Irish MEDIA Success – Funding Results Update May 2023

‘After our recent rebrand, Keeper Pictures are thrilled to have been awarded Creative Europe’s MEDIA slate funding, it’s a real endorsement of our vision, our team and our slate of projects at this exciting moment for the company. Slate funding will help us build our reach, our capacity and our team, and it gives us the resources to be nimble, ambitious and progressive on our slate of film and TV projects which includes Breed, written and directed by Kate Dolan (You Are Not My Mother); and Orange World based on Karen Russell’s short story which reunites us with the Sunlight team, with Ailbhe Keogan (Bad Sisters) adapting for the screen, directed by Claire Dix (Sunlight) and produced with Roisin Geraghty. We love being a home and creative partner for entertaining, meaningful stories from brilliant original voices across both film and TV, and this support from Creative Europe enables us to continue to amplify voices and ensure that we can get the best out of our productions as they come to life, and to make them stories that last for audiences everywhere.’ Katie Holly, Managing Director / Producer, Keeper Pictures (formerly Blinder Films).

‘The value of Creative Europe MEDIA slate funding to the growth of Treasure Entertainment over the years cannot be over-estimated. Development funding is critical to the long term sustainability of the company: it allows us to plan forward, acquire and retain IP, and, crucially, invest in scripts and talent to the point where they are market ready. It would have been impossible for Treasure to sustain our growth on the domestic and international stage without this support. It is such an important part of our corporate infrastructure.’ Rebecca O’Flanagan, Producer, Treasure Films.

‘Creative Europe Media Slate is an invaluable development tool for European production companies. Receiving this award is immeasurable in its benefits, allowing us to develop a strong commercial and audience facing European slate of projects across feature films and TV. It also affords us the ability to not only be sustainable but to grow as a company, and to broaden our working EU networks across production, sales and distribution. We have 5 exciting and diverse projects on our slate, covering a range of genres, themes, formats and budgets. We are looking forward to the next 36 months of creative development and company growth with the help of Creative Europe Media Slate.’ Ali Doyle, Development & Production Executive, Wild Atlantic Pictures.

‘This Creative Europe MEDIA grant is a game changer for Dreamfeel. It gives us a huge advantage in negotiating with publishers and developing our next major video game by helping us through preproduction independently and allowing us to demonstrate upfront how awesome SZeance will be. Our selected game, codenamed SZeance is an ambitious RPG we’re creating in collaboration with comics artist Charlot Kristensen and we can’t wait to share more about all the unique features as we get further into development. The Dreamfeel team is dedicated to creating ground-breaking, exciting and meaningful video games from new voices, and we’re delighted that Creative Europe shares these same goals and chose us. We’re thrilled to be one of many Irish studios, showcasing just how vibrant the game development scene is in our tiny but fierce country.’ Llaura McGee, Director, Dreamfeel

‘We're delighted to have received this funding award - it means we can elevate our plans for the game to a much more professional level by bringing onboard high quality writers and artists. Our game "War on Wheels" is a single-player-first reboot of our long-running online game "Darkwind" which has been live since 2006. As the main developer of Darkwind, and having developed and supported it for nearly 20 years now, it is really special to me to finally be working on its follow-up game.’ Sam Redfern, Psychic Games Software (Psychic Games)

‘Getting the Creative Europe MEDIA funding means so much to us. Hey Fuzzy Yellow is such a special show. Working with Toon 2 Tango is a joy and we both want to have an international, diverse young audience enjoy and experience the fun, exciting world of Hey Fuzzy Yellow as much as we do. Creative Europe MEDIA support allows us to bring Hey Fuzzy Yellow to that audience in the way we want. It's such an honour.’ Dale Robinson, CEO / Producer, Treehouse Republic

‘The Creative Europe MEDIA grant is something truly special and should be celebrated. In this creative industry it’s so important to have support at an early stage in any project. It gives us the time necessary to pursue a creative vision that is bold and can truly add something new to the culture. Our game Rascal Planet is a narrative-oriented sci-fi game in which a misfits group of space farers must terraform an unfortunate planet, bringing it back to health by boosting is ecological systems.’ Shane Marks, Director, Mystic Systems

‘I'm thrilled that we were selected for the Creative Europe MEDIA fund for our new game The Hellfire Club. This is our third time to receive this award so I know from experience exactly what a huge difference it makes. Thanks to the grant our studio is able to spend more time on new game projects before we look for further funding. This lets us take more creative risks, build more compelling games, and ultimately helps us retain our IP long term. It's one of the best initiatives around.’ Colm Larkin, Director, Gambrinous

‘The Creative Europe Media funding has allowed our studio to expand its vision. The financial support it has provided has given us the freedom to explore bolder and more sophisticated ideas than before. It has given us the opportunity to take on the skilled and talented people that we need to realize our ideas, and show potential publishing partners what we are capable of delivering. Eldritch House would most certainly have remained as a design document if it were not for the support of Creative Europe.’ Paul Conway, Co-Founder, CEO & Artist, Spooky Doorway