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BSÉ/IFB’s funding programmes are guided by some fundamental principles which form the basis of its decision-making criteria. The principles are:

• Additionality
• Cultural Priorities, Industrial Priorities
• Making Cinema
• Originality

These are explained in more detail below. Thereafter we set out some further considerations that may influence a decision in favour of one project over another.

Additionality
An essential rationale for making public money available to an industry is that it should create activity that would not otherwise occur, i.e. that the market, left to itself, would not engender. It follows that films backed by BSÉ/IFB should be films that will not be made, or will not be made with the same level of benefit to Ireland, unless enabled to do so with the support of the agency. Such films, and the benefits that flow from them, will represent ‘additional’ economic activity.

The procedures for considering submissions for production funding are intended to ensure more effectively that the extent of BSÉ/IFB’s involvement in a project really reflects the extent to which its involvement is needed: specifically, that the level of BSÉ/IFB’s investment is what is required to complete a film’s financing and no more. Clearly this is hard to police with absolute accuracy, given the nature of film financing negotiations, but the principle holds good and will be closely observed.

The aim to fund films that are ‘additional’ will also affect BSÉ/IFB’s preferences in seeking out projects to support. Additionality implies making a difference, and BSÉ/IFB will tend to be drawn towards supporting projects that appear to be of high quality but tangibly distinct and different from films available in the mainstream marketplace. This does not mean that BSÉ/IFB is interested only in supporting ‘un-commercial’ material. On the contrary, there is a wealth of cinema history evidence to show that the big hits are frequently ground-breaking, left-field surprises. The market appears to need regular refreshment. BSÉ/IFB will give energetic backing to producers who display an ambition to achieve market success – with projects that display an awareness of the market, but not a prostration to it.

Cultural Priorities, Industrial Priorities
Consistent with its government remit, and responding to the present perceived needs of the Irish film industry, BSÉ/IFB considers that certain projects, in terms of their content, provenance or benefit to the industry, represent clear priorities for its funding as against others.

Strong preference will be given to submissions on behalf of projects which:

• are of ‘Irish initiation’ in a creative sense; that is, conceived, written and to be directed by Irish talents
• tell Irish stories, drawing on and depicting Ireland’s culture, history, way of life, view of the world and of itself
• entail new Irish filmmaking talent in key creative roles, i.e. director, writer, producer, composer, principal actor

Serious attention will also be paid to submissions which:

• propose a strongly Irish project (in terms of setting, characters, etc) that is to be directed by a non-Irish talent, where BSÉ/IFB regards the director’s track-record as an assurance of quality
• involve an Irish producer as minority co-producer of a film, where (a) BSÉ/IFB is convinced of the quality of the project, (b) the amount of BSÉ/IFB’s investment corresponds to the level of involvement of Irish personnel, elements and facilities in the project, and (c) a commitment is in place by the majority co-producer to reciprocate by acting as minority co-producer of a future Irish film

Submissions on behalf of films to be made predominantly in the Irish language will continue to be particularly welcomed by BSÉ/IFB.

BSÉ/IFB will always be vigilant in ensuring that films in which it invests entail a high volume of expenditure on Irish personnel and in the Irish industry, and this aspect of a submission is likely to play a material part in a positive decision. It will not in itself be a decisive factor, however, where BSÉ/IFB is unconvinced by the quality of a project, or where the project in other respects does not comply with any of the priorities set out above. This is dealt with in more detail under Further Considerations below.

Making Cinema
A fundamental reason for BSÉ/IFB’s existence is to encourage, sustain and promote work in Ireland that is made to be shown on the big screen.

This has not prevented BSÉ/IFB from supporting work for which the main exhibition outlet in practice is television. Moreover, to the extent that this enables production companies to survive and even thrive, and reflects a healthy and necessary synergy between the cinema and television media, in a country the size of Ireland it would be unrealistic for BSÉ/IFB to confine its support to filmmaking for the cinema.

But, while continuing to respond positively to occasional submissions on behalf of projects that are most likely to find an audience on television, even including made-for-TV films and series, BSÉ/IFB will place somewhat greater emphasis on its obligations towards cinema work and cinema talents in the future.

In practice this will mean:

• Documentaries will be more rigorously assessed in terms of their potential to achieve theatrical release or stimulate interest from international film festivals. Preference will be given to ‘feature documentaries’; films aimed at a one-hour TV slot or shorter, with little or no international appeal, are likely to be supported only if they are felt to be of an irresistible quality. Besides BSÉ/IFB’s emphasis on cinema, this approach is also designed to respond to the manifest increase in theatrical audiences’ desire to see documentaries.
• Animation will be treated with more flexibility, in recognition both of the growing importance of Irish work in this field, and of the narrowness of the theatrical market that exists for animated features. Preference will nonetheless be given to original work from Irish talents that appears to be sufficiently inventive and striking to measure up to the big-screen format if an opportunity becomes available.
• Television fiction, whether singles or series, will be considered for its inherent quality but other factors will also come into play. Strong emphasis will be placed on backing directors (and, on occasions, writers) whose careers to date clearly demonstrate an ability to make cinema films, or who in the view of BSÉ/IFB are headed for a career in cinema filmmaking. Further, BSÉ/IFB will need to be convinced that its financial involvement is crucial to the realisation of the programme and will expect to contribute editorially to its content. Development support by BSÉ/IFB for material specifically aimed at television production will be rarely forthcoming.
  

