Lights, camera, Irish action

FILM FOLK:Last year was one of the busiest ever for the Irish film industry. SINEAD GLEESONtalks to the movers and shakers behind the cameras and on the sets about their work, and why now is a fantastic time to be involved in Irish film

Ray Harman Composer

"I'm lucky to be really busy with films, TV movies and documentaries. There are certainly lower budgets out there, but projects still generate a huge amount of work and all the crews are busy. "Non-Irish producers all comment on how good the crews and technical staff here are and I think it's got something to do with the fact that people here are hungrier for the work. Everyone wants to keep busy so you have to grab it when it's there. Last year was busy and now I'm working on two TV movies for US channels, a documentary for Alan Gilsenan, series two of Love/Hateand a documentary about sea horses.

“The end of 2010 was quiet, but that’s how the industry goes. I think the clincher for the industry to survive is to get productions and companies to come back. With tax-incentive breaks, companies often have to commit to a certain number of heads of departments, it’s simple finance but it makes a difference.

"I think everyone is still busy because TV and broadcast are always going to be commissioning. Even though budgets have gone down, it's busy here because of people like James Flynn in Octagonfilms, Alan Moloney and Mary Callery in Parallel, Morgan O'Sullivan at World 2000. They've all been trying to entice people over here and often projects that are shooting now were lined up three years ago. Things wouldn't have happened without those individuals. It's not just about tax breaks, it's about personal connections and having talented communicators fighting our corner.

“I love what I do, even though it can be hard work and quite solitary, as opposed to being on a set. The hours can be long – if I’m scoring a film, I might start at 5am and work 12 or 14 hours for two to three weeks, including weekends. I love it, I savour it. I’ve always loved writing music. I was also lucky enough to win an Ifta for Na Cloigne earlier this year.

“The funny thing about film and TV is that you’ve got a brief; you’ve got a path to follow and boundaries. Each job is very different, you have to make every note work, so you learn a lot.”

Gary Walsh owner, locater film caterers

“I think it’s really important to celebrate how well our film industry is doing. The media has been dwelling on negativity, but this industry proves that there is a lot of positivity around. I was away from Ireland for a long time, in England and the US and when I came back I settled in Wexford.

"I've been a chef since I was 14 so I started catering for big concerts, like Robbie Williams at Slane. Someone I worked with knew a woman with a film catering company and a job came up, The Count of Monte Cristo, in Malta. I flew out having never catered a film or worked to those kind of deadlines, never mind being in a mobile catering unit. That was how I started, and I worked on several films – Bloody Sunday, Evelyn– but it was very difficult and I needed a big break. It came along with King Arthur, which was a massive project. It was very demanding and some chefs couldn't cope with it. There are only three or four dedicated film-catering companies in the Republic.

"I set up Locater in 2007, because I wanted to work for myself and on most projects I can employ up to 12 people. There's great comradeship, even in bad weather and there's something brilliant about the industry, but you're only as good as your last gig. I worked on RTÉ's Single-Handedand then went straight into This Must Be the Place. I was actually terrified because so much of the crew was Italian and they're a food-orientated people. An army marches on its stomach and you want to stimulate the people you're feeding, not give them slop.

"Last year was phenomenal – Three Wise Women, The Gift, Super Hero, Stella Days, Treasure Island(Sky's HD television production). So far this year I've worked on a film called Grabbersand Destination Truthfor US television, but 2011 has been quiet so far. Thankfully that's set to change with some big projects like Titanicand a French co-production of a 3-D movie, filming in Cork. Later in the year, there will also be the new series of Single-Handed.

“Film and television are escapism and our industry has a good name. We have great landscapes and locations, the logistics of Ardmore, and our crews have a really good pedigree. I am personally worried about the future of things and you have to be realistic, but somehow we seem to be escaping and surging. Hopefully 2011 will be as good as 2010 was.”

Ed Guiney, director, Element Pictures

“The film industry is a tough business to live in and work in. Even though there’s less money to come by internationally, we still have Section 21 tax incentives, talented film-makers and a supportive film board. There is an economic argument that it pays for itself and we have a great reputation internationally.

"Our film-industry policy is something that could be thought of as 'the All Blacks effect'. New Zealand specialises in one thing – sport – and they're world beaters at it. There's an argument that we should try to refine what we do. Element Pictures has a production and distribution business and, with the latter, it's not hard to see that in tough times, cinema is cheap entertainment. A film like His and Hers,which was about core values, almost did better because it came during a recession. Our film The Guardopened the Sundance Festival and there was a bidding war for rights in the US, won by Sony Picture Classics. After a gala premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh on July 6th, it will go on general release across Ireland.

" This Must Be the Placewas in competition at Cannes and was shot here because the director Paolo Sorrentino [director of Il Divo] liked the city and the vibe, but also because we're the only English-language member of Eurimages [the Council of Europe fund for the co-production, distribution and exhibition of European cinematographic works]. There was Italian, French and Irish funding for the film, about 10 per cent was Irish. It was about 30 per cent on The Guard. Everyone worries that it will dry up, but we need to be seen as part of the solution.

