# Transcript: The Art of Story Telling Through Creative Tech in Ireland

**Date:** March 14, 2026 · 10:30 PM  
**Session:** [The Art of Story Telling Through Creative Tech in Ireland](/sessions/2026-03-14/pp1162916-the-art-of-story-telling-through-creative-tech-in-ireland)

## Summary

This panel explores Ireland's emergence as a global hub for film production and VFX, featuring Irish producers and VFX leaders alongside MGM executives. The discussion covers Ireland's competitive advantages including tax credits (increasing to 40%), exceptional craftsmanship, growing talent pool, and supportive infrastructure that has attracted major productions like Wednesday, Vikings, and Foundation. Panelists emphasize the importance of balancing new AI tools with human creativity while sustaining Ireland's momentum through continued talent development and investment.

## Topics

`ireland film production` · `vfx` · `tax credits` · `talent development` · `virtual production` · `ai in filmmaking` · `screen ireland` · `craftsmanship` · `international co-production` · `creative technology`

## Key Takeaways

1. Ireland has become a trusted production destination for major studios like MGM, with 88% of Wednesday season 2 crew being Irish, demonstrating the depth of local talent that has returned home due to increased production work.
2. VFX involvement early in the production process (from script stage through 64 days on set) saves money and improves creative outcomes. AI and machine learning tools in VFX are enabling faster iteration and cost-effectiveness without eliminating jobs.
3. The Irish tax credit increasing to 40% and covering post-production is a game-changer, but panelists emphasize that tax incentives alone aren't enough—they must be paired with exceptional talent, craftsmanship, and creative work.
4. Sustaining Ireland's film industry momentum through 2030 requires continued investment in talent development (including upskilling programs), maintaining tax credits, supporting regional studios outside Dublin, and balancing high-budget international productions with smaller Irish independent films that nurture emerging directors.
5. Human creativity and originality remain irreplaceable in storytelling. While AI tools can assist with pitch decks and workflows, producers can still identify AI-generated scripts due to their lack of sophistication and originality, emphasizing the continued need for human-driven development.

## Full Transcript

Thank you, Steven. Hi everyone. So great to be here with you. As Steven said, I'm Caroline.

I'm a VP at UTA in the entertainment and culture marketing department. And what we do is we help brands navigate entertainment culture, finding the right partnerships, finding the right talent, creative integrations, creative productions that they can create impact and marketing effectiveness with. And I think within that, of course, we always love working with creative behind the screen, as we know Ireland has put so much great talent in front of the screen. We have some creative leaders who do behind the screen, so you've got to be really nice to them.

They're using behind the camera instead of in front of the camera. But we're going to push through. But they're amazing, all kind of talking to different aspects of the creative system behind the camera. I think what we're going to do is show some clips first.

It's always nice to see a little bit see a little visual representation of what each of their work has has done. So first off, we're going to start with Ruth Tracy, who's the director at tailored films. Let's have a quick look at her some of her work, and then have her introduce herself. So Ruth, that was a snap shot a trailer at pocom, which is premiering tonight at the festival.

Can you tell us a little bit about your role? What you do? Actually? Films? Yeah. So I'm one of the founders of Tiger films, along with my business partner, Julianne Ford, and we set up the company 20 years ago, which feels like a long time ago, but we've set it up. We both met at Film School in Dublin, and we have worked really, really well together when we were in film school. And so we decided to continue that and set up a company.

Neither of us set out to be producers. We actually had both specialized in different areas. I was the same designer, and Julianne was a cinematographer, but she kind of fell into producing, and meant that we really liked it and were good at it, and so we kind of went from there, but we still use the skills that we learned in college quite a lot in our project, which I can talk about later. Basically, we, there's eight of us in the company now, and we specialize in feature films and TV projects, predominantly feature films, and we would characterize the feature films as edgy but underpinned by a strong societal message.

So our latest film is hokum, which is premiering tonight, which we're super excited about. And, yeah, that's essentially us, but we're a small enough company, but we try to be really picky about the projects that we do, and keep within that ethos. That's awesome. Thank you.

We're going to dig in more in a minute. Next up, we have Deborah, who is at elephant goldfish. Let's do a little clip from her, and then we'll do an intro. You.

So Deborah, you've worked on the likes of the foundation, the crown, things of that nature. Tell us more about your role. About Elton goldfish, set up like Elton goldfish just over a year ago. So we're very new company.

Business partner John Kennedy here. We're part of the international modern air creative group, and we have worked on delivery shows like Wednesday at bodkin, and we've just recently so this week, have delivered e commerce, the moment for Blumhouse Warner. So that was 850 shots across the collaboration between The Canadian Irish co friendship. Want to talk more about that.

