As the Irish Film Board's sole representative in Los Angeles, Jonathan Loughran is on a one-man mission to get Irish film on to as many screens as possible, writes Michael Dwyer
JONATHAN LOUGHRAN was in his first week as the Irish Film Board's first US-based film commissioner when a producer came in for a meeting and his opening line was: "I have to tell you I'm a huge Happy Gilmore fan." Loughran was nonplussed at first. "I said, 'Me too', thinking we could get on with the meeting. Then the producer said, 'And The Waterboy.' This went on right through the meeting until I asked him why he kept mentioning Adam Sandler films."
It transpired that there's another Jonathan Loughran, who is an assistant to Sandler and gets bit parts in his movies, and that the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) had mixed up the two men, listing the American as both Sandler's assistant and the Irish film commissioner.
That was early last year, and since then the Irish Jonathan Loughran has established himself in his own right, networking in Hollywood to bring international productions to Ireland and international finance to Irish productions.
Now 27, Loughran is from Castleknock, Co Dublin and received a Masters in Marketing Practice from the UCD Michael Smurfit School. "I come from a business background," he says. "The job opens up great opportunities for anyone interested in getting into production, but I'm not angling for that. I always wanted to work in entertainment. I worked within the Virgin retail group in Ireland for a few years. Then I joined Enterprise Ireland in Los Angeles, working with the Irish technology companies in the entertainment area. That job involved me as the on-the-ground salesperson for a portfolio of clients. My clients now are Irish filmmakers."
Being Ireland's film commissioner in Los Angeles is "the best, most rewarding job in the world because there's never been a better time for Irish filmmakers in the US", he says. "Once has been a phenomenon. Cecelia Ahern is one of the hottest writers around. Her TV sitcom Samantha Who? was one of the only new shows picked up for a whole season, and PS I Love You has been a hit.
"We're not just a satellite office trying to bring production to Ireland, although that's very much a key part of the remit. The office is a welcoming place for Irish filmmakers, because 6,000 miles is a long way to come and the office is there to facilitate setting up meetings and itineraries.
"My job is all about developing relationships, and the Irish Film Board is one of the most prestigious screen agencies in the world," Loughran says. "We're one of the innovators in tax incentives. For a country of our size, we have a track record of award-winning, critically acclaimed films that are well-known throughout the film industry in Los Angeles.
"The office is not much more than a year old, but we can place a call to companies such as Fox Searchlight, Paramount Vantage or Focus Features, and have a meeting set at very short notice with their senior people in development. Those companies are all specialist divisions of the Hollywood studios, so they are very structured and cannot accept unsolicited scripts unless they come through an agent or a manager. In the past, an Irish filmmaker may well have had an uphill struggle in getting people to read a project, but now we have all the contacts and I can be the conduit."
Contrary to its stereotyped image, Los Angeles is "a very professional town", Loughran says. "I get it a lot from my friends that it's a wild town to live in, but I live in a very normal world. I'm a civil servant working in a very professional area. I meet the finance people and the production people at the studios, and you won't find more professional people in any occupation."
LOUGHRAN REFERS REPEATEDLY to "the office" and "we", but he is a one-man show for Irish film in LA, working without secretarial back-up from the 17th floor of a building on Wilshire Boulevard. He also works closely with related government agencies such as the IDA, Enterprise Ireland, and Tourism Ireland.
"There is synergy there," he says, citing a promotion tied into the DVD release of the first series of The Tudors in the US. "Ireland is doubling for Britain in The Tudors, and there's a sticker on the cover of the DVD, offering people the chance to win a trip to Ireland where The Tudors was shot. That is reaffirming the Irish Film Board message that this was an inward production serviced in Ireland at the highest level that TV budgets operate at. The benefit for Tourism Ireland is that the series is seen by millions in the US alone, and in the same way PS I Love You was, it's an ad for Ireland. Those eyeball numbers are what agencies dream of, so it's a focused agenda, and Tourism Ireland are extremely savvy."
Loughran must also contend with the exchange rate and rival tax-incentive schemes in Britain and Northern Ireland. "These are the challenges of the job," he says. "There are some things we can't control, and currency exchange is one of them. The Film Board has been extremely responsive through launching our international production fund."
He lists The Tudors, Becoming Jane and My Boy Jack as examples of productions attracted by the fund. "That fund was brought in to help hedge against the unfavourable exchange rate, and to make Ireland's offering more competitive. Our Section 481 incentive is still extremely important and has some very strong selling points."
Is there strong competition from eastern Europe, where wages are much lower than in Ireland? "Our marketing message is that while they are a lower-cost destination, Ireland has a proven track record and a vibrant indigenous sector, and we have serviced some of the biggest films of the past 20 years," Loughran says.
"What that gives the studios is comfort. New territories may not have the crew base, which means that if you're shooting in Romania, you're going to have to fly a lot of people in from the US and the UK, which adds significantly to the cost of a production.
"In Ireland, you can get cast and crew locally, and you benefit from the Section 481 incentive. It's in the interest of producers to take on Irish people. Part of our negotiations on The Tudors was to get Irish directors to work on it. Two worked on the first series, and three on the second. We hope to get the green light on the third season and that all the directors will be Irish."
Loughran is also exploring the area of TV formatting. "Irish companies have a lot of strong product that can have a future outside of Ireland. A few Irish companies are in advanced negotiations with the TV divisions of the studios for some very well-known Irish formats to be bought up and remade in other countries. A lot of the big hits on US TV are series such as Ugly Betty and The Office, which are proven franchises from other countries. Ugly Betty originated in Latin America, for example, and was picked up by Sony International to be remade in India and then in the US. TV formats are a global business now, and there's no reason why Irish series can't be adapted for other countries."
Loughran was only 24 when he first went to LA, working for Enterprise Ireland. "It was a culture shock," he says. "I didn't know a soul apart from my colleagues in the office. There were a lot of lonely weekends watching Law and Order back to back.
"But I love it here now, so much so that I've started importing some of my friends. My girlfriend moved over two years ago, and her sister moved last month. People have come to visit and they don't want to leave. It's a great way of life."