With the exception of filmsfinanced under the Irish Film Board's low budget initiatives - such as TheTrouble With Sex, and the amateur soccer club drama Studs which isscheduled for a Dublin shoot in February - all Irish locally produced filmsrequire foreign co-producing partners and a significant element of foreignfinancing.

A cursory look at thelocally developed projects in the Ireland production listings underscores thesuccess Irish producers have had in raising production finance from multiplesources outside the country. Even in the instance of films only co-financedwith the UK there have been diverse sources of funding utilised - be it from anequity fund, a distributor, the Isle of Man, the NIFTC's new production fund,Sale & Leaseback, or a combination of these.

The rolling changes toexisting schemes and protocols in the UK have made it a necessity for Irishproducers to develop new financing models with colleagues on the neighbouringisland. It shouldn't come as a surprise then that Irish production companiesare participating in four of the five development slate deals recently agreedby the UK Film Council, the companies in question being Littlebird, Element,Octagon and Parallel.

While preliminary figuresfor 2004 suggest a severe downturn in the value of production for the year, theindications are that there will be four or five films in production orpre-production in Ireland by Spring of this year. Four or five more than thistime last year, not all of which could be confirmed by producers in time forinclusion in the list.

For full Irish production listings, click here

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