Construction will soon begin in Mullingar (Co. Westmeath), a sign that the metro-centric Irish film industry, which is currently centred primarily in Dublin, is shifting. It’s becoming less and less viable – and desirable – to locate in the capital city, where costs are soaring for both individuals and business.
Pushing into the centre of Ireland, Hammerlake Studios will benefit from beautiful natural surroundings in a far less costly area of the country, but which is still highly accessible from all major cities for Ireland’s highly mobile workforce of talented crew.
The news is also yet another reminder that Ireland is becoming a serious player in the international film industry. Major productions, including Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel(2021), David Lowery’s The Green Knight (2021), and Netflix’s multi-award-winning series Vikings, have all filmed in the country in recent years, building on an increasinglyimpressive portfolio of major productions shot in Ireland.
Hammerlake Studios is also one of 7 proposed studios in Ireland, with several other large-scale projects, including the Greystones Media Campus and Grange Castle Studios, in the planning or early construction phases.
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It’s clear that there is great potential for overlap between the film / television and video game worlds. Series and films based on video games are a popular choice for thestreaming giant, with adaptations of Resident Evil, League of Legends and, most recently, Assassin’s Creed. It seems only natural that Netflix is now looking to expand inthe opposite direction, tapping into the huge market of games based on films and series.
Following licensing agreements made between several streaming giants and African-based studios, Amazon’s move into Africa is another indication of the increasing appetite for stories from across the globe, especially by streamers in America. It’s only a matter of time before the demand for international content leads to an increasing presence of the big production companies throughout Africa and elsewhere.
The BFI’s new strategy looks to both the past and future of the UK screen industry, combining a strategy for increasing access to the UK’s film and television heritage with an acknowledgement of the continuing need to support new talent in the local film industry. It’s a welcome strategy to address unequal access to an integral part of the national heritage, and to address the challenges associated with the incredible boom in the UK screen industries, which have more than doubled in size since 2017.