De Valera promises long-term film plan

A review group will be set up to plan a long-term strategy for film and TV, the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, …

A review group will be set up to plan a long-term strategy for film and TV, the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Ms de Valera, has promised. She will also set up a commission to act as a one-stop shop for indigenous and international film-makers.

The Minister was speaking in Hollywood while visiting the west coast of the US to meet key industry figures to persuade them to use Ireland as a location for films.

At a Hollywood reception this week, attended by the Minister, actor Gabriel Byrne mused on the challenges any film-maker would confront in portraying Yeats and his unrequited love for Maud Gonne, while film producer Morgan O'Sullivan declared that Ireland was more than a scenic backdrop. These were the conversations taking place at a chic restaurant in Beverly Hills as the Irish film industry made an all-out pitch for money and attention from leading Hollywood producers.

The Irish Film Board's Mr O'Sullivan invited a group of 50 or so film industry "movers and shakers" to the cavernous Jimmy's Restaurant. "Our plan to bring film and television to Ireland has worked," Ms de Valera told the group. "But it is not enough to sit back and say we're doing well." Her plans for her two-day stay involved a series of meetings with producers and executives at United Artists, Paramount, and other film studios.

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Gabriel Byrne and Morgan O'Sullivan said that the talks between Hollywood film-makers and Irish officials must go beyond the goal of promoting Ireland as a location. "It can't be just about attracting people to Ireland", said Byrne. "We want to build a bridge between Ireland and Hollywood. We want to be part of the Hollywood infrastructure."