BELFAST BRIEFING:The North's film industry will get a major boost with 'Game of Thrones'
COULD WHAT actor Sean Bean calls “action, adventure, love and passion” be set to deliver a potential £140 million (€160 million) boost for the North’s economy?
It might sound like a winning combination but the ultimate decision is likely to depend on television audiences in the US and Europe. If they fall in love with an epic fantasy starring Bean, largely filmed in the Paint Hall studios in east Belfast, Northern Ireland could be set to enjoy a long-term starring role with HBO.
This week the cable network giant celebrates the launch of the Game of Thronesseries and television audiences in Britain and Ireland last night got their first glimpse of the fantasy drama, based on US author George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books.
According to First Minister Peter Robinson, an initial investment of £1.6 million by agencies in the North returned a direct spend of £17 million to the local economy. Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness were involved in meeting senior executives from HBO to finalise the deal that brought the production to Belfast.
Robinson has said that if series one proves to be successful, there might be an opportunity to secure up to seven series, which “could equate to a total direct spend in the local economy of an estimated £140 million”.
This would be on the back of a potential investment on Northern Ireland’s part of £11 million, not bad odds for a region whose reputation as a centre for film and television production is still nowhere near that of its closest competitor – the Republic.
McGuinness believes the North has the “facilities, talent and locations” to make the HBO series a continued commercial success.
Demand for Game of Thrones, even before it aired, suggested it could become one of HBO's best-selling series outside of the US. This has strengthened the chances of the US group commissioning a second series.
According to Northern Ireland Screen, the government-backed lead agency for the industry, the fantasy series "could do for Northern Ireland what Lord of the Ringsdid for New Zealand".
Although a significant part was shot in the Paint Hall in east Belfast, where Harland Wolff once painted parts of its ships, the series showcases some of the North’s most beautiful landscape, such as Tollymore Forest Park in Co Down. It is hoped that not only will this inspire other major television and film productions to consider it as a location, but also help encourage fans to visit.
If the Game of Thronesis a success, it will also help deliver a significant vote of confidence in the North's blossoming film and television industry. In the last financial year alone (2009-2010) Northern Ireland Screen's main production investment fund delivered a £22 million return on an investment of £3.9 million.
Later this month Invest NI and Northern Ireland Screen will host a directors’ brunch at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York where it hopes to target more than 100 directors from over 38 countries.
Invest NI chief executive Alastair Hamilton is keen to develop the industry and secure what he describes as “the significant economic benefits” it could deliver.
HBO's Game of Throneshas been billed as medieval fantasy epic set in a vast and violent kingdom – but it is essentially a tale about the battle between good and evil.
Let us hope the good guys mean business when it comes to Northern Ireland.
