Kerry Screen Commission: Kerry County Council
The Kerry Screen Commission exists to promote the county as a location for film, TV, documentaries etc. In terms of destination selection, visitor surveys have shown that seeing a location on film and TV motivates over 20% of visitors to go to visit that place (Irish Film Board 2014). The value of communicating the wide variety of landscape, seascape and much more via film is acknowledged as being of upmost importance. Film promotes a presence on the international stage.
The Kerry Screen Commission actively assists filmmakers to source locations, to overcome logistical problems as they arise and offers aerial footage to assist with scenes of the county.
The arts office has operated as the Kerry Screen Commission since 2001, working closely with the Irish Film Board, location managers and production companies. The variety of incoming requests for information and assistance is extremely broad and we have actively assisted with specifics of location identification, contacts for ownership of property, clean up of areas and much more. We have managed queries from previous artistic design Oscar winners (ref ‘Harry Potter, the Half Blood Prince’) to emerging film makers, all with a ‘can do’ attitude!
The office co-ordinates assistance across the Local Authority, this entails working with various sections; roads, piers and harbours, sewage treatment plant managers, to advice from the County Archaeologist, area offices and other experts within the Local Authority.
We also have established contacts in other services such as the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the HSE, Coilte , OPW, An Garda Síochana and many others. No two queries are the same and we have found that our communal knowledge base is a valuable asset in promoting this wonderful county as an ideal location for film, documentaries, commercials and other media. 2014 saw two feature films shoot in Kerry, (one located here for 3 months, the other for a week) a number of documentaries and commercials including two BBC documentaries and a Lotto advert, as well as many emerging film makers filming in the county. We look forward to working with the industry to continue to promote Kerry as the ideal location for film.