen cinema website in Dublin, for instance.

I've been sent a reminder too that the Dublin crime drama Between the Canals opens 'exclusively', as they say, at the IFI on March 18. The film has the unique attribute of being set on St. Patrick's Day in Dublin.

It is, they promise, an action-packed crime drama, and the debut feature from writer/director Mark O’Connor. The film follows three small-time criminals from Dublin’s north inner city in a heart-breaking and occasionally hilarious story of loyalty, duty and masculinity, and features singer-songwriter Damien Dempsey in his debut acting role.

Trailer here, and more info here.

Lotus Eaters for Tribeca Menu

2011-03-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

Alexandra McGuinness's Lotus Eaters is to have its World Premiere as part of the 'Viewpoints' strand at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. 'Viewpoints' offers a snapshot of international independent cinema that immerses audiences in distinctive perspectives. Tribeca runs from April 20 – May 1.

Lotus Eaters was mostly shot in London with some Irish location work in Wicklow and Westmeath. It is co-written by McGuinness with Brendan Grant and co-produced by Fastnet Films who received €100,000 for the film from the Irish Film Board last August.

From the Tribeca press release which credits Lotus Eaters as a UK film: The bright young things of London’s social elite lead an existence as languorous and lavish as it is self-destructive. At the center is Alice, a stunning ex-model unable to keep up with the high standards of living her peers feverishly chase. Alexandra McGuinness’ directorial debut presents a contemporary black-and-white portrait of overlapping cliques of friends struggling to get their lives under control before they fall numb to it all.

Voice and Process

2011-03-14T05:21:00.000-07:00

There was an interesting article by Fintan O'Toole in last Saturday's Irish Times. He discusses the shifting balance between content and technique in theatre. He suggests that training in how to structure the theatrical experience is beginning to impact on the quality of the drama because it seems detrimental to the writer's voice.

I think what's happening is that formalised training processes in theatre are just catching up with long-established practices in film. We should be asking if these formalised dramaturgical and script editorial processes are really fostering and empowering the creative impulse before it reaches the public sphere.

Perhaps the author's voice is less respected when, in theory, anyone with a modicum of talent can train in how to write for either medium? Does a development and production process which seeks to lessen commercial risk then exacerbate the situation?

No amount of Aristotelian analysis can compensate for a lack of substance, which may be less of an issue if manipulative entertainment is the order of the day. But even the highly-structured froth of genre cinema works better and is more original when it expresses an author's particular, complicated take on human existence.

Arguably the result of all the development intervention may be that what a writer wants to say, and the individual character of their voice, gets lost in all the processing activity. The complications are smoothed over. And if the writer starts out with nothing to say, then so much the better?

Well that's the danger, isn't it?

Magma Creditors' Meeting

2011-03-10T03:49:00.000-08:00

Over 70 creditors are likely to attend a meeting at the Salthill Hotel at 9am on March 18 to hear the full extent of the financial difficulties at Magma European Scripting House Ltd.

A liquidator is likely to be appointed to the company which is the umbrella company for Magma Films' operations in Galway. The most recent accounts filed for the company, in March 2009, are for the year ending December 31, 2007.

It remains to be seen if the financial difficulties will affect any of the associated companies' ongoing involvement in television and film projects such as the Jack Taylor Bruen adaptations, and the planned €7m Niko sequel on which Magma is slated to be a co-producer.

Update - March 12
An Anonymous commenter says - Me thinks you know more. Do scriptwriters write on credit and show up looking for 10 cents on the euro? Or is something more strategic afoot?

Dear Anonymous,
No, I wouldn't claim to know any more than that. I had heard rumours of money being owed and chased on a Magma project in recent times but that wouldn't be uncommon in Irish production from time to time.

I wouldn't claim to know what the exact financial relationship is between Magma European Scripting House Ltd and the other companies or businesses with 'Magma' in their title - MAGMA EIRE TEORANTA, MAGMA EUROPEAN HOLDINGS LIMITED, MAGMA FILMS, MAGMA PRODUCTIONS LIMITED.

Nor do I know if there is such a relationship with other companies sharing the same address, among them - ULYSSES FILMS LIMITED, ULYSSES MUSIC PUBLISHING LIMITED, PICTORION SOUND AND VISION LIMITED, or LAKESIDE FILM PRODUCTIONS LIMITED.

Then there are other companies outside the jurisdiction like Ulysses Films NI Ltd in Belfast, Ulysses Film Produktion and Pictorion Magma Animation in Hamburg, and Molten Rock Media GmbH in Bremen that may have some financial relationship, shared directors or co-production roles with Magma companies.

For instance, the Bremen company may be a German vehicle for Magma productions such as the series of Jack Taylor adaptations of Ken Bruen's crime novels. See http://www.moltenrock.eu/ and http://moltenrock.eu/Presse.html and www.jacktaylorfilms.com.

What I can say, as a general observation, is that when film and television production companies collapse, often owing considerable sums of money, the companies' viable projects tend to remain in the beneficial control or ownership of the companies' directors.