"It's an industry that attracts the best and brightest from a wide spectrum. It can soak up a lot of young people who want to make their mark. We also have an international reputation. 2011 has, and continues to look, very busy with The Guardand This Must Be the Placebeing released. We've started a Dublin shoot on a film called Shadow Dancer,starring Clive Owen and Aiden Gillen and directed by Man on Wiredirector James Marsh. Also in development are two films with Lenny Abrahamson, one of which deals with the lives of south Co Dublin teenagers.

"Next year, we're working on Frank, written by Jon Ronson and Peter Straughan. There are always interesting ideas, it is just harder to convert them into actual films. Budgets a will go down, but people who really want to make films will keep making them."

Mark O'Halloran, writer, director and actor

“One of the crucial reasons films are still being made here is due to the fact that funding is still there. Not cutting film-board funding has been very important. In fact, it’s been a brave move from the Government to keep that funding in place – they realise that we’re a cultural people and that this is an industry with an economic worth. The figures add up and they get more than they put in – in terms of tourism and profile for the country.

“I also think our attitude to film-making in Ireland has changed massively over the last decade or so. Young people are very film literate, they don’t know that it’s not that long ago that we didn’t have a film industry. Lots of American productions come here through film, but there has been a qualitative shift in people’s mind about our homegrown industry. We stopped wanting to make films that portrayed us as the kind of people others wanted us to be – that kind of ‘aren’t the Irish gas?’ films that were rarified. We changed and started making films for ourselves.

“There’s a lot of experienced people here and crews are very high quality, so TV productions and film that have high budgets come here. The Film Board’s influence on keeping the industry alive can’t be understated. They’ve always been very accessible, which made getting projects off the ground so much easier. They’re not gate-keepers and have a great attitude to young film-makers.

"I've never been tempted to leave Ireland and move my career somewhere else. I love writing in our vernacular, and I want to make films about Ireland. 2010 was great. I finished a script, Perdido Amor,which is set in and around Cuban drag clubs and my documentary, Stand Up: My Best Friend,premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh.

"This year I have a site-specific play called Trade[set in a BB] at the Theatre Festival and I'm back on stage, terrifyingly, for the first time in three years in Noël Coward's Hayfeverat the Gate. Later in the year, I'll be working on another screenplay. Things are getting cheaper – especially technology – and in these times, we need artists who can engage with making great work on constrained budgets. During the Celtic Tiger, there was no criticism of it, no one tackled it. It was false and there was a weird warping, but stories heal and in the next few years I think we'll see some of the greatest Irish films being made."

Kate McCullough, cinematographer

“There is only a small pool of cinematographers in Ireland, who are mostly working at the lower end of the budget. In one sense, the smallness is a positive thing, because people get to know you very quickly. However, you don’t get to work on the same mix of stuff that you would if you worked in the UK or US, but you get to be a bigger fish in a small Irish pool.

"Irish cinematographers are quite well known, they're getting on the map now. Our generation is very visually aware and it's quite a young industry. I met Ken Wardrop and Michael Lavelle (the makers of His and Hers) at Dún Laoghaire College of Art and Design. We were blown away by the success of His and Hers. We all knew we had a nice little film on our hands, but you never know what's going to take hold. It generated a great reaction and morphed into a longer release. I guess people got it because it's such a universal theme, but at Sundance we were up against so many heavyweight documentaries.

"Last year I also worked on RTÉ's Voices from the Grave,my first full feature for television, various short documentaries and Carmel Winters's Snap.Currently, I'm working on a feature documentary about Nuala O'Faolain, presented by Marian Finucane, who makes a personal journey to explore O'Faolain's life. I'll also be reuniting with Michael Lavelle on a short film called Cluckand am working with poet Alice Lyons on an "experimental documentary" about ghost estates.

"Since His and Hers, people definitely inquire more about what I do, and work is coming up regularly. But I'm a bit uneasy about the future. It has crossed my mind that I might not be getting the opportunities I could by being based here and a move is at the back of my mind. Doing well depends on how much exposure you get in a word-of- mouth industry, it's a mixture of luck, talent and profile. There is definitely less money around because of the economic climate, but luckily I haven't felt it directly yet. People will have to think outside the box and there will be more co-productions, and several big American ones have already provided a lot work for Irish crews in the past year.

“Some industries took the boom for granted and some got complacent, but in film, you can’t sit back and wait for things to happen. We’re all very passionate about what we do in this industry so hopefully we’ll adapt quicker than others.”

Donal O'Farrell, stunt coordinator

“What I do is quite niche, but there is a handful of people I can call on. If I need lots of people, I can call on stunt guys in England. I work for myself, but you’re coordinating and matching people with specific skills with different projects.

“The bulk of my work has been here, not just in film and TV, but on stage. I used to work in commercial diving off the North Sea oil rigs. In the mid to late 1980s it was quiet for stunts so I’d work on the rigs and occasionally film sets.

