By Zoe Smith, Market Executive for the Digital Creative Sector at Enterprise Ireland Australia and New Zealand
A Natural Creative Partnership.
I’ll admit that I still tend to assume everyone is still experiencing a degree of online event fatigue, scarred by the COVID-era webinar boom when it seemed we might never meet in person again. I recently took part in a Lunch & Learn session on Irish-Australian co-production opportunities, organised by Catherine Keane, Head of Business and Legal Affairs at Cartoon Saloon, and Robert Grimes, In-House Counsel at Brown Bag Films, in partnership with Animation Ireland and Skillnet Creative & Cultural Industries. The strong attendance from across the Irish animation industry made me wonder whether that we might be emerging from this specific kind of digital burnout. Regardless, I’m convinced the turnout reflected something I have consistently observed since arriving in Australia: a genuine curiosity on both sides about how the Irish and Australian screen industries can work together and build lasting partnerships.
It was an observation that carried through nicely to the main comment I made in my opening remarks at the session on the natural affinity between Ireland and Australia in the creative industries. In conversations with people across both markets, I keep hearing the same remarks about our shared sensibility, humour, and pragmatic approach to doing business. In those same conversations, co-productions are described to me as being like a marriage which is why these shared qualities provide such a strong foundation for successful partnerships.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that there is a real appetite across both the Australian and Irish animation sectors and the broader screen industry to build relationships and find more opportunities to work together.
Building Relationships
This interest is being recognised and supported by industry and government organisations in both Ireland and Australia. Earlier this year at Annecy, Animation Ireland and Ausfilm collaborated on the first dedicated Irish-Australian networking event at the festival. It was a fantastic initiative to help build and deepen connections between the two animation communities.
More broadly, Screen Producers Ireland and Screen Producers Australia have been working together to facilitate relationship-building between their members. An Irish delegation attended SPA’s Screen Forever conference in 2024, while an Australian delegation travelled to Dublin ahead of Content London last year. Irish and Australian producers have also continued to connect at major international events, including at the Toronto International Film Festival this year, with even more networking and learning initiatives in the works for the year ahead.
Understanding the Pathways for Partnerships
While I think face-to-face engagements are invaluable, the online Lunch & Learn session provided an excellent opportunity to better understand the Australian screen ecosystem and the Irish-Australian Official Co-production Treaty, with a particular focus on the opportunities and practical considerations for animation projects.
The treaty is a bilateral agreement between the Irish and Australian governments that enables approved film and television projects produced jointly by companies from both countries to be recognised as national productions in each territory. In practical terms, this gives projects access to a range of benefits that would not otherwise be available to foreign productions, including access to local talent, funding supports and incentives, and recognition as domestic content for the purposes of broadcaster content requirements in both countries.
We are very grateful to Gráinne Brunsdon, Chief Operating Officer at Screen Australia, for giving a great presentation and leading a Q & A session at the Lunch & Learn webinar. Screen Australia is the Australian Government’s national screen agency and, as Australia’s competent authority for official co-productions, plays a central role in supporting international partnerships.
Gráinne shared valuable insights into the Australian screen ecosystem and outlined key requirements under the Ireland-Australia Co-production Treaty, including the requirement for each co-producer to make both a creative and financial contribution of at least 20 per cent to a project. She also provided an overview of the co-production application and approval process, highlighting the high level of communication between Screen Australia and Fís Éireann/Screen Ireland when assessing and supporting projects under the treaty framework.
What’s Next
Not long after the session, I had the great opportunity to attend the Australian Children’s Content Summit, Australia’s only dedicated annual marketplace and networking event for the children’s and family screen content industry. Everyone I spoke with was open and interested to learn more about Ireland’s animation sector, creative talent and production capabilities, with many having already collaborated with Irish partners on previous projects.
A key takeaway from both the summit and my broader engagement with the Australian screen industry is that there is little need to convince people of the great opportunities that exist in partnerships between Ireland and Australia across the animation and wider screen sector. Instead, the focus should be on supporting the excellent work already underway to help companies in both countries understand the available pathways for collaboration, including the Irish-Australian Official Co-production Treaty, and on creating opportunities to build the relationships from which successful ‘marriages’ emerge and sustain.
While the jury is still out for me on whether post-COVID online fatigue is behind us, I am certain that audiences will never tire of unique and meaningful content created through the authentic partnerships.
Further reading / useful links