REEL DEAL: BROADCASTERS AND ANCILLARY INVESTMENT IN IRISH FILM
Working in a small market without legislated television investment in feature film poses unique challenges for Irish producers, but speakers at the Broadcaster session of the Reel Deal (including TV’s Jane Gogan, ZDF/Arte’s Meinolf Zurhorst, RTE’s Eilish Kent, XtraVision’s Jane Doolan and TG4’s Michael O’Meallaigh) spotted several new ancillary financing opportunities for feature film on the horizon.While RTE’s Kent said it is “not quite true to say that we don’t support films categorically, film is not our core business,” she added that RTE does recognise that its investment in short films schemes brings new talent through, while some feature film investments will always make sense, as was the case with OMAGH and SPIN THE BOTTLE.
“The day of RTE being a significant investor in feature film is not imminent,” said Kent, adding that RTE’s main focus was on financing continuing drama series that build viewer loyalty to timeslots. “Even an enhanced license fee is only a fraction of the cost of financing a film.”
By contrast, European public broadcasters are required by law to support feature film financing to the tune of several million Euro per annum, noted Zurhost. It was suggested that perhaps the broadcasters could look at investing in Irish film in the form of subsidised advertising for the distributors of Irish films.
TV3 doesn’t support Irish film but does enter into commercial arrangements with Irish producers, according to TV3’s Gogan.
“The distinction goes toward a feeling that a lot of independent producers put a lot of energy into chasing subsidy rather than building relationships with commercial money,” said Gogan, who has backed such local films as WATERMELON, HONEYMOONERS and THE MIGHTY CELT. “The key thing is to build those relationships so later on you don’t have to make calls to people who don’t know you.”
“We’re not afraid to commit first to a project,” said Gogan, adding that TV3 offered a very fast response time - often within two weeks - and examined the financing scenario, track record and cast. The major challenge for feature film producers extracting TV money out of Ireland, she noted, was that the commercial value of a TV hour in the UK was £700k, while in Ireland, by factor of its size, was one tenth of that.
TG4, meanwhile, is currently investing in an Irish language feature film and are also considering introducing more commissioning rounds, so that it won’t be limited to just two per year.
According to Doolan, Xtravision has had a happy and profitable relationship with Irish producers and plans to continue its investment in distributing Irish Film. Titles that Xtravision have already exclusively released this year include GOLDFISH MEMORY, INTERMISSION, SPIN THE BOTTLE, and SONG FOR A RAGGY BOY. INTERMISSION went on to become their highest grossing title of all time, within a six week period, proving that there is a strong audience for Irish film. Doolan noted that in order to facilitate theatrical distribution for Irish content, going forward, XtraVision was willing to be flexible as distributors had a need for revenue from ancillary windows like video and TV and so it can be difficult to get distribution if both of these windows have been given way to get the film made. Something needed to be done about the terms between distributors and exhibitors, she added.
All speakers noted that there was potentially new sources of financing potentially coming on stream next year, including the Northern Ireland Film & TV Commission’s £12 million Irish language production investment fund and the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland’s Innovation Fund, which could be worth up to €24 million over three years. That scheme is due to commence operation by year’s end.