What does that feel like and look like? Great to deliver it long here. So it's been a fantastic project, real mix of gore horror, little bit creature work along my side. Extension. So partnership with third project with lumhouse in the last few years, across our whole company in the lane, very cool.

So we have two Irish companies here, but we're also joined with Amy. She works physical production. Has a physical production, production at Amazon and MDM. So let's have a quick look at some clips here and then do more of an intro.

Oh Awesome. I'm actually going to stick with you. Amy, so clearly, we saw some really TV shows that are being shot in Ireland. Why does MGM keep choosing Ireland? What goes into that practical reality.

You have to think through decisions you have to make. Obviously, you can choose lots of different locations. How has Ireland kind of risen to the top and kept you coming back there?

First, I'll say that I love watching those because it reminds me why so but Ireland, we've been in production almost every year since 2012 we have done six seasons of Vikings. We did three seasons of Vikings go hollow on our second season of Wednesday, another full season.

We've been there a long time. 88% of the season two cast and crew of Wednesday. We're Irish, so I think it's safe to say we've made some friends, and it's just it's like a warm blanket for us now it's we've been there for a long time. We're comfortable there.

We feel like we can do almost anything there. And there's some practical realities too. It's not just about like the right past, the right locations. Other things go into your decision making process.

Talk a little bit about that, and again, it seems to be the right formula. Still in Ireland, when some of those other kind of practical realities come forward as well. Absolutely, the crew is amazing. The craftsmanship that they bring to the table is second to none.

I just I'm fascinated when I walk through the sets. Wow. I mean, they stun me every time. The Tax Credit helps a lot, which, you know, and let's face it, like we're in I'm buying production.

My job is budgets and schedules and people. Of that is making sure that the finances are the networks that we sell to. So that makes a big difference. Obviously it's one thing, if the structure is there in the financial realm, is right, but it's another thing is the craft is right.

And I want to jump over to Deborah on the craft of it, right? Because I think double clicking there, obviously we saw a lot of your great work on screen. Tell me a little bit about how you sell Ireland as a VFX destination, and what's your story when you land these projects and have the talent that you can bring forward to these different projects. Caroline, I think it's getting easier. I think, you know, I'm starting to be back and forward to the US, and I us six years, and the star comes a little bit that imposter syndrome.

It's getting easier for numerous reasons. The production, the likes baby, is bringing in the talent, these high names. Last week, we had ever burgers, Newfield coming in for a few days in our studio, that level of work that is now in the country that's getting us this reputation. After that, the new type of talent that's coming in.

Again, all of the events, talent was on post production, talent was leaving, they were going to Vancouver, they were going to London, because the work wasn't in the country. Now, we've just spent the last year working with the Vex supervisor, Russell Bowen, who's nominated for an Oscar this weekend, but he's been based in our premises for the last 12 months. So those things, plus the tax credits, no so the effects tax credit increasing to 40% this year is increasing so much, there's so much interest, there's so many inquiries, but those four things have to come hand in hand together, the tax credit is nothing without the talent of good creative work. And the good creative work needs the talent to be able to deliver the show.

So it's a real combination of those things, but it's definitely easier than what it was. We've got something like Steve mentioned that green wave. I think that's passed already in the races I was 510, years ago. It was a different story.

So it's definitely. And talk a little bit more about the talent right when we're talking about the types of people we're working on these shows, obviously, Amy, you said you show up and the caliber is there, which is amazing. And from your perspective, talk about, obviously, you set up shop and hit the ground the last year running. But clearly you need to have that Arsenal ready of people.

Talk a little bit about how you approach it, how you think Ireland is supporting and how it can continue to grow. Absolutely, talent is one of the biggest concerns and positive things. We've got some amazing people. As you said, right back from the cruise, I remember being here, and this is Nicholas Cage being the Irish cruise shout out from the stage from the premiere.

It was amazing. And on the post of the effects side, the talent has been so many years. There's been so many Irish talent who've left and gone to London, Vancouver, LA, but because this works in the continent, they've all returned home. Covid brought a lot of people home with the talent and the credits that people are stacking up now because of the likes of the work that Ruth is doing, the Amy's bringing in Richard Linklater, who just came in last year.

It's all Irish crew. We looked after the most of the effects for it, partnering with a lot of talent that was in Austin. So it's great to be able to do that, but that's something that needs, there needs to be more of. But the Irish government and the supports, the likes of screen Island, setting up things for the effect talent academies, our tax credit is one of the only ones that supports training.

And it's not just, you know, juniors coming in, it's upskilling, as people kind of want to move, you know, to a different role or an upskilling position. So it's been really beneficial to us. Amazing. I mean, we're keep on this talent trail train too.

And so Ruth, you know, we just saw a clip from from hokum. You've been at this now 20 years, which is amazing. Probably went in a blink of an eye in some regards. But also, you have to keep your own craft.

