Ireland film fixer FAQ.

An Irish film fixer day rate sits at EUR 650 for a recce or scout day, EUR 850 for a standard shoot day on a TVC or content piece, and EUR 1,100 for a full service-producer engagement running pre-production, locations, permits, crew booking and on-day delivery.

Third-party costs (crew, kit, location fees, council permits, transport, accommodation) are passed through cost-plus, not buried inside a single opaque day rate. International productions are quoted in EUR by default, and USD or GBP on request with FX risk priced in. See Ireland film fixer for the full service description.

Going EUR day rates for commercial work in Dublin and the regions:

Drama and feature engagements move to weekly deals and follow IFTA and Screen Producers Ireland agreements. Heads of department on long-form work negotiate project rates. Kit hire is itemised separately where crew bring their own.

A working Irish location scout charges EUR 550 per scouting day, plus a recce package fee that covers the photographed, mapped and briefed options that return to the agency or director. For a Dublin or Wicklow brief we'll usually return 10 to 20 options inside 72 hours of a clear treatment.

Travel days beyond a 100km radius of Dublin add mileage at EUR 0.43 per km plus accommodation where the schedule needs an overnight. More at Location scouting Ireland.

A standard one-day Dublin or Wicklow TVC unit (camera, lighting, grip, sound, art, hair and makeup, locations, catering, transport, basic permits) runs EUR 38,000 to EUR 95,000 for the shoot day alone, before director, agency, post and talent. Smaller branded content units run EUR 14,000 to EUR 28,000 per shoot day.

Hero TVCs with picture cars, stunts, Garda road closures or multiple locations push past EUR 160,000 a day. The fixer fee inside that is a small line. The value is in not overspending the other 95 percent.

Section 481 is a corporation tax credit administered by the Revenue Commissioners and certified by the Department of Culture. The headline rate is 32 percent of eligible Irish expenditure, with an additional 8 percent regional uplift available for productions filming substantially outside Dublin and Wicklow (giving 40 percent on qualifying spend).

The credit is capped at the lower of 80 percent of total qualifying expenditure or EUR 125 million per project. Eligible costs include Irish crew, Irish goods and services, and non-resident cast and crew working in Ireland. Full guidance at Section 481 Ireland.

Feature film, television drama, animation and creative documentary qualify. The project must pass a cultural certification test administered by the Department of Culture, demonstrating either Irish or European cultural relevance, or contribution to the Irish audiovisual industry.

What does not qualify: TVCs, music videos, reality TV, sports broadcasts, news, current affairs, panel shows and live event coverage are all excluded. A minimum total qualifying expenditure of EUR 250,000 applies, and global budget must exceed EUR 1 million for live action.

Yes. The claim is made by a Producer Company that is Irish tax-resident, has been incorporated for at least 21 months at point of claim, and is not connected to a broadcaster. International producers shoot under a Special Purpose Vehicle structure: the Irish Producer Company contracts with a Designated Activity Company (DAC) set up for the project, and Section 481 flows to the DAC.

We work with established Irish Producer Companies on the service production side and can introduce productions to the right partner depending on genre, scale and budget.

Since the 2024 reform, Section 481 pays 90 percent on commencement of principal photography once the Section 481 certificate has issued, with the remaining 10 percent on delivery and compliance sign-off. Pre-2024 the structure was 90 percent on completion, so the cashflow position has materially improved.

Most international productions structure interim finance against the certificate to bridge the gap between spend and credit receipt. Irish banks and specialist film finance lenders price that bridge competitively now that the payment timing is locked early.

Section 481 is 32 percent (or 40 percent with regional uplift) on qualifying Irish spend, with the 90 percent on commencement payment structure. The UK AVEC for film is 25.5 percent on UK spend (34 percent for independent film under EUR 15m budget). Australia's Location Offset sits at 30 percent of Qualifying Australian Production Expenditure for productions clearing the AUD 20 million spend threshold.