These folks then establish new production vehicles for those projects and public funding agencies generally permit or facilitate this to happen. This certainly appeared to happen when Little Bird was wound up and some of their projects in development with the Irish Film Board resurfaced with West Park West (Horses), Caveman (All Good Children) and Soho Moon (Killing Tom and Death and Nightingales).

I cannot say whether such practices are 'strategic' or not. Timing would be a factor, as would be the status of separate development vehicle company(ies), where they exist, because they might not be in financial difficulties.

To give an example of some of the complexities in this area - 'Magma Films' was offered a €150,000 production loan for the sequel Niko: A Family Affair by the Film Board last December (but published only recently). 'Magma Films' is a business name rather than a limited company, although it may be the common usage for Magma's Galway operations. It is not clear which of the companies in the group actually uses it as a trading name or whether that company is in any difficulties.

It does seem to me that viable, developed projects would be considered company assets (like R&D materials) in other lines of business, and would be disposed of on the open market as part of the effort to meet all the company's or group of companies' outstanding liabilities.

A lot might depend on the view a liquidator might take of inter-company and directors' loans within a group of companies - whether these were actual cash transactions or a nominal value that was placed on services provided. And then the question of preferential creditors arises.

Pipe Up!

2011-03-10T02:47:00.000-08:00

The Twitterverse is beginning to heat up with reaction to news yesterday that IFTA is seeking a written apology from The Pipe director, and winner of IFTA's George Morrison Documentary Award, Risteard Ó Domhnaill.

Receiving the Award Ó Domhnaill remarked to the effect that at €300 a ticket for the IFTA Awards there was probably one for everyone in the audience. A joke that played well on the night but the footage has since been removed by IFTA from social networking sites and, I hear, any comment about its removal has been moderated away.

That IFTA is looking for a written apology seems ridiculous and more than a little over the top. Far better that they would fully disclose all income and expenditure for the event, including nomination numbers and income, in order to demonstrate how they have no option but to limit the number of complimentary tickets for nominees and have a €300 ticket price.

And by the way, when it is reported that IFTA is looking for a written apology, who is it that is being referred to - IFTA Academy Limited (Dublin 20), Irish Film And Television Academy (Dublin 20), IFTA Awards Limited (Co. Westmeath), or Irish Film & Television Awards (Dublin 20)? Some are companies, some are business names, but is any of them a legally constituted academy of film and television practitioners? With an elected chairperson or president?

New Broom

2011-03-09T09:33:00.001-08:00

Jimmy Deenihan TD will be the new Minister of the re-constituted Department of Arts, Heritage & Gaeltacht Affairs. Best of luck to him, let's hope he brings a new broom into the Department and questions all the assumptions.

MEDIA Programmes Hearing

2011-03-09T03:43:00.000-08:00

The future of the MEDIA programmes
MEDIA 2007 and MEDIA Mundus
Public hearing 18 March 2011- 9.00-16.00
The audiovisual industry in times of globalisation and digitisation

09.00-09.30 Registration & coffee
09.30-09.45 Opening Speeches
09.45-10.10 Keynote: Marjane Satrapi
10.10-10.25 Introduction and context: Vladimir Šucha
10.25-10.35 First results of online consultation & focus groups: Aviva Silver
10.35-11.30 Panel: Old and new business models for the MEDIA programmes:
o Training: Sophie Bourdon (ATC)
o Producers: Johannes Rexin Heimatfilm and Dariusz Jablonski (Apple Film)
o Distribution: Antonio de Medici (Bim Distribution)
o Animation: Marc du Pontavice (Xilam Animation)
11.30-12.30 Interventions from and discussions with the audience

12.30-14.00 Lunch

14.00-14.25 Keynote: Hengameh Panahi
14.25-15.25 Panel: How to better engage with audiences?
o Film literacy: Charlotte Appelgren (Cineregio)
o Producer: Tero Kaukomaa, (Blind Spot)
o VOD Platform: Alain Rocca, (Universciné)
o Cinema: Claude-Eric Poiroux (Europa Cinemas)
o TV: Piodor Gustafsson (SVT)
o Sales Agent: Michael Weber (The Match Factory)
15.25-16.00 Interventions from and discussions with the audience
Closing

Oh lord, in 3D

2011-03-08T05:35:00.000-08:00

I thought my ears were deceiving me. The radio ad went something like this - 'See Michael Flatley in Lord of the Dance 3D, in cinemas from March 11'

Perhaps there has been a marketing campaign in other media for several weeks and I've missed it because it seems a rather short run-in to an opening this coming Friday, hot on the (ahem) heels of Carmen 3D which opened last Friday.

Funding Decisions

2011-03-08T00:38:00.000-08:00

The first Irish Film Board loan decisions of 2011, made on March 4.

