To ensure a smooth application process and to avoid any unnecessary delays when contracting your funding award, Screen Ireland has compiled a list of key areas to check before submitting your application for Production & Development Funding.
Funding Guidelines
The first step to preparing your funding application is to ensure that you have read the relevant Funding Guidelines in advance:
Pay particular attention to the outlined funding amounts and essential criteria/requirements – applications that fall outside of these requirements are likely to be rendered ineligible.
Please note that Screen Ireland funding is very competitive, and funding will not always be awarded at the requested amount.
Contact Information
The main contact details that you provide on the application form will be the contact point for all future updates on your application, made through the Screen Ireland Application Portal. Please ensure that the contact details you provide are correct.
Company Details and Registration Number
As most of the production and development funding categories are contracted only with independent production companies registered in the Republic of Ireland, the applicant must provide the company name and the Company Registration Number (CRN) when applying for funding.
The CRN for your registered company can be found either in your company registration documentation or on the Companies Online Registered Environment (CORE) at core.cro.ie.
The Screenplay Development Funding category is exempt from the above as it is a writer only category.
Key Talent and Relevant Credits
With regard to applications that require a writer, director, and producer to be attached at application stage, please add all key creatives requested under the Principals Details section. This is essential for assessing the eligibility of the team.
If the team does not meet the eligibility requirements, we will be unable to accept your application.
Biographies should be short, relevant, and to the point.
Credits should include the film title, year, and role (writer, director etc.).
Links
When sharing links in your application, please ensure these links are live and are easily accessible for review, with passwords provided if required. Vimeo links should be made accessible without requiring an account log in.
Legal Documentation
Each funding strand requires a range of legal documentation to be submitted, which can be found in the relevant guidelines for your funding category.
Legal documents required are generally for the chain of title, the co-development or co-production agreement and can also include contributor agreements such as the writer, director, producer, animator, or an employee of the production company. Any co-development or co-production agreement should clearly set out how the various rights are divided between the parties.
For development applications, the legal documents are acceptable in draft form. However, the points of the deal must be clearly set out in the draft agreement.
The following cannot be accepted in place of the above and will render the application ineligible:
- A letter from the applicant to Screen Ireland stating ownership of and/or availability of rights. All agreements submitted must be executed between the relevant contributor(s) and the applying production company.
- A note stating that documents will follow.
- Incomplete documentation
Scanned documents should be high enough quality and must be clearly legible, and documents that are not in English must have an English translation provided.
Bank Account Details
Please allow adequate time to set up new bank accounts, as these can take a number of weeks to be opened. This is especially important for the development process, as this frequently causes delays in finalising development contracts.
Adaptations
Where there is underlying work – if, for example, your project is based on a novel, poem, newspaper article or short film – then you must provide evidence to show that you have access to the necessary rights to develop, produce and exploit a project based on the underlying work.
For Development, access to the underlying work may take the form of an option agreement or shopping agreement with the owner of the rights to the underlying work (author / publisher / production company etc.) and a draft form of these documents is acceptable for development applications. Should your development application be awarded funding, any draft documents must be executed in order to contract and draw down the funding award.
For a Production application these documents should be fully signed and executed.
Letters of Interest/Intent (LOI’s)
Letters of Interest or Letters of Intent are generally letters from broadcasters, distributors, sales agents, etc. who are potentially interested in being involved in the project at some stage. They can also be expressions of interest from key cast, a director, key participants in a documentary, or other contributors to your project.
If your application states that a participant (broadcaster / financier / talent) is on board, or funding has been committed, then the evidence of this must be attached as part of the application.
In respect of TV Drama, these Letters of Interest/Intent should contain a firm and clear commitment from a broadcaster or distributor, and should set out the amount of their financial commitment.
TV Drama Production Requirements
For TV Drama Production funding applications, evidence of international marketplace finance and substantial broadcaster or TV streaming service funding must be provided at the application stage. Applications without substantial broadcaster or TV streaming service funding and/or international marketplace finance attached will not be reviewed or considered for funding.
Broadcast letters showing evidence of support must include a figure as shown in the Budget of Broadcast Support section.