You know, homed in. How did you make this film happen? Or what does it was it mean for you, being an Irish company with an Irish infrastructure, and being an independent filmmaker and doing these types of decisionings, what does it look like for you, and how have you been feeling supported through the last one years doing this?

Okay, there's a lot there so well in terms of outcome and how that came about. We really admired the work of the director, Daniel McCarthy. We'd seen his two previous films caveats, which he made on a very low budget himself, and kind of was a real gorilla filmmaker, and also oddity.

And I had met, met him a few times, and kind of we seemed to have a synergy in terms of the type of projects we wanted to do. And he had been writing hokum himself, and he kind of works, like very meticulously on scripts for a long time before he'll share them with anyone. He has his next two films completely written and ready to go. And I imagine the scripts are fantastic already.

And so basically he came to us with the script, which was like really strong. We wanted to be part of it at that point, he'd already been having conversations with different financers himself, and he's very kind of proactive director. And he had partnered with spooky pictures and imagination on the project also. So we got involved at that point.

So imagination are based in the UAE, and speaking pictures are based in the US, Steven Schneider and Roy Lee, who are like absolute legends of the genre space. So we were really keen to get the opportunity to work with them also. And we brought on board screen Ireland finance and also, obviously the tax credit. But we were, you know, very involved on the creative side of it, from from start to finish.

You know, the whole film was shot in West Fourth and West court film studios. It was the first film to be shot there. And it's an amazing new studio space. And I think generally, in so many different regions throughout Ireland.

Now that it's great, it really gives the opportunity to defend some of the production, which is really great for everyone in those areas. So yeah, we filmed at this time last year, and we did all of the posts in Dublin, in Outer Limits, and we worked with Alan Foley's company, Mary band, of freelancers for VFX. But we we would work a lot on VFX, so we like, kind of being involved in production and post production. So a project that we had done just before hokum was the apprentice, which was nominated for two Oscars last year, directed by Ali Massey, and that was a project that had been trying to be financed for quite a while in different territories, and there was still a gap.

And I had met the producer, the lead producer, Dan Beckerman, at Cannes a couple of years ago, and he pitched the project to me, and you know, immediately, because of the talent of the director, Ali Bassi and obviously the caliber of the cast, we really wanted to be involved. And so we applied to screen Ireland for production, CO production support, and we were successful. And I think that kind of goes to show the international focus between Ireland has been supporting projects, and that they can really get behind projects that have a lot to say internationally and a lot of meaning for audiences. So we did all of the post production, VFX and post sound and music in Ireland, and we worked with many different vendors and VFX because we had such a tight timeframe, and the film only wrapped production at the end of January, and we found out two months later that we were successful in official competition for Cannes.

So we had to my business partner, Julianne, was the VFX producer on it, and the original plan was to work with maybe two VFX vendors, but because of the timeframe, that expanded to 11. So we also worked with Deborah on that when she was in London lane as well. So I think I've gone off the point completely now, but basically, we've always felt great support from screen Ireland in terms of the packing for Irish producers on projects, and the ability to step outside the box in terms of, you know, the creative projects that we might try to bring, bring to Ireland. And you know the fact that we're now going to work with alabass on another project, and obviously he's a really amazing international director.

It's just very exciting that we as Irish producers can plan projects with international talent as well, start them from the ground up in Ireland going forward, it's an amazing opportunity for Irish talents and camps, which is here to work with these directors in Ireland and but also to see the support for people like Damien McCarthy who and Lee Cronin as well. Like it's absolutely amazing that there's two huge international horror directors that both come from Ireland and our and are making these really huge international projects. So it's very exciting. I think you answered it perfectly, which is, like, you can get creative about the creative projects you're passionate about, and find the support in things that you want to say yes to which sometimes people don't have that access.

Or there it might not come as easily, but I think you know, again, with your span of time working in this space, it seems like you've been met where you've needed to be met when you wanted to take these projects forward, which is great, and finding the right, you know, partners within that where you need to to move products forward to, which is great. I want to talk a little bit more. I feel like we've talked a little bit about the infrastructure, right? Like, okay, why Ireland and setting up shop and the various components that come into that component. But I think what I want to talk a little bit now is about the craft and technology behind it, right? And you talked a little bit about it yourself there.

Ruth, in terms of the VFX, you had to kind of get crafty on unintended and trying to figure that out for your deadline. And Deborah, really, when we talk about the effects, it's supposed to be invisible, right? It's not supposed to be one listening to like, Oh, that looks like VFX, right? Work. It works if we don't notice it, and if we do notice that, it fails, right? So how do you balance that, knowing that's your job to be done while, of course, there's a lot of discourse going on right now about new tools, right? New technology, new AI, and all these enhancing things that can can impact workflows, while trying to keep true to the craft and the storytelling aspect and keeping that front and center. Just talk a little bit about how you're thinking about that and balancing that.

