What may not be immediately obvious to the casual viewer is that all but one of the current dozen Arts Lives documentaries were actually made not by RTÉ, but by independent Irish film companies, writes Arminta Wallace.
Some of these companies have built a relationship with, and expertise in, particular art forms over the years: Seán Ó Mórdha's Araby Productions, for example, has made a number of films with literary themes, while Hummingbird Productions, run by Philip King and Nuala O'Connor, specialises in documentaries about traditional music.
Other independents feature personnel who have, or have had, close connections with RTÉ. Thus David Blake Knox of Blueprint Pictures was the instigator of the hugely successful magazine programme Nighthawks, while Prime Time presenter Miriam O'Callaghan is involved with Mint Productions, which made a programme on Flann O'Brien for last year's Arts Lives.
The relationship between the independents and RTÉ has been extraordinarily fruitful - and occasionally stormy. The process of pitching for commissions, paring back budgets to their absolute minimum and beating competitors to the available slots can be a tough one. And, according to some independent producers, it's getting tougher - hardly what one expects to hear at a time when the country is perceived to be awash with dosh.
The arrival of the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) was supposed to help with the funding of arts and other niche programming by diverting licence fee money away from RTÉ into a "neutral" kitty. However, applications for BCI funding must be accompanied by a letter of approval from a commissioning broadcaster - which, given the current state of play in the Irish broadcasting world, means either RTÉ or TG4, sending the budgetary ball firmly back into the same old court.
There are also rumblings of discontent over copyright issues. At present, if I want to make a documentary about a rock singer for RTÉ, I must sign over not just the copyright for the programme itself but also the underlying copyright on any music used or produced in the course of the programme - an obvious sticking-point for artists who are already embroiled in labyrinthine negotiations over intellectual property rights in an increasingly complex digital world.
"Music and arts are at the bottom of the food chain in RTÉ," says one disgruntled producer. "They want budgets down and production standards up - and they want total control." Note the anonymous nature of the quote. RTÉ's dominant position in the market means that individual film-makers are in no position to complain. Not if they want to work, as the saying goes, in this town again.