Development
Project Director Writer Production Co. Funding Award
First Draft Loans
The Brave Tin Soldier Colin Downey €12,000
Tell Them Nothing Domhnaill Glesson €12,000
Closed Circuit Ian Power €12,000
Spin City Johnny O'Reilly €12,000
Better Love Conor Horgan €12,000
Nineteen Days And Counting Ann-Marie McCormack €12,000
Immaculate Ray Lawlor €12,000
Fiction Development Loans
S/He's The Dad Charlie McCarthy Charlie McCarthy Icebox Films €18,000
The Mulberry Project Richie Smyth Martin Brennan & Michael B. Jackson Heavens Gate Films €11,000
A Month In The Country John Banville Treasure Entertainment €28,000
Animation Development Loans
Little Caribou Barry O'Donoghue Barry O'Donoghue Barley Films €10,000
Cosmo Jason Tammemagi Jason Tammemagi Monster Animation & Design €16,000

Production
Project Director Writer Production Co. Funding Award
Fiction Feature Films
Honeycomb Imogen Murphy Matt Reynolds Samson Films Provisional Offer Of Commitment
Funny Bones Conor McMahon Conor McMahon Fantastic Films Provisional Offer Of Commitment
Fiction Creative Co-production
Stay Wiebke Von Carolsfeld Wiebke Von Carolsfeld Samson Films €240,000
Milo Berend & Roel Boorsma Berend & Roel Boorsma Samson Films €400,000
Documentary
Showrunners Des Doyle Black Sheep Productions €15,000
Off The Beaten Track Dieter Auner Ikandi Productions €25,000
Muerte & Me Ross McDonnell & Carter Gunn Fastnet Films €235,000
Clientelle John Loughney Still Films €15,000
Stuffing The Tiger: A Jounrey Through The Crash Donald Taylor Black Poolbeg Productions €10,000
Saving The Titanic Maurice Sweeney Tile Films €150,000
Jerry McGill: Very Extremely Dangerous Paul Duane Screenworks Limited €75,000
Completion Fund
Eliott & Me Fintan Connolly Fintan Connolly Fubar €10,000
Charlie Cassanova Terry McMahon Terry McMahon €13,000

Distribution
Print Provision
Between The Canals Mark O'Connor Maek O'Connor Avalon Films €5,486
Rewind PJ Dillon PJ Dillon Carbon Films €8,100
Small Change Cathy Brady Cathy Brady Venom Limited €3,355
Marketing Support
As If I Am Not There Juanita Wilson Juanita Wilson Element Distribution €21,825
Essential Killing Jerzy Skolimowski Jerzy Skolimowski Element Distribution €5,000
Direct Distribution
Between The Canals Mark O'Connor Mark O'Connor Avalon Films €7,200
Rewind PJ Dillon PJ Dillon Carbon Films €15,000

Getting with the programme...

2011-03-07T12:14:00.000-08:00

...or, some snippets from the government-in-waiting's programme - Government for National Recovery 2011 - 2016

• Where appropriate, agency boards will be scrapped and agency managers will report directly to Ministers and their Departments on performance against targets.
• We will go beyond the recommendations of An Bord Snip to rationalise core processes that are duplicated across the public service, by establishing shared backoffice operations for information technology, human resource management payments and entitlement applications, business inspections and procurement.
• We will make substantial cuts to the number of State bodies and companies.
• We will instigate a Government-wide review to identify and eliminate non-priority programmes and outsource, where appropriate, non-critical functions.
Cut the 13.5% rate of VAT to 12% up to end 2013 [The exhibition trade will welcome this]

Arts, Culture and Sport
• We will make strategic policy formulation the primary function of the Department, with line agencies and bodies responsible for policy implementation.
• We will seek to capture some public good from NAMA by identifying buildings that have no commercial potential, and which might be suitable as local facilities for art and culture.
Responsibility for policy-making will revert to the Department, while agencies will be accountable for implementing policy, assessing outcomes and value for money.
All State funding will be subject to the beneficiaries signing up to a dispute resolution service, a code of governance and a new mandatory code of conduct regarding child protection in sport.

Communications
• We will review and update Intellectual Property legislation currently in place to benefit innovation, develop a National Intellectual Property protocol to give clarity about terms on which business can access IP created in Higher Education Institutions, and clarify legislation relating to online copyright infringement and enforcement of rights relating to digital communications.
• We will examine the role, and collection of, the TV license fee in light of existing and projected convergence of broadcasting technologies, transform the TV licence into a household-based Public Broadcasting Charge applied to all households and applicable businesses, regardless of the device they use to access content and review new ways of TV licence collection, including the possibility of paying in instalments through another utility bill (electricity or telecom), collection
by local authorities, Revenue or new contract with An Post.
• We will review the funding of public and independent broadcasters to ensure a healthy broadcasting environment in Ireland.

Who's next?

2011-02-27T10:57:00.000-08:00

Mary Hanafin...
Martin Cullen...
Seamus Brennan...
John O'Donoghue...

People will talk, they'll say the Department of Tourism, Culture & Sport is a political albatross.

-------------------
Some afterthoughts...
Will it stay a separate Department? Become a junior Ministerial responsibility in a larger Department? Have other responsibilities added to it (like, say, Communications) so that it becomes a more important Department?

Weekend trim bin

2011-02-25T08:52:00.000-08:00

* Fascinating piece by Colm Keena in today's Irish Times - since heavily corrected - about former Anglo Irish Bank CEO David Drumm's tax affairs. Anglo's film activity was not mentioned in the piece but it certainly was one way that Anglo personnel dealt with their tax liabilities.

