Making Ends Meet

Mark Woods recently completed his first year as CEO of Bord Scannán na hÉireann / The Irish Film Board. Ailbhe Jordan talks to him about tax incentives, relationships with distributors, and the current crop of Irish productions.

"It was a bizarre and terrifying time," says Mark Woods, describing his first months as Chief Executive of the Irish Film Board. He does not seem like a man who scares easily, but then again, 2003 was a frightening year for Irish film in more ways than one. "When I joined, there was an element of nervousness in this industry," he explains, reaching forward for his cup of coffee and spilling some of it on the table. "People didn't know what was going to happen to section 481, there was the Oireachtas enquiry and there was quite a scare over what was going to happen to the funding for the Film Board." In addition, Woods had the mixed fortune of coming at the tail end of one of the most successful years to date for Irish film. Shooting had begun on King Arthur and Laws of Attraction, Intermissionwas securing historical international distribution deals, and Chávez: Inside the Coup was winning acclaim at festivals around the world. There was also the fact that Woods's predecessor, Rod Stoneman, would be a hard act to follow. "Rod was instrumental, I think, in creating an industry from almost nothing," he says reverently. "It's quite extraordinary."

"Extraordinary" is an adjective that could describe Woods's own film career path. The Dublin-born law graduate moved to Los Angeles after obtaining his degree. There he worked for Variety film magazine, which he soon discovered had no Australian Correspondent. "I put a proposal to them saying, this is the home of Hewlett Packard, this is the home of Rupert Murdoch, it's big media," he says, "but equally it has such an interesting film industry - there's more to it than just Jane Campion". Woods then relocated to Australia, where he worked with Variety for six years. "It was an amazing job; like a front row seat on the industry," he says. "Working there just confirmed what I'd sort of had in the back of my head before even going to Australia, that I would love to work in the industry. I wasn't going to write the next Room with a View, nor did I ever want to. What I did want was to be in a position where I was finding material that excited me and assembling a deal around that material." Woods's dream came true when he took over as head of international acquisitions and local content at Showtime, a premium film and television network in Australia. There he championed distribution of independent local content production.

In the past, Woods has described independent film co-financing as his "passion". "Working at Showtime really cemented that passion because it was one of those interesting jobs that joined up the bits," he says. "We didn't just find the content, we also did the deal and that's very important for me; working out how we can spend money owned by four studios on independent content. You have to justify it big time. It was fascinating. The other side of the job was finding scripts and co-financing for the local spend." Woods displayed a particular talent in this area. During his years at Showtime, the company invested in 29 local films that included Japanese Story, Rabbit Proof Fence, and Paul Cox's Innocence. "Even though the company had a Government requirement to spend on new local movies, the four studios that owned Showtime realistically wanted us to do a Crocodile Dundee," he says. "To actually fight that fight, to say 'it is worth doing a Paul Cox movie,' to be able to sell that in your own company involves using both the creative passionate side and the business side of your brain. It gives me a buzz."

The full article is printed in Film Ireland 100