Budget for Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board Remains as per 2014 Allocation
The overall budget for Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board (IFB), the national agency for the development of Irish filmmaking and the Irish film, television and animation production sector, remains at €14.03 million for 2015. The Irish Government has also announced a review on the cap of qualifying expenditure per project with regard to the Irish financial incentive for film, television and animation production, which will ensure Ireland remains a competitive location for international production activity.
This funding is broken down into the capital and administration budget for the agency. The capital budget remains as €11,277,000 for 2015 and the administration budget for the agency is €2.7 million. Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board welcomes this news, particularly since the annual budget for the agency has been cut by 39.5% since 2008.
Despite the overall cut in funding over recent years the IFB has strived to continue to invest in Irish filmmaking and ensure a continuation of high production levels in Ireland, presenting a strong economic and cultural return on Government investment in the agency.
The funding arm of the IFB directly invested €7.5m in feature film, television drama and animation projects in 2013. This investment enabled Irish producers to raise €59.5 million, which was invested directly into the Irish economy through employment and spend on local goods and services. In 2013 the IFB supported twelve Irish feature films, six creative feature co-productions (thirty hours drama feature films), seventeen feature documentaries, two TV dramas and eight TV animation projects, all of which aimed to tell Irish stories to audiences in Ireland and all over the world, as well to invest and develop Irish creative talent.
A record number of Irish films have become both critical and box office success stories in Ireland in the first half of 2014. These include Calvary, Frank, The Stag, Run & Jump and Jimmy’s Hall which in particular received very positive reviews from Irish critics and sustained box office support from Irish audiences Calvary went on to take over €1.6 million at the Irish box office; The Stag made more than its total budget at the Irish box office taking over €600,000 and receiving great critical acclaim.