Section 481 is the most competitive on rate for mid-budget productions and pays out earliest. Productions running across all three territories can stack credits by structuring spend deliberately, which is where the cross-territory network across Ireland, Scotland and Australia earns its keep.

Ireland has 31 local authorities. Each runs its own film office or planning department for filming on council land and public roads. Dublin City Council has a dedicated Film Unit with a clear application process. Fingal, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and South Dublin operate alongside it for the greater Dublin area.

Outside Dublin, Wicklow, Cork, Kerry, Galway and Donegal handle high volumes and have established processes. Smaller rural councils may take longer because film applications are rarer for them. Standard lead time is 10 working days for low-impact, 15 to 20 working days for road closures, public realm or stunt work. More at Filming permits Ireland.

Dublin City Council charges EUR 250 application fee plus location fees that range from EUR 350 per day for low-impact stills up to EUR 2,500 per day for full commercial use of a high-profile location.

Outside Dublin, county council fees commonly run EUR 200 to EUR 600 per day for commercial filming on public land, with traffic management, Garda fees and parking suspension billed separately. Heritage sites under OPW jurisdiction and national parks under NPWS run their own fee schedules that sit higher again.

Yes. The Office of Public Works (OPW) manages most state-owned heritage sites, including Dublin Castle, Kilmainham Gaol, the Rock of Cashel, Newgrange (Bru na Boinne), Glendalough and the Phoenix Park. Filming applications go through OPW's filming co-ordinator.

Lead time is typically four weeks for confirmed sites, longer for the more sensitive locations. Fees run from EUR 1,500 per day for lower-profile sites up to EUR 8,000 per day plus mandatory site staff, security and conservation oversight at flagship locations. Drone filming at OPW sites is separately permissioned and often refused at the most fragile heritage.

National parks (Killarney, Connemara, Glenveagh, Wicklow Mountains, Burren, Ballycroy) are managed by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), part of the Department of Housing. Commercial filming requires an NPWS licence, with lead time of four to six weeks and fees structured per day and per impact level.

The Cliffs of Moher sits under Clare County Council and the dedicated Cliffs of Moher Experience operator, with commercial filming fees from EUR 2,500 per day and a strict approach to public access on shoot days. Restricted access shoots before public opening (usually before 8am) are the standard way to work cleanly.

Road closures are arranged through the relevant local authority's traffic department with concurrent An Garda Siochana liaison. Lead time is 21 working days minimum for a full closure, longer for national primary routes (which involve Transport Infrastructure Ireland). Garda fees for filming traffic management start at EUR 65 per Garda per hour with a four hour minimum.

Stunts, picture car action, weapons or pyrotechnics require additional Garda sign-off, risk assessment review, and in many cases a site visit before approval. Plan eight weeks lead time for anything that closes a public road for action.

Yes for commercial work. The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) regulates drones under EU Regulation 2019/947. Commercial film operators need an operator registration (annual, EUR 30) and pilots must hold the EU drone certificate.

Most film operations fall under the Specific category, requiring a pre-approved Standard Scenario or an Operational Authorisation, with lead time of 4 to 8 weeks for first-time authorisations. Flight in controlled airspace, near aerodromes, over crowds or beyond visual line of sight needs additional permissions. We work with IAA-authorised drone operators rather than authorising our own.

The Wild Atlantic Way runs 2,500km from Donegal to Cork along the Atlantic coast. Most of the dramatic stretches (Slieve League cliffs, Glenveagh, Connemara, Achill Island, the Burren) sit on a mix of national park land, council roads, private farmland and OPW heritage. There is no single permitting body. Each location is its own conversation, often involving NPWS, the local county council and one or more rural landowners.

Plan two weeks per regional location for clean permissions, longer when weather windows compress the working schedule. Best practical base towns: Letterkenny (Donegal), Westport (Mayo), Clifden (Connemara), Doolin (Clare), Dingle (Kerry).

