DUBLIN-BASED post-production house Egg had a key role in Sinbad, Sky’s new €22 million drama series. In partnership with London production company the Mill, it handled the post-production for the 12-part series, including the spectacular visual effects.

Winning the contract resulted in the creation of more than 15 new jobs and a rapid expansion of the Fitzwilliam Street-based facility. “We’d be a well-known brand in the television and film industry here, but when the downturn came we went knocking on doors in London,” says Gary Shortall, who together with Gareth Young set up Egg in 2004.

That effort resulted in Sinbad, and Egg is now handling all the post-production for Ripper Street, an eight-part BBC period drama series, being shot in Ireland. “The 481 tax breaks are really important in bringing work in. Over the year, we would have had upwards of 30 people just working on Sinbad alone,” says Shortall.

Sinbad, made by Impossible Films, was shot in Malta, and Egg set up an editing room out there to feed back the rushes every evening to its Dublin offices for editing.

“It doesn’t mean we no longer work on Irish productions – we have 11 editing rooms. Three are being used right now for Ripper Street, the rest are busy with Irish work,” says Shortall, adding that working on Sinbad has allowed the company to skill-up in terms of investment in equipment and people in the areas of visual effects to feature film quality.

Sinbad stars Elliot Knight, Janet Suzman, Orla Brady and Timothy Spall, and begins on Sky One on Sunday.