As the landscape of the west of Ireland continues to prove a preferred location for screen production - both on a national and international scale - there is a growing need to establish infrastructures to support this.
Tantamount to the west's acclaim is the need for sustainable audiovisual infrastructures to house these productions, employment opportunities for talent and crew based in the West, and industry frameworks that feed back into the regional economy.
WRAP regional fund and commission provides strategic investment in productions, companies, and producers to enable regional activity across the film, TV, games, and animation sectors.
The fund was conceived by the Western Development Commission and Ardán (previously Galway Film Centre ) in 2018 with the support of the local authorities of Clare, Donegal, Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Leitrim, Sligo, and Údarás na Gaeltachta, to increase production in the regions.
So far, WRAP has supported 32 projects including TV series 'Obituary' (shot in Donegal ), 'Smother' (Clare ) and 'North Sea Connection' (Connemara ), resulting in a €42 million regional spend from €2.6 million invested, with 98 award nominations and 13 wins.
In February, Ireland’s Wild Islands won best Specialist Factual at the RTS Awards, and most recently, Obituary’s Siobhán Cullen, was awarded the Rising Star at the Irish Film and Television Awards.
“Investment from WRAP has been invaluable to us. As a regional producer with a large-scale, international co-production in Obituary, having the support to shoot in the regions and showcase the wealth of crew, talent, locations and scenery here is very important to me," said producer, Paddy Hayes.
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