* Major public meeting scheduled for Brussels on March 18 to discuss the future of the EU MEDIA programmes, if they have a future. Information updates on the meeting will be posted here.

* European filmmakers are up in arms about the rumoured abolition of the MEDIA programmes. We refuse, purely and simply, to allow the Media Programme to be abolished, or even to see it merged within another, more extensive programme. We call upon the President of the European Commission to receive a delegation of European film-makers and to do so as quickly as possible. Naturally, this serious challenge does serious harm to creativity and culture, the foundations of our identity and our European values. There's a downloadable petition here which can be signed and sent to petitioncineastes@larp.fr

* Meanwhile several organisations (some of which depend on the MEDIA programme for funding) have written to the EC President demanding a meeting. Every support scheme of the MEDIA Programme targets a specific area but takes part in a more global logic that aims at improving the competitiveness of the European film business and promoting European cultural diversity, both essential in the successful construction of the European Union and its identity. Since its beginning, the MEDIA Programme has enabled European producers, distributors and exhibitors, and especially the independent companies, to develop their structures and hire staff despite their risky activities. It has promoted a favourable financial environment for them to produce, acquire, release and screen European films.

* The Northern Ireland Screen Fund has been declared kosher by the Competition DG of the EC. The public version of this decision is not yet available. It will be displayed as soon as it has been cleansed of any confidential information.

* The Film Board only recently published some funding decisions made two months ago on December 14.
Production
Project Director Writer Production Company Funding Award
Fiction Feature Films
Life's A Breeze Lance Daly Lance Daly Fastnet Films Provisional Offer of Commitment
Love Eternal Brendan Muldowney Brendan Muldowney Fastnet Films €600,000
Jump Kieron J. Walsh Lisa McGee Blinder Films & Hotshot Films €300,000
Fiction Creative Co-production
Strangerland Kim Farrant Fiona Seres Fastnet Films Provisional Offer Of Commitment
Call Girl Mikael Marcimain Mikael Marcimain Newgrange Pictures €150,000
Kelly & Victor Kieran Evans K. Evans & N. Griffiths Venom Limited €150,000
Animation
Niko: A Family Affair K. Juusonen & J. Lerdom Magma Films €150,000
Documentary
Men At Lunch Sean O'Cualain Sonta Productions Provisional Offer Of Commitment
Black Dragon Gary Lennon Gambit Pictures €10,000
Neal MacGregor: The Remains Of A Man Neasa Ni Chianáin Soilsiú Films €5,000
Canvas Sinead O'Brien Cadenza Pictures €10,000
Ballymun Lullaby Frank Reid Pulp Films €60,000
The Last Hijack T. Pallotta & F. Wolting T. Pallotta & F. Wolting Still Films Provisional Offer Of Commitment

Distribution
Project Director Writer Production Company Funding Award
Marketing Support
All Good Children Alicia Duffy Alicia Duffy Element Distribution €9,300
The Guard John McDonagh John McDonagh Element Distribution €75,000
One Hundred Mornings Conor Horgan Conor Horgan Blinder Films €10,000

SQUIDs In

2011-02-25T03:18:00.000-08:00

Subsidised Quasi-Industrial Dependency

This is a reflection on the Film Board’s letter to some folks in the Irish production sector.

I believe the new CEO will take on most of the wider policy issues and relationships formerly undertaken by IFB Chairs. The new CEO will not take an ‘editorial’ role – a response, perhaps, to the perception that the Board had, in effect, been acting as a producer itself. To the extent, some believe, of sourcing and divvying out co-production work on non-indigenous projects, with agreements in principle to fund being brought back to Irish producers from festivals abroad. If that did happen, should it have happened?

The Board intends to engage an additional person with a record of proven achievement in filmmaking to work as part of our Production and Development team. Will this address the script problems identified by many critics, or will it continue a co-production agenda for non-indigenous projects?

The Board anticipates a substantial increase in the focus on sectoral and industry development. What does this mean, and what are the expected outcomes? Sustainable businesses? Further indirect subsidy to facility and service providers?

We believe that Irish filmmaking and the broader production industry will continue to be at the heart of Government policies for growth and job creation for as long as the case is successfully made and measurable results can demonstrate the success of such policies. This gives fluffy, wish-fulfilling statistics more importance than cultural value.

We will encourage open discussion among filmmakers about what constitutes Irish film and the creative direction it should be taking, and we will seek to work with Irish filmmakers to ensure that their films increasingly appeal to cinema-going audiences. Does this mean – talk among yourselves and decide what Irish film is and the Irish Film Board will tell you what audiences like?

For over a year the IFB has been putting together the Strategic Film Review aka the ‘Tuohy Report’ (aka The Kilkenny Report MkII), without any public consultation or discourse. The reach of the group conducting the ‘strategic review’ is the sustainable growth of the whole Audio Visual Production Sector over the next five years.

