New fund to boost filming in western Ireland

A new fund has been launched to boost film and TV production – and other creative media – in the west of Ireland.

By Nick Goundry 13 Oct 2017

New fund to boost filming in western Ireland
Galway

A new fund has been launched to boost film and TV production – and other creative media – in the west of Ireland.

The Western Region Audiovisual Producers’ Fund – or WRAP Fund – is worth €2m over three years from when it become active in early 2018 and comes from the Galway Film Centre and the Western Development Commission (WDC).

Officials plan to use some of the money to support around ten international co-productions in seven counties in the west and north-west of the country.

“The WRAP Fund is a game changer for the audiovisual and gaming sectors in the Western Region,” said Declan Gibbons, manager of Galway Film Centre, and director of UNESCO City of Film.

“Building on the UNESCO designation in 2014 (recognising Galway as a creative international city), Galway Film Centre is now delighted to partner with the WDC to roll out this fund in collaboration with all the local authorities concerned.”

Film and TV production in Ireland is largely based in Dublin on the east coast, but Galway is the country’s next largest hub with a domestic audiovisual industry that delivers €72m to the Irish economy every year.

The west coast of Ireland is developing an international profile and will appear as a key location in Star Wars: The Last Jedi this December.

Limerick is notably not part of the WRAP Fund, but has perhaps more immediate potential as an internationally-renowned Irish location west of Dublin. Troy Studios offers three stages outside Limerick and is hosting a pilot for a TV adaptation of George RR Martin’s 1980 novella Nightflyers.

See KFTV's production guide for more on filming in Ireland.

Image: FreeImages.com/Angela Granger

Officials plan to use some of the money to support around ten international co-productions in seven counties in the west and north-west of the country.

“The WRAP Fund is a game changer for the audiovisual and gaming sectors in the Western Region,” said Declan Gibbons, manager of Galway Film Centre, and director of UNESCO City of Film.

“Building on the UNESCO designation in 2014 (recognising Galway as a creative international city), Galway Film Centre is now delighted to partner with the WDC to roll out this fund in collaboration with all the local authorities concerned.”

Film and TV production in Ireland is largely based in Dublin on the east coast, but Galway is the country’s next largest hub with a domestic audiovisual industry that delivers €72m to the Irish economy every year.

The west coast of Ireland is developing an international profile and will appear as a key location in Star Wars: The Last Jedi this December.

Limerick is notably not part of the WRAP Fund, but has perhaps more immediate potential as an internationally-renowned Irish location west of Dublin. Troy Studios offers three stages outside Limerick and is hosting a pilot for a TV adaptation of George RR Martin’s 1980 novella Nightflyers.

See KFTV's production guide for more on filming in Ireland.

Image: FreeImages.com/Angela Granger

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