New initiative to promote West’s role in film and TV productions
Published:
-
-
Author: Our Reporter
~ 3 minutes read
From this week's Galway City Tribune
The West of Ireland has long been a popular location for film and TV production, but a new investment initiative will show the region has more to offer than scenery.
The WRAP Regional Investment Fund for film, TV, games, and animation companies that are based in the West, already provides direct finance to individual productions. Now it’s evolving.
The latest initiative, launched on Tuesday, will involve direct investment in audio-visual companies in the counties served by WRAP – Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Sligo, Leitrim, Clare and Donegal.
The newly established WRAP Screen Commission can invest up to €200,000 in film, TV, games, and animation companies in these counties. The intention is to grow production companies, studios, post-production facilities, and game developers through developing their own services, or freelance offerings, or both.
That’s so that counties in the Western Region can compete with those in the East coast to attract similar scale productions, according to WRAP Executive Gar O’Brien-Collins.
WRAP is a joint initiative of the Western Development Commission and Ardán (formerly Galway Film Centre), with support from local councils and Údarás na Gaeltachta.
Along with Budget 2024’s Section 481 tax credit cap increase, Screen Ireland’s Creative Clusters Programme, and regional development strategies led by the Western Audio Visual Forum (WAVF), the initiative aims to create a sustainable ecosystem for people working in the industry in the West.
Since WRAP began 2018, it has supported 32 projects, including the TV series North Sea Connection (shot in Connemara), Smother and Blackshore (Clare) and Obituary (Donegal), with 98 award nominations and 13 wins. More than €33 million has been spent in the region.
WRAP has also supported the award-winning animation studio, Studio Meala in Roscommon, and films such as Death of a Ladies’ Man, Wild Mountain Thyme, The Cellar and The Winter Lake, all made in the region.
More than 500 crew positions have been created as a result of these productions, and more than 150 regional trainees have been employed, as well as 75 regional cast and more than 1,500 extras. The new WRAP Screen Commission will lead to more opportunities for companies and individuals committed to developing the screen industry in the West, explains Gar O’Brien-Collins.
The Screen Commission will also work directly with producers and production companies to provide funding opportunities for talent- and location-scouting, and connections to local fixers.
WRAP has already had a significant impact on the industry in the West, with Paddy Hayes of Galway-based Magamedia describing its investment as “invaluable”.
The new initiatives will reinforce the region as a hub for the creation of film, TV, games, and animation, delivering a lasting cultural and economic impact.
For more information email wrap@ardan.ie.
Pictured: LIsa Dwan and Rory Keenan in Blackshore, one of the productions supported by the WRAP initiative.
More like this:
Killary Adventure Company secures global environment and social responsibility cert
Galway based Killary Adventure Company has been awarded the B Corp cert for global environment an...
Four Galway Science researchers selected for high level industry fellowships
Four Galway researchers are to benefit from a high level Science Foundation Ireland Fellowship Pr...
Minister confirms to Mairead Farrell new laws to deal with 51 week student leases should be in by summer
The Minister for Higher Education has confirmed that Government expects new laws to deal with 51-...
University of Galway SU calls for ban of mandatory 51-week student leases
University of Galway’s Students’ Union is calling on the government to ban mandatory ...
Galway International Arts Festival Box Office opens this morning
The box office for the Galway International Arts Festival will open later this morning (10AM) Sta...
Efforts to save Pieta from closure
Strenuous efforts are being made to save the Pieta House centre in Tuam which is set for closure ...
GRETB wants youth funding restored pre-austerity levels
Ireland’s sixteen Education and Training Boards – including Galway & Roscommon ETB – have cal...
Amalgamation marks end of an era for education
It is the end of an era in Oranmore this week as two of the village’s primary schools hold closin...
Rejuvenation of Headford Art Installation begins today
A rejuvenation of the ‘Lace Matrix’, display in Headford town will begin today. The permanent art...