Following Successful Awards Season for Irish Film, Television & Animation, Screen Ireland leads virtual Trade Mission to promote the Irish Industry to Los Angeles-based screen sector leaders
Posted: 16th March 2021
- Minister Catherine Martin (TD), Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, Tourism Ireland and the Consulate General of Ireland join Screen Ireland on Trade Mission
- Meetings with US Studios and Streamers including Disney and WarnerMedia taking place this week to discuss Ireland’s competitive offering
Following a number of major international award nominations for Irish film, television, and animation, including BAFTA’s, Golden Globes and Academy Award nominations, Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland, the development agency for the creative screen industry, together with the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin (TD) is this week leading a virtual LA trade mission to strengthen working relationships between the Irish screen industry and the world’s largest streaming and production companies.
The trade mission will also see a number of meetings taking place between senior executives from LA based studios, content creators and streaming services and the Irish delegation, to create new opportunities for production partnerships into the future.
Together with representatives from the IDA, Enterprise Ireland, Tourism Ireland and the Consulate General of Ireland, Screen Ireland is meeting with LA-based executives from US Studios and Streamers including Disney and WarnerMedia to discuss opportunities for increased collaboration.
Irish produced film and TV projects including Wolfwalkers, Normal People and Calm with Horses have featured heavily within the international award season and Ireland has a history of strong links with the creative screen industry in Los Angeles.
The purpose of the trade mission is to build on recent critical success updating key industry partners on the continued growth and evolution of the sector in Ireland, the planned expanding and additional studio production infrastructure coming on stream as well as the ongoing Government support for the industry as evidenced by incentives such as Section 481 and the Regional Uplift.
The world’s leading streaming and production companies have been investing significantly in content creation in recent years and Ireland is justifiably recognised as both an attractive filming location and a hub of creative talent, experienced in producing and co-producing quality screen content for international audiences. The objective of the trade mission is to build on the success of recent years by strengthening existing partnerships, and securing new ones, and to ensure that Ireland is considered both as a creative production partner and as an international location. The screen industry globally is increasingly competitive with government’s recognising the economic contribution further investment can deliver. In this context, ensuring that international decision makers keep Ireland front of mind is critically important.
Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin TD said; “The Government is very ambitious for the screen creative industry. The sector has doubled in size in the last 10 years, and with additional production infrastructure planned, together with the continued work of Screen Ireland to grow the skills base, we are well positioned to realise our ambition to be a global hub for content production. In addition, the use of Ireland as an iconic film location has the added benefit of generating ‘screen tourism’ and thereby attracting more visitors to Ireland.”
Désirée Finnegan, Chief Executive, Screen Ireland, said; “Since the last trade mission to Los Angeles, US-Ireland industry partnerships have continued to grow with Irish projects achieving critical and commercial success around the globe. Despite many challenges, the Irish creative screen industries have demonstrated resilience throughout the pandemic. This trade mission aims to further strengthen relationships with our US partners and build towards future industry growth and success. Film and television projects can take years to plan so we hope that, as Ireland begins to recover, the Irish creative screen industries will continue to develop and provide new creative job opportunities."