When applications for both production and development loans are being considered, they will be assessed by a number of criteria (Appendix I):
- creative strength of project;
- track record of creative team;
- Irish employment in all grades;
- Spend in Irish economy;
- Commercial potential;
- Equity – profit potential.
Development Funds
Development Loans are advanced on a phased payment basis with approximately 50-60% paid on satisfactory implementation of Development Loan contracts between the Board and the producer, the balance being paid upon observance of certain conditions profiled by the Board.
Loans for development are up to a maximum of IR£50,000 (€*****) but only IR£25,000 (€*****), (more than one loan can be taken out for development purposes but a maximum of IR£25,000 applies to any one application and all loans cannot total more than IR£50,000). Teams/companies can apply for a development loan, as can individuals (producer/director/script-writer). The producer is obliged to repay the advance on the first day of principal photography.
These should be seen as feasibility/development loans; the Board will make every attempt to track these funds and provides information and assistance for independent producers looking for potential production partners. It should be noted that some projects that have received development loans from the Irish Film Board (IFB) will fail to make it into production and so will eventually be written off.
However, all projects that do come to fruition are closely monitored by the Board and the collection of the money owed is keenly pursued.
Production Loans
The Board’s involvement takes the guise of investment in the production and in its sales for television, video, cinema and subsidiary markets (cable, satellite, home box office, etc.) both in Ireland and worldwide. The investment is not subject of interest as rigorous measures for recoupment and profit participation are applied. All offers for investment are ‘in principle’ and subject to contract.
MEDIA Desk Ireland
“The fundamental challenge that we will have to take up in the next months and years is to combine our expertise in the new technologies and the talent of our creators to develop innovative European content and services.”
Member of the European Commission
Education and Culture
MEDIA Desk Ireland benefits from a significant strategic position within the Irish industry as the interface between the Irish audio-visual sector and the MEDIA Programme of the European Union. The two-sided effect to this relationship is the ease of inward investment/support from the MEDIA to the Irish industry and in parallel facilitation of the reach of the Irish industry into the European market.
This crucial role of the Desk is also displayed from the range of its client base – writers, directors, producers, animators, distributors, new media professionals, exhibitors, festivals and education/training agencies. It is the breadth and depth of this client base (standing at over 1700) that has launched the Desk as a focal point within the industry and as a significant facilitator for the industry and nationally and, maybe more importantly, internationally into Europe.
Those who reflect upon the work of MEDIA II in Ireland can be forgiven for doing so with great pride: one can cite the level of funding into the Irish industry (currently at IR£8.1million (Ireland on Screen, 2001)); over 240 Irish professionals who have benefited from MEDIA training; and the participation by Irish professionals at the MEDIA supported international markets and festivals. By any standards, these findings are strong and confirm MEDIA finance and training as a critical element in the growth of the Irish cinematic and audio-visual industry.
Looking forward into MEDIA+/MEDIA Plus, there is a commitment on the MEDIA Desk’s part to continue this work and to match greater sophistication and scale of the Irish cinematic and audio-visual industry.
European Funding and Support
MEDIA Plus
MEDIA Plus follows on from the work done by MEDIA I and MEDIA II. It is a European Union funding scheme managed by the European Commission in Brussels. MEDIA Plus runs from January 2000 until December 2005 and includes funding provision for film festivals but the kind of support and size of budgets had not been finalised at the time of research.
European Co-ordination of Film Festivals (ECFF)
The European Co-ordination of Film Festivals is a membership organisation with the objective of developing and strengthening the sector through promotion and collaboration. It is not necessarily a funding body, although it does provide support its members through ECFF programming projects, conferences and staff training. Membership to the ECFF is subject to a number of conditions and it is for this reason that it is usual for only the larger U.K. film festivals tend to qualify.