“I built up a reputation and thankfully it’s been very busy in Ireland, so I haven’t had to go away to find work. With budgets, it’s easy for stunts to be one of the first things cut, they’re easy to lose. So far, it hasn’t taken work away from me, it just means I’ll still be busy, but will have less of a crew to work with.

“I’d never assume I’d have work for good, there were long periods when there was no work. Section 481 was a good incentive to get people to come here and once you produce strong feature films, it snowballs. People see what’s coming out of the country. It used to be lots of film but now it’s more high-profile TV projects. The industry definitely fluctuates, but there’s been a lot more activity in the last three or four years, and this year topped out.

"In 2010, I had to pass up work, but I worked on Neverland, Single-Handedand Primeval. Neverland was about three months work, and days were often 12-14 hours long. Sections of crews on some projects came in from abroad, because there was so much work on. It was definitely one of the busiest years ever, because in a recession, everyone wants entertainment. They want escapism and they're also staying in watching TV and movies.

"Earlier this year, I worked on the Olympia's production of The Fieldwith Brian Dennehy and I've just finished the second series of Love/Hateand also a Philip Glenister drama called Undisclosed. I was involved in that controversial ISPCC TV advert and will be working on the film Shadow Dancer.I'm lucky in that I know a lot of people, and I'm not tied to one mast. Anything is possible."

Lesley McKimm, producer, Newgrange Films

"It's dangerous to say that the Irish film industry is recession-proof, but then it's always been so difficult to find money to make films. The continuation of Section 481 has helped. The Irish Film Board – of which I'm a board member – still provides indigenous support, as does the BAI [the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland]. Most recently, myself and Jackie Larkin worked as producers on Stella Days(starring Martin Sheen) and BAI support on that made a huge difference. They mostly fund TV and documentaries, and because we pre-sold Irish TV rights, we were able to avail of that funding. Sixty per cent of our funding was Irish, but we also pre-sold to Scandinavia. Without BAI and the Irish Film Board, there would be no indigenous film; we'd collapse without it.

"You can't fully fund out of Ireland because a typical budget – which doesn't sound like much – is €1 million to €2.5 million. We need to have crews that have the skills and experience to work on big projects like Treasure Islandand Camelot, but can also work on indigenous projects. When US productions come here, they've already number-crunched everything. They need to know we have studio facilities that will work on a certain-sized project. They know the crews are good, that we have great locations, but it's competitive to try and pull that business in.

“Ireland was one of first countries to offer tax incentives to film companies and the initiative has been swiftly copied by other countries who might offer to construct bigger sets for less money. At the moment, Newgrange Films is trying to focus on a mixture of incoming and homegrown projects. It’s a good balance and that’s how you survive in this industry. Like everyone, we’re a little more fearful about the future due to these difficult times. While Ireland had a record film year last year, we’re only ever a few steps away from it not going well. The Government is totally aware of how important this industry is, even if they have difficult decisions to make. For now, they kept us at the same funding level – and it’s great that they recognised that it was worth not cutting it.

“This year, after post-production on Stella Days, we’re working on an Irish feature film, Seeing Chris, and a Swedish/Irish/Finnish/Norweigan co-production. Crews get unhappy about co-productions, because they see it as money leaving the country, but it’s about creating jobs. It also gives us a chance to showcase abroad what our film industry can do, which is a positive thing.”

Amy Huberman Actor

“There’s always been a real sense of entrepreneurship in this industry. People like Alan Moloney and Mary Callery have done so much to bring projects to this country. Producers here think outside the box and there’s a lot to be said for filming on your own turf. By the time actors get on set, all the hard slog has been done by those people and we have to keep that momentum going.

"The last half of 2010 was really busy for me. I made three films: two for the Hallmark Channel (Three Wise Womenand Chasing Leprechauns) and Stella Dayswith Martin Sheen. The latter was in the pipeline for a while and stalled a few times, but we got there. Having a big name definitely helps with funding and attracts investors. It's great that films are being shot here, and it's only when you see 70 or 80 people sitting down to eat on a shoot that you realise how many people are employed on each film.

"Being a jobbing actor, it's really exciting with all the productions that are coming in. These are uncertain times, but friends I went to college with who are living in London are talking about coming back because there's a perception that things are
busy in film and TV terms. RTÉ has been making really quality stuff with programmes like Rawand Love/Hate. There may be a romanticism about Ireland, but people know that we're a country of story tellers. We love expressing ourselves, it's
part of the fabric of who we are. There's a huge irony in the fact that during the Celtic Tiger years I was unemployed (so I wrote a book, Hello Heartbreak), and it's really not the case that there was more money around in film terms. It's not as though 20 more films a year were made then.

“What we really have to think about is what would happen if this industry fell away – how long would it take to regenerate it? It’s a very precarious industry with no guarantees but then we’re so resourceful and adaptable. People have suffered through it before, and lack of resources is nothing new for this industry. Films always face that challenge. It’s an industry that has really worked for its funding and it’s such an adaptable field.

“This year, I’m looking forward to going to London to star in Threesome, Comedy Central’s first UK/homegrown comedy series. “And after that who knows?”