Time to get reel

“We have gained tremendous international momentum,” said O’Sullivan.

That has led to a surge in development plans at Ireland’s studio operators.

Ashford owner Joe O’Connell has plans for an ambitious expansion, while proposals for new studio projects in Dublin city and Kerry are in the balance as planners and local politicians weigh up whether to back the industry.

Limerick’s Troy Studios is set to open shortly while in the north, Game of Thrones has helped Belfast’s film sector grow massively. Significant space at the new Harbour Studios will be open to producers within weeks.

The home of Ireland’s motion picture business, meanwhile, Ardmore Studios in Bray, Co Wicklow, has been put up for sale by its owners, the former U2 manager Paul McGuinness and film accountant Ossie Kilkenny.

“We are English-speaking and have a fairly good name now for producing high-quality feature film and television material,” said O’Sullivan. “There is no reason for us not to grow further. More power to the people who set up studios — they might not all work, but some will.”

There is no shortage of ambition. Developed at a cost of more than €20m, Ashford has three adjoining studios, as well as workshops, offices, accommodation and a canteen. O’Connell, who has manufacturing and packaging businesses, owned the land for the studios and did much of the engineering and construction work through his own companies.

On the strength of Vikings, O’Connell sought permission last May for a €90m second phase of development at Ashford, proposing 12 four-storey buildings that would span 65,600 sq metres, on lands he owns. The project would include four film studios, a TV studio, visitor centre, four office blocks and parking for nearly 650 staff, 200 visitors and 101 coaches.

Clive Standen in Vikings

KEVIN LYNCH

The second phase could employ up to 1,800 people and attract significant visitor numbers, claims O’Connell. In correspondence with Wicklow county council, Shelley O’Connell, managing director of Ashford, said the development was based “on an actual requirement of a target customer”, who was not identified. “Speed of implementation is important,” she said.

The council insisted, however, that a full environmental impact statement (EIS) was required, knocking back O’Connell’s timeline. Shelley O’Connell warned the council the potential requirement for the new studio space “greatly decreases with the imminent construction of alternative facilities in other jurisdictions, such as Northern Ireland, Pinewood, Limerick, and now possibly Dublin”.

A new plan will be submitted to the council this month with a full EIS.

By then, Limerick’s Troy Studios will be up and running, with the studio going through the final stages of its fit-out. Built at a former Dell factory, it is an impressive facility, with 35,000 sq metres of sound stages, offices and a five-acre backlot.

Troy’s directors — Ardmore chief executive Siun Ni Raghallaigh and Ossie Kilkenny — have plenty of experience dealing with large projects at Ardmore. Pinewood On Location is to handle international bookings.

Despite the island’s burgeoning reputation and expanding capacity, Ireland remains a “pretty small part of the overall global supply”, according to Richard Williams, the chief executive of Northern Ireland Screen.

In Belfast, the industry is thriving on the back of Game of Thrones, the breakout HBO hit which is due to finish production next year.

The series’ success has propelled Northern Ireland into the international spotlight as a filming location and injected more than £115m (€131.5m) into the local economy.

Williams is not unduly worried by its departure, believing that the legacy of the programme will long outlast its production schedule.

His organisation has backed up that sentiment with Harbour Studios, the £14m project at Giant’s Park on the North Foreshore, which came through a planning row and is now three weeks away from being ready for filming.

“I don’t see any first principle reason why Ireland, north and south, can’t grow the large-scale part of the industry dramatically,” he said.

Such confidence is echoed by James Morris, founder of Windmill Lane Studios and TV3, who is hoping to replicate the success enjoyed in Belfast by transforming part of the South Dublin docklands.

With the formation of a new Docklands strategic development zone under consideration, Morris saw an opportunity to realise a project he has been working on for five years. Alongside successful producer Alan Moloney, he wants to create a infrastructure project that will address the “stop-start” nature of the film industry in Ireland. It would require about 20 of the 84 acres available on the Poolbeg West SDZ.

He is adamant that the project needs to be in Dublin, to complement the rural options that already exist. The project has the backing of CAA, the biggest talent agency in Hollywood. A draft SDZ will be published by Dublin city council by January 24, with a final decision set to be made in May.

Morris said he has spoken to financiers about the next stage of the project should the council approve, adding that “unless there is a real prospect that we can go ahead to do this” he cannot secure the money.

“There is no shortage of interest,” he said. “Only 20% of Star Wars was filmed on location, the rest was filmed on sound stages. You need these big studios.

“The global demand for content is set to grow by about 30% over the next five years. Netflix alone has a content budget of $6bn [€5.6bn],” he said. “Look at who is taking advantage. London has about 100 sound stages, and the major one has announced that they don’t have enough and are building another 20.

“We currently have 12 sound stages in the country, with Belfast it is 16. To have 25 or 30 would just put us on the map,” he said.

James Hickey, the Irish Film Board chief executive, believes that the growth potential justifies the proposed investment.

Hickey called 2016 an “extraordinarily successful” year for Irish cinema, with Oscar nominations for Room and Brooklyn and the international box office for Irish films over the past two years growing to €159m. “With the kind of significant growth that we believe is achievable there will be a need for the kind of studios that are planned,” he said. “We do believe that the development of our creative and technical skills are at a point where we can expand.”

Ruth Coady, a producer at Parallel Films which will soon release Delinquent Season, a drama starring Cillian Murphy, is equally bullish.

“For a long time we had to go to other countries to help finance our films,” she said. “The shift in the past five years — with the interest coming into Ireland without us having to chase people, with people wanting to come in to co-produce or just find out about Ireland — has been extraordinary. There is a huge opportunity, it just needs the structure and support.”

Whether Ardmore has a role to play in the bright future remains to be seen. In the 2000s, the studio attracted big budget dramas such as The Tudors and Camelot. After a lull, it has fared better, partially on the back of a €2m upgrade of the studio facilities and the arrival of the Showtime hit series Penny Dreadful.

Its revival in fortunes prompted its owners to put the studio up for sale as a going concern for about €15m.

In December, Pat Casey, a local TD, said that a prospectus for the studio mentioned the potential for housing development on the site. Industry sources still expect it to be sold as a going concern.

If Ardmore steps out, maybe Kerry will step in. Aiming to capitalise on the exposure from attracting the Star Wars franchise to the county, Kerry Film Studios is in negotiations to buy a former vacuum cleaner factory and land at the Clash industrial estate in Tralee. The company proposes to build three multipurpose sound stages with the backing of Kerry county council and a number of state agencies.

While O’Sullivan is confident about the future of the Irish industry, he also sounds a note of caution. Studios work only provided you have the staff and projects to sustain them.

Located near the Spanish port city of Alicante, Ciudad de la Luz, or City of Light, was a €500m studio project. The jewel in the regional government’s public spending, it opened in 2005 with facilities that were the envy of producers across Europe. “They had no crew and had to bring them in from Madrid — that made it very expensive,” said O’Sullivan. “It was a magnificent studio, but was very hard to sell and got into difficulties.”

European authorities ruled that state subsidies gave the studio unfair competition and insisted that it be sold. Described by film-maker Ridley Scott as one of the best yet, it is now facing liquidation. Ciudad de la Luz’s main legacy is a project starring Ewan McGregor about the aftermath of a tsunami, named The Impossible.

“It’s a speculative business,” said one source. “If we oversupply with studio space, there’s a problem. If we under-supply, then we lose out.”

But one thing is for sure, he added, “if we do nothing, we get nothing.”