RTS Republic of Ireland

This was the first part of a double-header from RTS Republic of Ireland; the second, “How to get your short film made”, offered expert advice from Virgin Media and RTÉ executives.

Walking the Labyrinth, made with a crew of Doherty’s fellow students at Dundalk Institute of Technology’s Film and Television Production course, tells the story of artist Susan Farrelly, who was born in the Bessborough mother and baby home, which, like others in Ireland, carried out forced adoptions.

The National Film School at IADT dominated the RTS Republic of Ireland Student Awards in late February on the iconic The Late Late Show stage at RTÉ in Dublin.

With Love from Aidan won four awards for the National Film School: Best Drama, and Craft Awards in Camerawork, Editing and Production Design. The National Film School also took home the Factual – Short-form prize for Simone James Documentary, and the Craft Awards for Sound (The Lesser Part) and Writing (How to Skin a Cheetah).

At an online Republic of Ireland event in December, Jones revealed his inspiration for the play: “I witnessed the aftermath of a guy jumping into the Liffey… and it stuck with me. I wondered what would happen if… late at night, [it’s] lashing down with rain and you pass a person several times [on the bridge].

“I had [this image] of two people and, like any writer, I guess, you think about who they are, what they are doing, where they are going, who they were in the past and what led them to this place?”

"I am convinced that public service broadcasting is essential to public life in contemporary Ireland, [but] I am also aware that what we have traditionally understood to be public service broadcasting may no longer be fit for 21st-century purpose.”

These were the forceful opening remarks of Moya Doherty in delivering the RTS Republic of Ireland’s inaugural Gay Byrne Memorial Lecture at the Light House Cinema, Dublin, this month.

Things have been very quiet here in Dublin, lately, what with the screenwriters’ strike and the SAG strike bringing film and TV activity almost to a halt. However, the strikes are now over and a brighter future is on the horizon.

Evidence for this is the great news that Wednesday, Netflix’s most-watched English ­language show ever, is relocating from [Romania] to Dublin for its next season. Filming is due to start at the end of April at locations in Dublin and Wicklow.

It also won all four Craft Skills awards: Camera, Fiachra Gallagher Lawson for Bestial Ones; Editing, Meghan O’Shaughnessy for They Killed Us for Existing; and Sound, Rory Sweeney, and Writing, Conor Bradley, for Sons of Róisín.

The Technological University Dublin won the Entertainment and Comedy Drama category.

“Despite the difficulties of the past few years, and the restrictions of the Covid lockdown, once again the students have astonished us with the originality, resourcefulness, wit and verve of their work,” said RTS Republic of Ireland Chair Agnes Cogan.

This warning was given by TG4 Ard-Stiúrthóir (Director- General) Alan Esslemont, who was in conversation with RTS Republic of Ireland Chair Agnes Cogan at an event in early November.

TG4, Ireland’s Irish-language channel, celebrated its 25th birthday at the end of October.

Esslemont, who has been Director-General since 2016, said: ‘Despite the significant number of major global media services and intense competition, we believe that TG4 is needed more now than ever.... We are a vital part of modern Ireland.’

The series follows the fortunes of a fictional Dublin crime family, the Kinsellas, which is waging a bloody gangland war with a local cartel, the Cunninghams.

The lead director of the eight-part series, Diarmuid Goggins, spoke to RTS Republic of Ireland Chair Agnes Cogan at a Society event in late October about his work on the US-Irish co-production.

So said Jill McGrath, CEO of TV Audience Measurement (TAM) Ireland, at the RTS event “What Ireland is watching” in late January.

She noted that “69% of all viewing is to linear-TV... that is viewed either live or within seven days of the original broadcast. 

“In 2020, the average person watched 89 hours of linear-TV every month, which is the equivalent of watching the whole of The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix 12 and a half times.”