Ardmore Studios facing final curtain

IT COULD soon be a case of lights, camera but no action at Ardmore Studios in Co Wicklow, which is facing closure after missing out on the contract for a major US television series.

Ardmore’s majority shareholders, U2 manager Paul McGuinness and accountant Ossie Kilkenny, are seeking about €500,000 to cover care and maintenance costs at the studio in Bray while it searches for new productions. They are believed to have sought funding recently from the Irish Film Board.

Ardmore’s owners plan to close the studio in the coming weeks if they cannot secure the necessary finance. It would then be sold off.

The studio employs about 20 full-time staff but this figure increases when productions are in full swing.

Ardmore's financial difficulties came to a head recently after it lost out to neighbouring Ballyhenry Studios in Ashford, Co Wicklow, on a contract for the Vikingsseries, a $40 million-plus big-ticket production by Morgan O'Sullivan for MGM. It is understood that this could have been worth more than €1 million to Ardmore.

Securing the Vikingsseries is a major coup for Ashford, a new state-of-the-art studio owned by Joe O'Connell. It has larger stages that are considered more suitable for modern productions

Opened in 1958, Ardmore has played an integral part in the development of the Irish film industry over the decades, with more than 100 feature films produced there. Its productions include Excaliburand Braveheart.

However, the studio has suffered from the cyclical nature of the film sector and at the end of 2010, it had accumulated total losses of €338,192.

Ardmore was used in the making of the hit TV series the Tudorsbetween 2006 and 2010 and was also involved in Camelot, another major TV production for the US market.