It will propose a substantial increase in the number of direct responsibilities of the IFB to the new Government. Surely this will result in a dilution of the IFB’s current resources and responsibilities?

It is nearly twenty years since the reconstitution of the Board and the expansion of the tax break. Hundreds of millions in public funding has been expended through the Board and the tax break since that time and yet there is hardly any ‘industry’ to speak of that would survive in the absence of the State’s (and additional EC) support.

A measure of any industry or sector is its sustainability. Sustainability is built on successful sales by companies of products or services that have a realisable market value where competitive pricing is not underwritten by subsidy. If our audiovisual companies are businesses, therefore, in the absence of subsidies, they should earn a profit over and above their overhead and costs of production.

The reality of Irish audiovisual production, however, is that the cost of the product is, in effect, its sale price. Or, to look at it the other way, the buyer purchases the product by paying for its production.

That is also often the extent of the demand for the product. Rarely do products earn more than their initial production cost and when they do (by making further sales, for example) the producer has to share the additional income with co-owners (co-developers, commissioners, co-producers, co-financiers) of the product, as well as sales agents, distributors and exhibitors.

Only broadcasters in Ireland have the resources with which to produce product, in-house, because they own the outlet, are subsidised to a greater or lesser extent, and have a captured share of the market.

The consequence of this is that independent producers compensate for their companies’ dearth of sales income with substantial fee income on each product. Individuals may become wealthy from film production while their businesses stay poor and dependent on ongoing subsidy. We should ask ourselves – How much corporation tax did Irish film production companies pay last year? Or the audiovisual sector as a whole? And subsidising this activity, whether through the IFB or the tax break, could be viewed as an indirect transfer of wealth to the few and an incentivised employment scheme for the many.

Added to this is the practice, usual in film, whereby each production is a separate subsidiary corporate undertaking – a business in its own right with discretely structured ownership. It is a one-off, temporary enterprise and therefore not required to be sustainable or sustaining. It is orphaned almost as soon as it is authored and all involved move on or wait for the next project.

In the absence of a near impossible combination of significant risk capital, scale of output, extraordinary talent and strong market demand, the production of films is neither an industry nor is it a sustainable business model. So why continue to pretend that it is? Its importance is cultural, not industrial, with some variable economic spin-off in services and employment.

There is no such thing as ‘creative industries’. It is as useful a political buzz-phrase as the ‘smart economy’. Certainly there is creative endeavour that is occasionally profitable for talent, its producers and its distributors. But most creative endeavour is not profitable, it is valuable in ways less amenable to measurement.

Most creative activity is not rewarded in ways that are economically calculable. And, lastly, profitable creative endeavour is not replicable. Lest this brings on a ‘whatabout’ response let it be said, for instance, that the gaming industry is not analogous to the film industry. Production costs and hiring patterns may be somewhat similar but the product is very different, consumer pricing is very different, and the retail model (or the online subscription model) generates a much higher and more direct return to the producer, usually a single company.

Who will insist that we make films that speak to us rather than films that have measurable economic indicators?

An epistle to 'the industry'

2011-02-21T11:23:00.000-08:00

Herewith a letter doing the rounds from the Film Board to certain folks in the film business. I'll save any commentary for the next post.

Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board is Ireland’s only dedicated screen agency with a dual responsibility to both foster and develop creatively led and distinctive Irish filmmaking, and to develop an industry for the making of films in Ireland. Film and cinema is at the heart of our remit and we recognise that the environment in which filmmakers are working is subject to constant and increasing change. Nowhere more so than in the way in which filmmakers can either succeed or fail to reach their audiences, which is at the heart of everything we do. We also recognise that many who work in film, also work in television and other forms of audio visual production and this wider definition of the industry has been identified and described in the Audio Visual Production Survey commissioned by the IFB and produced by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

You and your members know in a most direct way that we are living in a time of dramatic change and economic turmoil and so too is Bord Scannán na hÉireann/ the Irish Film Board. As an agency we know that we must constantly evolve if the agency is to remain relevant and meet the needs of both filmmakers, the wider production industry and retain the on-going support of Government and the public. It is in these contexts that I would like to outline and put forward, on behalf of the Board, the key priorities and issues we plan to actively engage with in the months ahead.

The appointment of a new Chief Executive is a major next step in the evolution of Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board and will in time result in some realignment of responsibilities within the IFB as we identify and engage with the issues that most directly affect those working in the industry today and in the future. The role of Chief Executive includes overall responsibility for ensuring that the IFB’s dual remit to filmmakers and the broader industry are fully met, and in the year ahead we anticipate a substantial increase in the focus on sectoral and industry development. We see this as essential if we are to ensure that filmmaking and the audiovisual production sector as a whole benefits from the emerging focus and support for Ireland’s Creative Industries. We believe that Irish filmmaking and the broader production industry will continue to be at the heart of Government
policies for growth and job creation for as long as the case is successfully made and measurable results can demonstrate the success of such policies.

