Ireland

Ireland’s drizzly weather is not dampening the spirits of international producers and studios looking to shoot in the territory. Blumhouse Television and Lionsgate Television’s US legal drama The Rainmaker used Dublin and Wicklow to double for South Carolina; while Frankie Shaw’s US heist comedy 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank — starring Liam Neeson and produced by PictureStart, Point Grey Pictures and Black Mask Studios — filmed in Limerick in early 2025. 

Horror, too, is a genre well-suited to Ireland’s atmospheric climate and abundance of isolated rural locations. Damian McCarthy’s Hokum commenced its Cork shoot in February; producers are Abu Dhabi’s Image Nation and the US’s Spooky Pictures, with Tailored Pictures the Irish producer.

Major inward investment productions across 2024 included Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon and the second season of Netflix’s Wednesday. Total production spend generated by the Irish screen industry last year was $460m (€430m), representing a 33% increase on the Hollywood strike-addled $344.5m (€322m) in 2023, and up 19% on $386.3m (€361m) in 2022. 

Ireland’s Section 481 tax credit remains a draw for international productions, with a tax break of up to 32% on qualifying Irish film and TV productions, and 90% early payment. Ireland’s skilled, English-speaking crews are ever popular but can prove challenging to secure when several large-scale studio projects arrive at once, with gaps in skills and provisions outside the core Dublin and Wicklow hubs. 

Subsistence and production costs are comparable with the UK and not considered cheap. “Your money doesn’t go super far, but you are walking into a very established film industry with very skilled crews,” says Jack Tarling of Shudder Films, the UK producer on Kneecap and UK filmmaker Rebekah Fortune’s Galway-shot comedy drama Learning To Breathe Underwater. “There can be crew shortages, not because there aren’t amazing people there. It’s a smaller ecosystem.”

In January, an independent economic and skills analysis of the creative screen sector was published, commissioned by Screen Ireland and conducted by Alma Economics. It noted talent shortages “especially in some HoD [head of department] roles, trainees and producers in Ireland’s regions. This gap is driving reliance on international crews, which increases costs and limits local talent development.”

As such, national film agency Screen Ireland outlined its five-year strategic plan, with development of nationwide skills a key priority. “Screen Ireland is very supportive with regards to both their main [production] fund and their minority co-production fund, which I’ve been able to access on three projects,” says Tarling, referring to the Fiction: Creative co-production fund, which gives a maximum of $374,500 (€350,000) for features originated outside of Ireland, but in which an Irish producer is a creative collaborator.

Learning To Breathe Underwater wrapped its Galway shoot in October, with an international cast including Rory Kinnear and Maria Bakalova. Patrick O’Neill of Ireland’s Wildcard also produced. Tarling praised the simplicity of the co-production fund application process and the flexibility of its requirements. The film was one of the first to shoot in Galway’s disused airport. The producers chose the city to access additional support from Ireland’s Western Region Audiovisual Producer’s Fund (WRAP), set up to encourage production in the west of the country. 

Nearly all VFX and post-production work is concentrated in Dublin and Wicklow. The sector saw a 326% increase in revenue from 2019-24, however, a blow to confidence came with the closure of Dublin-based post-production house Windmill Lane Pictures in January, citing the US actors and writers strikes of 2023 and a decline in competitiveness of Ireland’s tax incentive for VFX as contributing factors.

In the autumn 2024 Budget, then-minister of finance Jack Chambers said he had directed the Department of Finance to monitor trends in the global VFX sector over the coming year, with a view to introducing sector-specific reliefs in the 2026 Budget.

As part of an intense focus on the regions, Screen Ireland has also launched crew development hubs in Galway, Limerick and Wicklow to expand the crew base and guard against skills shortages. 

Strong production facilities are found at Ardmore, Ashford and Troy Studios (the largest and one of the newest in Ireland). International producers should have little problem finding local partners and fixers, with around 300 production companies in the territory. Among the most prominent service producers are Wild Atlantic Pictures and Metropolitan.

Lens Media’s Dublin Fields, a 56-acre site, was awarded planning permission in December 2024. However, construction on Greystones Media Campus in County Wicklow, which aimed to be the largest studio complex in Ireland, has stalled and is under review. 

Ireland’s film industry benefits from the country’s booming tourist sector; hotels are easy to find. There are plenty of seasoned technicians, some of whom have worked in the industry for decades. Ireland also has several well-equipped studios including Ardmore, Ashford and Troy Studios in Limerick. Last year, Ardmore added a 22,000 square foot stage to its offering. There is also a growing VFX sector. Some high-profile projects — The Mandalorian, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Stranger Things among them — have used facilities such as SSVFX (which also has outposts in Los Angeles and London), Screenscene, Windmill Lane, Egg VFX and others. 

Ireland is a member of the European Union but opted out of the Schengen Agreement. Its currency is the euro.

Dublin airport flies to around 22 cities across the US and is about a 45-minute drive from Ardmore Studios in Bray, County Wicklow, an hour to Ashford Studios, also County Wicklow, and two-and-a-half hours to Troy Studios, Limerick. 

Ireland is compact in size (just under 33,000 square miles) and easy to access. The capital Dublin is located next to sea and mountainscapes, and within easy access of Ardmore and Ashford studios. Most locations in Ireland are accessible from Dublin within hours. Transport links are strong. Different locations are generally within easy reach of each other.

First contact: Steven Davenport, head of US productions and partnerships, Screen Ireland inwardproduction@screenireland.ie