Yes. The Aran Islands (Inis Mor, Inis Meain, Inis Oirin) sit off the Galway coast and are reached by ferry from Rossaveel or by short flight from Connemara Airport. Filming permissions involve Galway County Council, Udaras na Gaeltachta (the Gaeltacht authority) and direct landowner agreements for fields, stone walls and farmhouses.

Logistics are the binding constraint. Ferry capacity for kit, vehicles and crew is limited; plan extra time and book early. Accommodation on the islands is small-scale, so larger units day-trip from Galway or stay in Doolin. Weather can close ferry services entirely, so build a 48 hour contingency window into any Aran shoot.

Dublin gives a working Georgian streetscape (Merrion Square, Fitzwilliam Square, Henrietta Street), period industrial brick (Smithfield, the Docklands), modern glass (IFSC, Grand Canal Dock), Victorian railway architecture (Heuston, Connolly), beaches inside 30 minutes (Sandymount, Howth, Killiney), and full crew, kit and post infrastructure within the M50.

Dublin City Council Film Unit handles permits inside the canals. Beyond that, the four Dublin local authorities (Dublin City, Fingal, South Dublin, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown) each have their own film office. See Dublin film fixer for the city in detail.

EU, EEA, UK and Swiss passport holders work in Ireland without restriction. US, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and most non-EU crew need an Atypical Working Scheme permission for short-term film work under 90 days, processed through the Department of Justice with a 4 week standard turnaround.

Longer engagements need a full employment permit. Recces and pre-production meetings can be done on visitor entry by visa-waiver nationals for short non-working visits. We coordinate the sponsoring documentation and brief incoming crew on requirements.

Both work. ATA Carnet is the standard for temporarily importing camera, lighting and grip kit into Ireland duty-free, processed through Irish Revenue's customs side. For productions arriving from the UK, post-Brexit customs apply at Dublin and Rosslare ports, and a carnet now does the work that a simple inter-EU movement used to.

Hiring locally from Irish rental houses (Cine Electric, Panavision Ireland, Visual Impact, TVC Dublin) is cost-effective for most TVC and content work once freight, insurance and customs handling are factored in. Specialist cameras or lensing not deep in the Irish hire base often makes carnet the better call. We price both options into any quote.

Yes, and it happens regularly. Northern Ireland is part of the UK so it sits outside Section 481, but inside the UK AVEC system (or NI Screen funding). The Ireland to Northern Ireland border is open for crew and kit movement under the Common Travel Area arrangement.

Commercial filming in Northern Ireland requires PSNI liaison rather than Garda, and council permits go through district councils rather than Irish local authorities. Productions running both jurisdictions in the same shoot need clean spend allocation between the two for tax credit purposes. We work with Northern Ireland-based partners on cross-border jobs.

Irish weather is genuinely unpredictable. Standard practice: lock a covered or weather-cover location for every day of a regional shoot, agree weather call protocol with director and agency (typical call is 18 hours out for full postponement), and bake half-day cancellation fees into all crew and supplier deals.

April to September gives the best statistical run but no week is reliable. Wild Atlantic Way and west coast shoots require a 48 hour weather window built into the schedule. Met Eireann is the official forecast source and short-range forecasting in Ireland is generally accurate inside 24 hours.

IrelandFixer runs as one of three sister operations under HiJack Production Services, alongside ScottishFixer in Scotland and FixerSydney in Australia. International producers running multi-territory campaigns or features that touch Ireland, Scotland and Australia get a single accountable principal across all three, with local Irish teams on the ground in Ireland.

For a single-territory Irish shoot the service is identical to working with any established local fixer. For a cross-territory job the network removes the contracting, briefing and coordination overhead of dealing with three separate companies.

We invoice in EUR by default, and quote and invoice in USD or GBP on request with FX risk explicitly priced in. Standard structure for international jobs is a deposit of 30 to 50 percent on engagement to start pre-production, a milestone payment before the shoot to clear crew and supplier deposits, and the balance on wrap.

Irish crew, equipment houses, councils and OPW all need to be paid promptly. The deposit structure protects the production from cashflow problems on the ground and keeps supplier relationships clean for the next job.