The creative direction of Irish filmmaking and the ongoing support for Irish filmmaking talent is a key responsibility and is at the heart of any strategy for industry success and growth. As part of our overall plan for the year we also therefore intend to engage an additional person with a record of proven achievement in filmmaking to work as part of our Production and Development team. We will encourage open discussion among filmmakers about what constitutes Irish film and the creative direction it should be taking, and we will seek to work with Irish filmmakers to ensure that their films increasingly appeal to cinema-going audiences.

We have previously announced that the IFB has initiated, with the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport, an industry wide consultation in order to set out a strategy and policy recommendations to Government that would support the sustainable growth of the whole Audio Visual Production Sector over the next five years. Chaired by former Secretary General Brendan Tuohy, consultation work commenced towards the end of 2009 and early 2010. Since then the IFB has acted as the co-ordinator of an extensive consultation process carried out by the strategy group with all the organizations, representative groups and interested parties that contribute to the Audio visual production sector in Ireland. The results of the industry wide consultation and the recommendations of the strategy group were reaching their conclusion towards the end of 2010 and with the announcement of an election in February 2011 it now seems likely that the report will be submitted to the new Government at an early date following its formation.

In the event that the industry strategy document is adopted by the Government we anticipate that this will result in a substantial increase in the number of direct responsibilities of the IFB although the prospect of additional resources in the current climate is limited. This will be the challenge facing our new Chief Executive together with the staff of the IFB. Together with our staff the Board is committed to working with you and for you to advance the interests of all who make films, or work in film, animation and television in the year ahead.

S&V X

2011-02-21T10:02:00.000-08:00

The tenth round of funding for independent TV production from the BCI Sound & Vision fund has just been announced. Full details here. Would that the Film Board were equally transparent in the manner in which it announces its funding decisions.

Only one single, feature-length drama has been funded - Vico Films' Grooskill which has an award of €250,000, or 23% of its total budget, with backing from TV3. There are a few interesting feature documentaries, one a biography of the late Nuala O'Faolain.

A first, I think, is a successful application from RTE Cork - as an independent producer?! - for two natural history programmes.

Arts Council Projects - film

2011-02-18T07:47:00.000-08:00

This isn't news in the strict meaning of the word but I haven't come across any reference to these projects since the Arts Council announced their funding back in December under the project awards scheme.

Ciotóg [Arts participation, Dublin, €40,000]
A collaborative site-specific dance film involving older dancers from the Macushla Dance Club with choreographer Ríonach Ní Néill, professional dancers from Ciotóg, and film-artist, Joe Lee. It will be launched in May 2011 and will screen nationwide during the Bealtaine Festival. Macushla dancers and lead artists will give dance workshops and talks to active retirement groups in selected venues.

Untitled [Film, Dublin, €26,500]
Two short non-narrative films by Lanka Haouche Perren exploring the work and methods of artists, Clare Langan and Gary Coyle.

Untitled [Film, Dublin, €40,000]
An experimental film by Clare Langan featuring the Atlantean imagery of an abandoned contemporary, yet un-named city.

Untitled [Film, Offaly, €32,400]
An experimental film by Nicky Larkin examining the 'shades of grey' in ordinary life in Israel and Palestine.

Untitled [Film, Cork, €5,940]
A short non-narrative film by Doireann O'Malley featuring the ignition and burning of a Gilbert piano.

The Script [Visual arts, Leitrim, €26,000]
A series of short films by Grace Weir, showing the artist making words, relevant to the filmed activity or making reference to filmic terms. To produce new work for shows at Morono Kiang Gallery, LA and Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, Germany in 2011.

A case of 'Chacun..

2011-02-18T05:11:00.000-08:00

..a son gout' (if my memory serves me correctly) at the forthcoming Cork French Film Festival, March 6-13.

A really interesting programme has been put together by the team at the Alliance in Cork. information here.

Four Seconds (may contain spoilers)

2011-02-17T05:06:00.000-08:00

All Good Children the UK/France/Ireland co-production shown at Cannes last year and briefly released in Dublin on December 27th is to be released on DVD on March 4th.

The cinema release was classified '15A' while the DVD release is classified '15', illustrating the sometimes subtle difference between releases of the same title on the different platforms. It's indicative of the classifiers' view that cinema-going is more controlled than the home rental market.

Curiously, while the cinema release classification was somewhat more lenient, All Good Children was said to contain 'moderate' sex/nudity on the big screen. But the DVD version, if that is how we should characterise it, classifies the sex/nudity content as 'none'.

A look at the respective running times confirms that the DVD release is four seconds shorter than the version released in the cinema. Might this mean that four seconds of 'sex/nudity' has been cut from the DVD release of All Good Children in order to avoid the tougher '18' classification? There is no intermediate '16' rating for the DVD market, as exists for cinema releases.

Or perhaps the DVD classifier zoned out and missed those critical four seconds?

Arts Industry

2011-02-15T01:20:00.000-08:00

Reports on the 'arts hustings' organised yesterday by the National Campaign for the Arts are available here from Rosita Boland and Lorna Siggins in today's Irish Times. A podcast of the Dublin meeting is available here.

The reports seem to confirm what I was told in an email early yesterday evening - that film was barely mentioned and that not many members of the film-making community were in evidence at the Dublin meeting. Perhaps things were different at the meetings in Galway, Cork and Limerick. Pictures here.

