Written by on May 14, 2015. Posted in On Location

Pinewood Studios launches production service company for Ireland filming

Pinewood Studios has launched Pinewood Productions Ireland Limited as a new full service production company to assist clients filming on location in Ireland. The company’s services will include budgeting, location scouting, crew sourcing and equipment and facilities rental.

Pinewood Productions Ireland Limited is part of the studio’s response to Ireland’s generous filming incentive programme, which was boosted in January.

“We are delighted to announce this exciting new venture in Ireland,” said Nick Smith, Commercial Director of Pinewood Studios Group: “Pinewood Productions Ireland will expand Pinewood’s global offering and enhance the services we can offer our international clients.”

Ireland is becoming more popular as an international filming location, with high-end TV dramas Vikings, Ripper Street and Penny Dreadful all shot in and around Dublin. Last year Star Wars: The Force Awakens spent a few days filming on the island of Skelling Michael off the coast of County Kerry in south-western Ireland.

“Our film and TV production sector is going from strength to strength, despite the economic challenges we have faced in recent years,” said Heather Humphreys TD, Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, when the filming incentive was boosted.

“I want to make Ireland a first-choice destination for international film makers, and improving the tax breaks available under Section 481 will be essential to achieve this.”

Next year the Irish government will consider raising the cap on production expenditure that qualifies for the filming incentive. The cap is currently set at EUR 50 million and an increase could help attract more big-budget international shoots.

Star Wars: Episode VIII is set to use Pinewood Studios as a production base, which will make it the third Star Wars movie in a row to film there. Marvel based Avengers: Age of Ultron at Pinewood’s Shepperton and is now shooting Captain America: Civil War at Pinewood Atlanta Studios in the US.

Pinewood Studio Wales is now open in Cardiff and recently secured a remake of cult horror The Crow as its first major feature film.

(Star Wars image: Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair; Vikings image: History Channel)