I really feel like something huge has changed in the last number of years. I think a long time in filmmaking, the effects was a little bit of an afterthought. We worry about the shooting that came later, getting the effects in post involvement so much earlier in the production, everything from script breakdowns like, what can we revolve it for two years? John, my business writer, has been involved with mommy right from script stage through 64 days on set. The difference of having us involved earlier in the process saves the production money things like AI.

It's not necessarily a dirty word when it comes to VFX. It's been around for years. It's known as machine learning. Machine learning has always been around VFX, and these hang around projects.

The difference now is there's tools, there's optimization, there's things we can do now that might have taken four TV effects artists 10 years ago. We can do it in 10 and it's not necessarily that's losing people's jobs. It's just like we spent this week in meetings in LA all people want to know is, how do we get something done more cost effectively? How can we deliver quicker? The new tools and technologies are helping us do that, doing things prep and clean up earlier, optimizing things to revisit the effects, not necessarily final pixel delivery, but we're certainly finding it that it's helping the process of the craft. It allows us to get something in front of the director quicker to producer, to get ideas out of the way faster.

That makes sense, and I'd say I'm going to throw to you, Amy, when we talk about virtual production, for example, right? There's a lot of things that go into reality out of that, and a lot of that type, and especially in this conversation around new tools, etc, when does virtual production make sense and why does it overkill in your thinking about it?

I think it depends on the filmmakers and how they utilize it, because for some of our shows, you have to they're very tactile. They want to use they want the craft. They want it in person. They want it there.

That said thing, you know, they use an Irish motion capture when working with things, so that the effects team can animate them in a more realistic way. So I think there's always going to be a balance, like we do, place for driving shots we do there's always some tool that's constantly evolving and making some things easier and some but it's not a fix all for everything ever, and and some people just prefer their way. That makes sense. And I think there's also something to that too, where as humans, we resonate with when you see craft, although typical, there's still, you can still tell when there's this heart driven story, it's coming from a really intimate place.

You can't really replicate that with virtual anything, or, you know, any of that. So I'm throwing that to you Ruth, in terms of, like, even when there were at this time and this kind of inflection point of a lot of things being able to be sped up or getting from thought to screen quicker, there's still that craft to it, as Amy said, Right? There's still, like, it's a filmmaker choice or and I think that's really what people resonate or what resonates with people is when they see something that is truly driven from some place that can't just be, you know, virtually created, I think, from your perspective, as you are making these decisions or bringing some of that kind of craft of storytelling to screen, what are some of The things that you're thinking about when you do that?

Yeah, it's kind of, I was thinking a bit more about this before the panel today. And it is very hard to define when we're reading a script that maybe sent to us like what it is that makes us really want to do the project. And I think it's really hard to it becomes this kind of undeniable quality, that when you read the words on the page, that they just jump out and immediately immerse you in the world.

And you know, we've had projects sent to us that, you know, from a synopsis point, they sound as though they might have sued us. It was one project bringing them down, but it sounded incredibly dark and difficult. And I was a little bit reluctant, having read the synopsis to read the script, but as soon as I did, I, like, quite very early on in the script, I knew that we were going to do it, even though I knew it was going to be quite a hard time to finance, it was just so well written, so the passion just was there. And so it's really hard.

It's like finding a dime. And, you know, we need in the haystack. There is a lot of stuff that's sent to us that lately, I think, has gone through some form of AI in writing. And I think our development manager and two people working in development, and they've had to kind of upskill their own ability to assess those things in terms of, you know, the tools that people are using, so that they can be more aware of it.

At the moment, I think it's kind of easy enough to see something that's been written by AI, because I don't necessarily think sophistication is maybe there, but it is a concern that it's going to obviously, you know, people are going to use it more, it's obviously going to adapt and get more sophisticated. And I would have a concern over, yeah, the ability, you know, if things are being originated by AI, in terms of the cookie overlap on using other ideas that are already out there. How do you know it's original? I mean, it's just, it's something that I am quite reticent about, and I really hope that it doesn't go the way that it looks like it might go right now. I think you can spot when it's being used.

And obviously people use it a lot with pitch decks, which can be helpful, because I know not everyone has that skill set to hand, and it is a good way of demonstrating, you know, your vision, but at the same time, yes, it can also look quite generic. So I think for us, what it's showing is originality. There's still nothing like it, and it still requires a lot of work and development. And I think humans are very, very important to development, and it's very important that, you know, producers protect that process, you know, really try to protect the future.

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*Source: stt · Language: en · Model: claude-sonnet-4*

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