According to the report of the Dublin meeting the panellists were all asked if there would there be a cabinet minister with responsibility for the arts in the new government. 'Everyone answered “yes” unequivocally, to a palpable sense of relief from the audience.'

I actually think that was the wrong question because if the government departments are consolidated (which Fine Gael may well have in mind) then the arts could become a very, very minor responsibility within a much broader remit.

Two of the panellists present, Jimmy Deenihan (FG) and Alex White (Lab), were mentioned in a recent post I wrote about Johnny Gogan's candidacy in Sligo-North Leitrim. One might have thought that they would have had something interesting to say about the film or audiovisual sector but apparently all the panellists, including the current minister, came out with a similar line about retaining the tax break and the Film Board.

That's all very well but the real questions, the harder ones for us all to answer, begin with why. As in, Why have a tax break and a Film Board? There is such an emphasis in the culture sector - and yes, it's widespread in all areas of public spending - on maintaining frail budget lines that first principles have, by and large, gone by the wayside.

I blame this forgetfulness not on the fraught state of the economy but on the hiatus in discourse that took hold during the supposed boom years when it became easier to argue about How much? than to enter into a debate about Why?

As a result, the discourse around funding for the arts has drifted from the premise of support for the making of work into justifications based on economic outcomes which are seldom challenged within or by the ‘arts’ community. These are the positions and arguments being adopted by many in the arts in the run in to the election.

I believe it’s a diversionary, apologetic logic which on the one hand tacitly undermines the value of art (‘for art’s sake’) and, on the other, shelters a burgeoning adminstration that mediates between the making of art and the citizens' access to it. So yes, ‘the arts matter’, and yes, we should ’support the arts’, but we need to be very clear about our guiding principles and that they deliver culturally valuable outcomes.

Otherwise we should do away with the government department and the Film Board, as Colm McCarthy suggested, and situate the culture/arts brief in a department where the remit is resolutely centered on marketing, employment, and industrial outcomes. A department where the cultural or artistic value of the output is immaterial as long as businesses prosper and job numbers grow.

Perhaps this is more an issue with film, and the discourse around its funding, than it is with the other arts. It is a fact, for instance, that the public cost (€600,000) of turning a Dublin intervention beef warehouse into a studio for Leap Year was greater than the public cost of either Adam & Paul or Once or His and Hers or any of the three Catalyst film projects - Eamon, Rewind, and One Hundred Mornings.

In fact the total Irish public cost of Leap Year was €13m, whereas the total cost of the other six films above amounted to around €2m. And, if I'm not mistaken, no ownership or rights in Leap Year are retained within the state. The spend and spin-off arguments for the likes of Leap Year are like holy writ so let's have some heretical rhetoric.

Let's ask ourselves, what is our culture policy? Why do we have a cabinet minister for culture? What are our cultural priorities? What is the primary purpose of public funding for film?

If our answers to these questions begin with anything other than what may be conveyed to ourselves and others by the work itself, work such as Leap Year, then we are not talking about artistic endeavour but its by-product.

That is analagous to talking about the Joyce 'industry' as if Ulysses were a meaningless pot boiler that signified nothing other than the steady, if occasional work it has created for publishers, printers and booksellers.

There is no 'industry' around meaningless endeavour in the arts, only the greasy till, the tugged forelock, and discordant tunes played by off-shore pipers.

Distribution once again

2011-02-14T04:56:00.000-08:00

News reaches me of further Irish titles being released over the next couple of months. This seems to be following the pattern last year when a dozen or more Irish films were released in Spring.

On the blocks this year we have, so far -
Feb 18 A Shine of Rainbows
March 04 As If I Am Not There
March 18 Between the Canals
March 25 Wake Wood, Rewind
April 01 Killing Bono, Essential Killing

And Your Highness which filmed in Northern Ireland is out on April 15

Dates pending:
Snap (April)
One Hundred Mornings

I may be wrong but I suspect that the release of the 2009 Canada/Ireland co-production A Shine of Rainbows may have been slotted in in order to meet contractual commitments. [Update: A Shine of Rainbows is getting a single print release from UK company High Fliers Films at a cinema in Letterkenny, not too far from the film's shooting location in Inishowen. The same company is releasing it on DVD on March 14]

This is what happened last year with one or two Irish co-productions which received very little if any coverage in advance of their release and went on to take less than €500 at the box office.

It'll be a boon to headline writers but otherwise it's a bit unfortunate that Essential Killing and Killing Bono are both scheduled to be released on April Fool's Day.

Essential Killing has different distributors in Ireland (Element) and the UK (Artificial Eye) so I wonder if it's opening 'day and date' on both sides of the Irish Sea.

Given that there was no UK backer or producer involved in the film - whereas there was considerable Irish backing (€500k) through the IFB (plus Section 481 for post-production, I think) - it's surprising that the UK rights were sold off.

Other Irish co-productions due for release during the year have similarly split rights between Ireland the UK. The Guard and This Must Be the Place are both Element releases in Ireland and are being handled respectively by Optimum and Pathe in the UK.