Originality
In the interests of achieving distinction in the way in which it utilises its resources, and consistent with the additionality objectives already outlined, BSÉ/IFB will set considerable store by originality in seeking out and selecting projects for support. Artistic benefits apart, there is ample evidence that in a market dominated by high-budget products, the films that compete most effectively are those that offer audiences something not seen before – in terms of controversial content, provocative viewpoint, fresh humour, twisted genre, or new depths of emotion.

This will lead BSÉ/IFB to favour directors (and writers) with distinctive ‘voices’, whose work depicts a strongly individual view of the world, portrays life in such a way as to give it new meaning, holds a mirror up to aspects of nature that more conventional filmmakers avoid or fail to notice. BSÉ/IFB is concerned to back films that reach as wide an audience as possible, and expects filmmakers to demonstrate a similar ambition. At the same time it recognises that box-office success eludes many. Whether a film succeeds or fails, BSÉ/IFB believes that expenditure of public money can be vigorously defended if the film has something original to say, something original to add to the mass of world cinema.

Further Considerations
The guiding principles described above should serve to give applicants insight into the way in which BSÉ/IFB’s executives and advisors will assess a project from the point of view of its content and the creative team involved. In assessing production funding applications, other factors may come into play, concerning the economic effects of the project, the financial arrangements, and the prospects of reaching audiences.
Where BSÉ/IFB does not consider that a project adheres to any of the guiding principles, these other factors will not in themselves be sufficient to secure an offer of funding. But, in the case of a project where content and creative team are seen as persuasive, the following considerations may affect negotiations between BSÉ/IFB and the filmmakers as to the level of BSÉ/IFB’s investment and the way in which the film will be financed, produced and distributed:
 

• Track record of the producer
  
  • Has the producer managed and delivered films in a professional and efficient manner before?
  • Has BSÉ/IFB had good previous experience of dealing with the producer?
  • In a co-production, do any non-Irish producers involved have good professional track records?
• Irish employment
  
  • Are key creative and technical positions to be filled by Irish personnel?
  • In a co-production, is the proportion of these appropriate?
  • Will the production offer employment to Irish personnel across all possible grades?
• Spend in the Irish economy
  
  • Will the film be shot in Ireland?
  • Will the production make extensive use of Irish production and post-production facilities?
  • Will the project attract inward investment into the Irish economy?
• Sales and Distribution
  
  • Is an international sales agent attached to the film?
  • Does the film have an Irish distributor?
  • Are any distributors or broadcasters providing production finance?
• Financial structure
  
  • Are the proposed co-financiers of the film reliable?
  • Will the proposed financing arrangements allow BSÉ/IFB to negotiate a reasonable recoupment position?
  • Will there be reasonable transparency of accounting with regard to sales revenues, e.g. by use of a collection agent?

It should be emphasised that for a project to be offered production funding it is not necessary for all these questions to be answered affirmatively. But negative answers to a high proportion of them could undermine a strongly positive disposition on the part of BSÉ/IFB towards the creative aspects of a project. At the very least, a mix of affirmative and negative answers will provoke discussion as to the extent and manner of BSÉ/IFB’s commitment.

Variant Criteria
Some BSÉ/IFB funding programmes have specific criteria of their own and are not necessarily governed by the principles set out above:

• Regional Support
  This programme has an exclusively economic remit. To be eligible, a project must already be in receipt of BSÉ/IFB production funding, and no further creative judgment is applied. An assessment is made of the amount of the production budget to be spent in Ireland outside the metropolitan and adjacent area; this must be at least twice the amount of funding requested.
• Distribution
  The Print Provision programme functions on an automatic basis, whereby films become eligible for support if selected for one of a list of approved festivals, subject to agreement with BSÉ/IFB as to the level of funding. Marketing support funding is provided to Irish distributors of BSÉ/IFB-backed films who demonstrate that support from BSÉ/IFB will enhance the promotion of a film in the Irish market. Direct Distrinution funding is provided to Irish producers to help defray the costs of a limited theatrical release in Ireland (including Northern Ireland) for feature films already in receipt of BSÉ/IFB production funding, that have been unable to secure suitable theatrical distribution by a bona fide Irish distribution company.

NOTE: BSÉ/IFB reserves the right to alter, add to or suspend any of the above criteria in response to particular circumstances or as its policies evolve.

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