Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board (IFB) has announced the appointment of Irish producer Lesley McKimm to the IFB’s Production and Development team, in the role of Project Manager. In this role, Lesley will manage part of the slate of IFB supported projects across all genres from the initial development stage right through production financing, to the market exploitation of these projects.
With over 25 years’ experience in the independent film and television industry and 21 years as a producer, Lesley brings a wealth of experience to the IFB in this role. She has an in-depth knowledge and ground up experience of film making – having started out in a variety of roles, from script supervision, production co-ordination, production management to line production & post-supervision. She worked as a freelance producer in the early part of her career – mainly on TV drama series and documentaries – on titles such as Relative Strangers, Southpaw, In Search of Ancient Ireland and the controversial drama No Tears – starring Brenda Fricker and Maria Doyle Kennedy which dealt with the Irish Hepatitis C blood scandal which rocked Ireland in the early 90’s.
Lesley set up Comet Film & TV in 1998 which she ran for 8 years, with credits including Any Time Now for BBC1, RTÉ 1 and the IFB. She joined Newgrange Pictures in late 2006, which she co-ran with fellow producer Jackie Larkin for 10 years. Projects developed and produced over the last number of years include feature films My Name is Emily (wri/dir Simon Fitzmaurice with Kennedy Films), Happy Ever Afters (wri/dir Stephen Burke, starring Sally Hawkins), the documentary It’s Not Yet Dark (dir Frankie Fenton) and the TV drama series Whistleblower (Exec producing for Saffron Pictures), as well as international co-productions The King’s Choice, The Last King, Call Girl, A Thousand Times Goodnight and Kill Daddy, Goodnight directed by the late Michael Glawogger.
Lesley is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, EAVE 1998 and the Media Business School 2002. McKimm is also a founding member of Women in Film & TV Ireland and former Chair of the SPI Film & TV Drama sub-committee.
Welcoming Lesley to the team James Hickey, Chief Executive of Bord Scannán na hÉireann/the Irish Film Board said
We are delighted to welcome Lesley to the team. I believe that the Irish film, television and animation industry will strongly benefit from her in-depth knowledge and experience as an independent producer. Lesley will be working alongside IFB Project Managers Keith Potter and Mary Callery.
Commenting on the new appointment Lesley McKimm said
I’m delighted to be joining the team at the IFB at such an exciting time for Irish film. As a creative producer, I understand the challenges that are there for writers, directors and producers and I really look forward to being part of helping grow the existing talent base and to foster new talent going forward.