Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland

Screen Ireland supports new Return to Production Guidelines and launches new €1m Covid-19 Production Fund

Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland, the development agency for the creative screen sector, supports the publication of the COVID-19 Production Guidelines for live-action film and TV drama.

In tandem with the published guidelines, Screen Ireland has launched a new €1 million COVID-19 Production Fund, which is designed to partially offset additional production costs associated with implementing the new guidelines. Screen Ireland’s key priority is to ensure the industry can recover from the current crisis and return to production as safely as possible, in line with the Government’s Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business.

The guidance document, published by Screen Producers Ireland with funding from Screen Ireland, will help to translate government protocols and public health guidance into a practical approach tailored to screen content production. Productions will use these guidelines to develop their own individual protocols and production-specific risk assessments. Screen Skills Ireland, the skills development unit within Screen Ireland, will provide free online training courses based on the guidelines to support the safe return to production.

Screen Ireland’s new fund is intended to support industry recovery, by partially offsetting the costs of implementing safety guidelines measures on set, costs which could prohibit productions getting back up and running.  Productions funded by Screen Ireland can apply for up to €75K per project and further information will be available shortly on www.screenireland.ie.

Screen Ireland’s priority is to ensure the industry can return to production as safely as possible and to retain the sector’s talented creative workforce. We have supported an industry-wide collaborative approach towards recovery and would like to thank Screen Producers Ireland for their work in developing these comprehensive guidelines in consultation with key stakeholders. These production guidelines, together with Screen Ireland’s COVID-19 Production Fund and online training from Screen Skills Ireland, will help support the industry in the return to production.

Désirée Finnegan, Chief Executive – Screen Ireland

Funded by Screen Ireland, the broad protocols were produced by Screen Producers Ireland in consultation with a wide range of industry stakeholders and have been developed in the context of the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation and the Department of Health. These guidelines will be updated as appropriate, as Government public health advice changes and evolves.