THE Dublin based film and television production company, Littlebird, will double its turnover to £20 million year, the firm's chief executive Mr James Mitchell has said. The company will make two movies and two major television series in 1996.
Margins are tight however. "You are doing well if you get 5 per cent of your budget as a production fee and another 5 per cent for overheads," Mr Mitchell said.
You would not get the 10 per cent margin for one of our big budget movies - such as Death and Nightingales, which will cost £8 million to produce this year. The distributors wouldn't give you that much money. On the other hand there is very little room to manoeuvre on smaller pictures with a £2 million budget. You end up getting squeezed and your entitlements are deferred."
Divine Magic, a £2 million 10 hour documentary series on the supernatural, currently showing on television, is a co production between Littlebird and Cafe Productions of Britain. The firm has made dramas and movies but this was its first documentary.
Though the content was international in scope, there was a large Irish input. The actor, Mr Stephen Rea, did the voiceover commentary and three of the directors, Mr Barry Blackmore, Ms Dervla Walsh and Mr Lenny Abrahamson are Irish. The music was composed and performed in Ireland and the entire editing and post production was done at Dublin's Screen Scene.
Littlebird was able to put together a package involving Section 35 tax based funding, a soft loan of 800,000 French francs from the EU's Eurimages programme and a modest amount of cash from RTE. "We learned that we can make money out of documentary series," Mr Mitchell said.
Littlebird is now developing two more documentary series. A £1.4 million, four hour production on the history of fashion will be made this summer, with the French firm Phares et Dalises. At £350,000 per hour, this will be considerably more expensive than Divine Magic.
Another four hour documentary series costing close to £1 million, will be co produced with Cafe." Productions, called The Irish Empire. This tale of emigration down the centuries to America, Australia, France, etc., will concentrate on the extraordinary success of the Irish abroad.
The Writing on the Wall is a contemporary political thriller written by the actor, Mr Patrick's Malahide. It is set in Belgium and Germany. Littlebird says its two principal customers are the BBC and the German broadcaster WDR.
Nothing Personal is a £2 million movie directed by Mr Thaddeus O'Sullivan, which has been completed for some time and which will be released here in May. It was scripted bye Mr Daniel Mornin and deals with sectarian violence in Belfast in 1975. It is expected to be controversial in Britain, where the Evening Standard critic Mr Alexander Walker has accused Littlebird of making a propaganda picture for the IRA. The company rejects this.
Death and Nightingales, scripted by playwright Mr Eugene McCabe, will be produced with American distributors Miramax later this year. The vast majority of European movies cost between £2 million and £4 million. They typically depend on a broadcaster for half their budget. The television rights are "pre sold" and the balance of the money is raised from other sources, such as Section 35, the Irish Film Board or British Screen.
Mr Mitchell said the recent lowering of the amount which Section 35 investors can write off, from 100 per cent of their investment to 80 per cent, "may be the beginning of the end".
Littlebird has made many dramas including The Irish RM, A Man of No Importance, and the £3.6 million famine series The Hanging Gale.
Where many in the Irish film business have faltered over the last ten years, Littlebird has thrived. Mr Mitchell, an entertainment lawyer from England puts the firm's success down to "a mixture of caution and luck".
Littlebird has a number of sister companies, here and abroad. Clarence Pictures distributes films in Irish cinemas. The Usual Suspects and Trainspotting are among its more recent offerings. Littlebird has a subsidiary in the UK and a joint venture in Germany. There is also a Business Expansion Scheme company here.
