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If we want to grow the next generation of Cillian Murphys, we need to treat film like the tech industry

Politicians will stampede to be photographed with the actor if he wins the Oscar. But where are they when the industry is looking for support?

Oscar winning director David Puttnam looks at what Ireland needs to do to maintain a thriving film industry.
David Puttnam
Sat Mar 09 2024 - 07:00

Tomorrow night’s Oscars ceremony can only prove an enormous win for the Irish film industry, regardless of the eventual victors – although I desperately hope Cillian Murphy takes home the award he so richly deserves. The indelible image of a Cork man standing with his best actor trophy alongside some of the leading creative talent in the world is something of which every Irish person can justifiably be proud.

This success, along with that of the Irish producers Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe, with their extraordinary 11 nominations for Poor Things; whose star, Emma Stone, has already reaped praise and trophies (including a Bafta) can only add to the joy of the evening.

Beyond the Oscars, Small Things Like These, a co-production based on an Irish novella, starring a largely Irish cast including Cillian Murphy, opened the prestigious Berlinale last month. Irish producers Medb Riordan and Shirley O’Connor came home with the Outstanding Debut Bafta for their film Earth Mama; and Kneecap – the biopic of an Irish language rap group – won the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award in January. And then there is the ongoing success of home-grown actors such as Andrew Scott, Jesse Buckley, Paul Mescal, Saoirse Ronan, Barry Keoghan and Alison Oliver – surely more than enough talent to warrant an open-top bus for the homecoming from Hollywood.

As a long-time observer of Irish life, I know we are a country that collectively rejoices when we succeed on the global stage. There’s likely to be a stampede among politicians to be photographed alongside Cillian should he win tomorrow night. And so there should be. But the political class tend to be a lot less visible when it comes to investing in those same creative people when they’re standing in the wings, working on the project that may (or may not) be the one that leads them into the spotlight.

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In truth, it’s not good enough to celebrate the triumph if you’re not prepared to invest in the risk.

Companies such as Element Pictures need ongoing support so they can continue to catapult a new generation of Irish talent into the global arena

Like any business, in addition to capital films require a huge amount of hard work, resilience, and vision.

Guiney and Lowe have each of those personal attributes in spades, building their production company, Element Pictures, into an international powerhouse that’s celebrated across the filmmaking community for its commitment to creative ideas. They backed filmmakers such as Yorgos Lanthimos and Lenny Abrahamson when they were relatively unknown and, with the success of productions such as Normal People, Room, The Favourite and now Poor Things, they’ve been rewarded for their bravery many times over. But companies such as Element Pictures need ongoing support so they can continue to catapult a new generation of Irish talent into the global arena.

Nominations and awards are the cherry-on-top we can all enjoy, but first we have to think about baking the rest of the cake. A film such as Poor Things had a long road to travel before it reached the big screen: the first conversations about the film started in 2018; production began three years later. During the interim – the development phase – the idea would have been crafted and honed by writers, producers, story editors, concept artists, production and costume designers, location scouts, lawyers, financial planners and many, many more. It’s likely that the team at Element, supported by Film Four in the UK, had to invest the best part of €500,000 before knowing if the film would ever get produced.

I have always believed that this developmental phase of a film resembles the early days of a tech start-up: a lot of people working around the clock on something for which there is no guarantee of success. We need to start thinking about our film, television and games sector in these terms – as businesses with the same investment needs as any other sector. And like other industries it needs a commitment to research and development if it is to thrive.

Coimisiún na Meán is currently considering a plan to impose a small levy on the national revenue of global streaming services operating in our country, which would be reinvested in the local production sector

Screen Ireland does an exceptional job of supporting this burgeoning industry, and much of the applause we’ll hear this weekend should be pointed in their direction. But it, too, needs the freedom and confidence to take brave and ambitious chances – to support our creative leaders to make risky decisions before production starts. Filmmakers need to feel secure in the face of failure if they’re eventually to succeed. Not every investment will come off. Some will. Poor Things has now accumulated over $100 million at the global box office.

Coimisiún na Meán is currently considering a plan to impose a small levy on the national revenue of global streaming services operating in our country, which would be reinvested in the local production sector. France, Italy, Denmark and many other European nations have already imposed such a levy, and used the funds to sustain and develop local and regional filmmaking. This comes at no direct cost to the taxpayer. In Ireland, it seems wholly sensible to me that a significant portion of this fund should be allocated and ring-fenced solely for the high-risk development process.

Every morning, I look out at the river Ilen from my home in Skibbereen. No matter the weather or the season, I see an ever-growing number of local – now world-famous – rowers preparing for their next stab at gold in Paris this summer. This incredible personal commitment is focused on what will hopefully be another hugely celebrated success. The self-belief shown on the river, day in, day out, deserves its own place on our front pages. Maybe Ireland, instead of merely celebrating our successes, is ready to rebalance our appetite for both risk and reward.

David Puttnam is a film producer