Optimum and Element do have a working relationship but I wonder if it stretches to the Irish partner sharing equally or proportionately in the financial success in the UK of a title it has co-produced?

When it comes to This Must Be the Place or, say, the Soderbergh title Haywire, I wonder if the sizeable Irish contribution (IFB and Section 481) to the budgets of these films ought to be enough to determine that both the Irish AND UK rights are retained by the Irish co-producers as a potential source of return on the Irish investment in the films.

Addendum
Meanwhile, the Irish co-production Triage has gone straight to DVD. Mind you, you won't find it on the shelves with that title... it's now known as Shell Shock.

A fresh script

2011-02-10T15:13:00.000-08:00

As might be expected, Screen Producers Ireland warmly welcomed the announcement today of James Hickey's appointment as CEO of the Irish Film Board. The last paragraph of their release gives an indication of what's being going on behind the scenes over the last while.

In addition SPI welcomes the Irish Film Board’s initiative of consultation ahead of the publication of its report which will set out future strategy & policy recommendations for the audio visual production sector, ahead of its presentation to Government later this month.

I expect the report will be fresh out of its envelope and waiting on the new minister's desk.

British?

2011-02-10T15:01:00.000-08:00

Interesting clarification note on the London Film Critics' Circle Awards which were given out this evening at the BFI, Southbank.

The British categories refer to the British Isles, and therefore films, filmmakers, actors and actresses from both the UK and Ireland are eligible.

Could be an interesting talking point at the IFTAs this weekend!

The 'British' award categories went as follows:
THE ATTENBOROUGH AWARD: BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR
The King's Speech (Momentum)
Runner-up: Another Year (Momentum)
BRITISH DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR
Tom Hooper - The King's Speech (Momentum)
Runner-up: Mike Leigh - Another Year (Momentum)
BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR
Christian Bale - The Fighter (Paramount/Momentum)
Runner-up: Jim Broadbent - Another Year (Momentum)
BRITISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR
Lesley Manville - Another Year (Momentum)
Runner-up: Tilda Swinton - I Am Love (Metrodome)
BRITISH ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Andrew Garfield - The Social Network (Sony)
Runner-up: David Bradley - Another Year (Momentum)
BRITISH ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Olivia Williams - The Ghost (Optimum)
Runner-up: Rosamund Pike - Made in Dagenham (Paramount)
YOUNG BRITISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
Conor McCarron - NEDs (Entertainment One)
Runner-up: Jessica Barden - Tamara Drewe (Momentum)
BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH FILM-MAKER
Gareth Edwards - Monsters (Vertigo)
Runner-up: Clio Barnard - The Arbor (Verve)

White smoke in Galway

2011-02-10T07:52:00.000-08:00

The new CEO for the Irish Film Board will be James Hickey, entertainment lawyer and agent/representative, former SPI lead on negotiations with RTE, and general all-round soul of affability.

James Hickey takes up the role on June 1st and will be working with the IFB in a part-time consultative capacity until then. Hickey and IFB Chairman James Morris both serve as external board directors of IMRO.

It will be interesting to see what character and direction Hickey's leadership of the agency will take. He will have to quickly learn how to say no to his many former clients who will be lobbing in funding applications, cap in hand.

I think it's good that the Board have not employed another producer as CEO and it's to be hoped that James will steer a fair course between looking after the public interest and putting it up to producers to get on with it and make their own deals.

His biggest challenges will be get real cultural value from the State's substantial contribution to the sector, and to encourage audiovisual businesses to become less dependent on State funding.

Opera Territoria

2011-02-04T03:58:00.000-08:00

I received the following press release which is interesting on a number of counts, particularly from the perspective of exhibitor programme choice, emerging programming possibilities for other venues, and the added pressure on screen space for films that already find it difficult to secure distribution and exhibition.

But spot the territorial issue that demonstrates both an attitude in the trade and the degree to which programming is being determined outside Ireland.

"European Cinema Audiences First to Experience Carmen in 3D
Valentine’s Day Preview of World’s First 3D Opera in 51 Locations in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Italy.
"LOS ANGELES and LONDON (February 3, 2011) – RealD Inc. (NYSE: RLD) announced today that European audiences will be the first in the world to experience Carmen in 3D when the theatrical entertainment event is previewed in 51 locations across in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Italy on Monday 14 February, prior to its worldwide release on Saturday 5 March 2011, exclusively in RealD 3D-equipped theatres.
"Carmen in 3D previews will take place on 14 February at the following locations (show times available in local listings):
United Kingdom
Odeon Cinemas:
Basingstoke
Bath
Belfast
Blackpool
Blanchardstown
Cardiff
Colchester
Covent Garden
Edinburgh Lothian Road
Esher
Glasgow Quay
Guildford
Harrogate
Kettering
Limerick
Lincoln
Liverpool ONE
Manchester
MetroCentre
Norwich
Oxford -- George Street
Sheffield
Southampton
Swiss Cottage
Tunbridge Wells
Waterford
Wimbledon

ENDS

[The italics are mine]